Sauna is essential part of Finnish culture
Traditionally in Finland we go to sauna once or twice a week with family or friends without clothes. Wrapping yourself into a towel or wearing a swimming suit is also totally acceptable. In sauna, you can choose your level of heat by sitting either on the high or low benches. The temperature in the moist sauna reaches approximately 70-75 degrees Celsius when water is thrown onto the sauna stove. One sauna session can take a long time, as every now and then you can wrap the towel around you and sit outside on the terrace to cool down and have a drink, or take a dip into the lake.
In Nukula, we have two different saunas:
- The Traditional Sauna by the lake
- The Fairy Sauna, Haltiasauna.
The sauna treatments available include Peat or Rose Treatments, Whisk Treatments and Mesilöylyn terveyttä.
The Traditional Sauna by Lake Päijänne
The stove of the sauna gets heated by wood and gives the steam in the traditional Finnish way. The sauna building is made traditionally of logs. Have breaks and take a dip into the lake Päijänne. The culmination of the sauna experience is the self-made birch whisk, with which you can gently hit yourself on the back. The sauna accommodates up to six persons, while the lake can have plenty more.
Along with having a sauna you can also heat up a nice rye bread sandwich and in late summer have fresh blueberries straight from the forest. Furthermore, the sauna offers also accommodation for the late-night view admirers. You can lie down in the sauna or dressing room benches after the sauna has gotten cooler. The Traditional Sauna is available during the open water season when the lake is not frozen, approximately from June to September.
“Thank you so much for the hospitality, great Finnish Food, Good company and first and for all – GREAT Sauna experience. We had a wonderful time at Nukula, on our Finnish sauna vacation.”
The Fairy Sauna, Haltiasauna
Relax and get refreshed at the Fairy Sauna. The peace-loving Female genie takes care of the electric sauna stove getting the temperature up to 80 degrees Celsius to make you feel gently warm. Have breaks during the bathing indoors or outside at the terrace. Cleanse your body, mind and soul with the water rising from the ground spring. The sauna accommodates up to ten people simultaneously. The dry toilets are located behind a birch tree, just a peak and you are alright again.
Warm up the Sauna like a Finn!
When in spring lake Päijänne has left the ice and the winter behind and the water’s temperature is a little bit over plus four degrees. This period of the Nature calls you to clean yourself in the traditional Finnish sauna by the lake. Experience abundant physical, mental and spiritual wellness during your sauna-tour.
You will learn to tie the whisk and heat up the authentic traditional Finnish sauna.
Join us on a Nature’s herb garden, forest. In silence, the trees will beacon you, sway to the rhythm of your deepest thoughts. When collecting branches to be your company in the sauna enjoy and feel the Nature’s and the forest’s healing impacts.
Bundle your whisk. To get an authentic, deep experience in our traditional Finnish sauna, light the fire and heat up the sauna. Allow the steam to envelope you, relax you or stay close to the lake scenery and mediate on the sauna bench. Cleanse yourself with your own whisk. Take a dip once in while into the cool water of lake Päijänne, to let the cold-hot treatment pamper you. As a clean and reborn human being, now listen, stay quiet because as you close the sauna door, the gnomes are peering behind the trees awaiting their invitation.
The Sauna Treatments
In Nukula we also offer different sauna treatments or wellness services, where we use peat from the bogs for various skin treatments, (The Peat Treatment) or birch (or other) whisks (The Whisk Treatment) where you get gently treated by hitting your body with the whisk. The Cleansing Sauna (Mesilöylyn terveyttä) activity is available between late spring and early autumn, when you can collect your own herbs and plants from the forest for your treatments. The modern alternative is the Rose Sauna, where there are fresh roses which release a lovely scent in the sauna.
Rose Sauna
Get to experience moisturizing and softening effects of rose petals in a sauna. Give your skin a healthy glow! Rose treatment is the leader in anti-aging treatments due to natural healing properties of rose. Regardless of age, Rose Sauna is a perfect treatment for both men and women. So woman, the eternal bride of your life, take care and pamper yourself and please take your groom with you!
Our national epic poetry, The Kalevala, has this saying, “Water is the oldest medicine” and “Sauna is a poor man’s pharmacy”.
Sauna has been the holy place for Finns, turning to this ritual on Midsummer Eve, and other turning points of life. Our ancestors have been born in the sauna, and they have been washed in the sauna of hereafter, for their last trip.
Finns have always been looking not only for purification, but also wellbeing and health from the sauna.
Sauna session continues with a special sauna dinner, which is prepared from ecological products.
Whisking
The whisk, especially the birch whisk, is an integral part of the Finnish sauna tradition. Combining healing substances from a wide variety of herbs and trees along with steam makes whisking therapeutic and energizing. For instance, birch leaves contain saponins, which provide a mild soap that gently cleanses your skin. The fragrance of birch comes from aromatic oil, which prevents infections, relaxes the muscles and relieves aching joints. In the old times, nettle whisks were used to ease symptoms of rheumatism.
Warm up in the steam until you start to sweat and then you are ready to be whisked. In the hands of a trained whisker, the experience is especially relaxing and healing.
The Cleansing Sauna (Mesilöylyn terveyttä)
Let the heat from the sauna stove hit you into relaxation, into being responsive and energetic. The birch freshens you and gives you strength. As well you should not forget the alder that does good to your skin, nor the rapid spruce or willow. Violets especially are one fine enhancer of love!
Within bathing the sauna you relax, absorb the restorative energy of the plants and get cleansed. Out of the plants you have intuitively chosen you will tie a whisk, and with it you will hit yourself gently in order to get every muscle group to relax. A quick swim in the cold waters of the lake Päijänne helps the cleansing process of the sauna. After having bathed in the sauna, your feet might need a herb bath. Having had the time to relax and get cleansed, you can enjoy a nice cup of herbal tea and a tasty vegetable pie by the fire before hitting the hay.
The day’s program
- Arrival to Nukula after noon
- Checking in to room, welcoming coffee or tea and discussions about the sauna and plants
- Gathering the plants for the sauna whisk
- Making the whisks out the plants and preparing a sauna dish
- Simultaneous heating process of the sauna
- Enjoying the sauna
- A cup of relaxing herbal tea and an evening snack after the sauna by the fire
Peat sauna
Experience the relaxing and cleansing effect of Finnish peat sauna.
Slip out of your clothes and jewelry, and step into the sauna. After washing your skin and hair, warm up in the sauna. This opens your pores to receive healing benefits of the peat. Rinse your skin and spread peat all over your body, even in your hair. And back to the sauna you go. Peat is kept moist by massaging the skin and being in the steam. Spend 20 minutes in the sauna and remember to drink plenty of water. The temperature of the sauna is a maximum of 60 degrees Celsius. At the end, just rinse the peat off with clean water.
Finnish peat is lifted from the bog from a depth of 2 to 4 meters, where various bioactive substances have accumulated in the peat over the course of several millenniums. When used for treatment, these substances can be absorbed deeply into the skin. In addition, peat contains an abundance of healthy minerals. Peat treatment boosts the metabolism, at which time bodily fluids and metabolic waste are eliminated from the body. The primary benefits of peat treatment are improved immunity and increased metabolism.