Prancing Around Naked in Estonia

International Living Postcards--your daily escape

Monday, Nov. 14, 2005
Tallinn, Estonia

Estonians are exceptionally keen on steamy saunas. Taking a sauna apparently sweats out all the toxins, and many houses and apartments here have their own built-in saunas. Plus, with the freezing winters in this country, the desire for an on-tap roomful of steamy heat is understandable.

A new acquaintance, Uwe, regularly visits the countryside with friends for one of these hot treats. The ideal experience involves beating each other with birch twigs in the sauna (it increases circulation), then cooling off by jumping into an icy lake or rolling in the snow. (A caveat on the source: drinking beer is also part of Uwe's sauna ritual--before, during, and after.)

In Tallinn, Estonia's capital, you'll have to forego any snow-rolling (and unless you're invited into a private home, you probably won't be able to observe the beer-drinking ritual, either.) Hotel saunas can be expensive if you're traveling alone. For example, l'Hermitage--where I'm staying--charges 299 kroons ($22) per hour in its four-person sauna.

An alternative is to take the 1A bus to Viimsi, a suburb 30 minutes north of Tallinn. In the Viimsi Tervis Spa, a two-hour swim and sauna costs 100 kroons ($7.50). Open from 7 a.m. until 11 p.m. daily, it also has a gym and offers a full range of spa and beauty treatments.

The spa's pool is communal, but saunas are single-sex. To strip or not to strip? The sign on the door--a silhouetted female in a swimsuit with an X over it--clearly explained the protocol. Well, I've no problem mixing with stark-naked Estonians…

Don't expect private changing rooms or showers--everybody disrobes wherever they stand. However, do take a towel into the sauna: you'll need it to sit on. Benches are hot enough to frizzle tender buttocks into well-done rump steaks.

As for the sauna itself…imagine a darkened cabin with a pine-scented wooden interior. Glowing in the darkness is a pit of red-hot stones, heated from below by a stove. The initial blast of heat--200-plus degrees Fahrenheit--makes you feel like you've entered some Nordic purgatory. If you're unused to saunas, start by lying or sitting on the lower benches. Heat rises, so the higher benches are hotter.

Beside the stone pit, there's a bucket of water with a ladle. To increase the temperature, scoop up a little water and pour it onto the stones. Note, a little water. If you slosh the entire bucketful over the stones, the resulting heat and vaporizing steam would probably make you--and everybody else--pass out.

Most people only spend around 10 minutes at a time in the sauna. After that, pull on your swimwear and go jump in the pool before returning for another session. Note: even if you feel you're drowning in your own sweat, it's not the done thing to dash into communal areas in your birthday suit. Well, certainly not in Viimsi.

Steenie Harvey
Roving Europe Editor, International Living

Also see:

- Your own private sauna in an 800-square-foot apartment near Tallinn's Old Town for $150,000.

- The secret of free travel.

- Not intended for the average traveler--the real best things to do and sights to see once you arrive.

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