The WNTR Sauna experience in Rovaniemi, the third chapter of The Lapland Dolce Vita, was the moment when I stopped being a spectator of my life and became the protagonist of my own story.
For me, it happened immersed up to my neck in the icy waters of a Lapland river, while snow was falling and the small lights of the houses on the opposite shore trembled like fallen stars.
For this journey, I collaborated with Visit Rovaniemi, even though the timing was tight, perhaps too tight. I could have planned everything weeks in advance, organised every detail. But as I often write in my Argletters, if you wait for the perfect moment to do things, that moment never comes. And so you end up doing nothing of what you truly have in mind.
I was looking for something authentic. Something you don’t experience every day. Something that leaves a mark and stays with you forever. An experience of excellence, not a simple tourist attraction.
This collaboration allowed me to get in touch with Janne, the manager of WNTR Sauna.
Traditional Lapland sauna: srriving at WNTR Sauna
We arrive in the middle of a snowstorm.
Or at least, what I from Salento perceive as a storm. Perhaps by Lapland standards it was just a generous snowfall. But when you’ve never seen so much snow falling at once, the scene becomes automatically magnificent. Driving through those snow-covered roads, with flakes dancing in the headlight beams, was already enchanting in itself.
WNTR Sauna (which I later understand means “winter”) reveals itself as a place not too large but incredibly welcoming. Waiting for us is Janne, with his food truck selling beverages, hot chocolate, sandwiches, and snacks. Small but perfectly equipped with everything needed.
Before even entering, a display catches my attention. Three numbers that already tell the whole story: +77° inside the sauna, -1° outside temperature, -2° water temperature in the river.
Yes, because the experience involves exactly this: moving from extreme heat to the extreme cold of the frozen river. A ritual that Finns have practiced for centuries and call avanto.
Avanto: literally, the hole in the ice through which you immerse yourself after the sauna. It’s not a simple cold shower. It’s a passage, almost an initiation rite.
The sauna in Finland has never been just a place to warm up: it’s considered sacred, a space of purification where people once gave birth, healed, and prepared the deceased for their final journey. The country has over 3 million saunas for 5.5 million inhabitants. Practically one per family. The avanto, the ice bath, completes this millenary ritual: heat opens, cold closes, the body regenerates, and the mind empties.
These benefits are what make the authentic Finnish sauna a true purification ritual.
We remove our snow suits and all our technical clothing. In swimsuits, the cold is bearable thanks to the steam coming from the sauna. We shower, a mandatory step before entering, and venture into the wooden structure.
Inside it’s hot. Very hot.
The kind of heat that envelops you, penetrates you, makes you forget there’s snow outside.
We stay for about 10-15 minutes.
Inside, it was impossible to take photographs. The lens would fog immediately from the thermal contrast.
Ice swimming in Lapland: the moment of truth
Then we step out for the first immersion attempt.
The outside air hits you like a gentle slap. After the sauna’s heat, even -1° feels almost refreshing.
But it’s when you see the river water, dark and motionless, that you understand what awaits.
The first sensation is unmistakable: your legs are about to detach. I wade in up to my knees and rush back inside. Annalinda wisely avoids even trying. We look at each other and laugh at the shock we just experienced, that electric charge that runs through you when ice meets burning skin.
As we warm up, the sauna begins to fill.
Locals arrive, Finns who do this experience with the naturalness of someone drinking morning coffee. I watch them enter and exit the frozen water with ease, and I realize our approach is wrong.
You can’t negotiate with the cold.
You can’t enter slowly, gradually.
You just have to do it.
We devise a plan: next time we must enter the water without thinking, as quickly as possible. No hesitation, no half measures.
We go out again.
This time Annalinda tries too. But no, we can’t fully immerse ourselves.
We try two, three more times.
Each time we exit the sauna convinced this will be it.
Each time the river repels us with its impossible temperature. But something changes: it’s no longer fear, it’s challenge.
I want to feel what it means to cross that threshold, to understand what Finns seek in this ritual they’ve repeated for generations.
On my fourth attempt, it happens.
I fully immerse myself.
Outside it’s snowing.
I’m in a frozen river in Lapland, admiring the lights of the cottages on the opposite shore. It feels like a movie.
A fairy tale. A dream.
Those 2-3 seconds of permanence in the water feel infinite. It’s as if time dilates, as if every millisecond contains an eternity. The cold isn’t pain. It’s absolute presence.
Every cell in your body screams that you’re alive.
The brain stops processing complex thoughts and reduces itself to a single, glaring truth: you exist, here, now, in this precise instant.
So many thoughts pass through my mind, all at once: I’m grateful for life, grateful for what I’m building, grateful for who I am and for those who appreciate what I do.
Thanks to those who support me in these experiences, thanks to those who enable me to share the best.
It’s in this moment that I understand the true meaning of “Esperienze d’Eccellenza“.
It’s not luxury for its own sake, not impeccable services or refined elegance. It’s this: an experience that changes you, that makes you feel alive in a way you didn’t think possible, that leaves something inside you that wasn’t there before.
Finnish sauna Rovaniemi: after the immersion
Outside the sauna, on the snowy lawn, there are two Lávvu (in Sami language).
These are traditional tents of the Sami people, the original inhabitants of Lapland.
I’ve seen these structures typical of Lapland tradition several times in the forests around Rovaniemi. They’re supported by wooden poles with a covering that protects from the wind. Inside, a lit brazier where you can roast marshmallows or sausages.
We take refuge there, still in swimsuits.
Outside it’s snowing, the brazier warms us, and we dream with open eyes.
The contrast between the cold air, the fire’s warmth, and the recent memory of frozen water creates a sensation of total presence, of deep connection with the present moment.
I’m living a dream. And I’m writing to organize my emotions, my thoughts. To give form to something that would otherwise risk dissolving into the fog of memory.
WNTR Sauna isn’t a luxury spa.
It doesn’t have polished interiors or five-star services.
It’s something more precious: it’s an authentic place where you spend time with yourself, where you experience an ancient ritual that connects you to Finnish culture in the most genuine way possible. Janne has created a space where excellence experience doesn’t come through ostentatious luxury, but through the quality of the lived experience.
This is what I seek when I travel: experiences that leave their mark, places that tell true stories, people who believe in what they do.
Authentic sauna experience Rovaniemi: practical information
This is the third stop of The Lapland Dolce Vita. Before WNTR Sauna, I experienced the magic of my luxury cabin at Aurora Hill Resort and the experience of sleeping in a glass igloo at Arctic Snow Hotel. Each chapter tells a different way of experiencing excellence in Lapland.
WNTR Sauna by Kesärafla is one of those places you find only when you are looking for authenticity, not a product packaged for tourists. It sits on the banks of the Kemijoki River in Rovaniemi, immersed in a natural setting that alone is worth the journey.
Janne has built something rare: a space where Finnish tradition still lives in its purest form, without compromises and without superstructures.
Here is the Instagram profile of WNTR Sauna.
This is the third chapter of The Lapland Dolce Vita, my account of excellence experiences lived in Lapland. To stay updated on upcoming chapters and receive my weekly reflections on travel, excellence, and life, subscribe to my newsletter.
If an experience exists that deserves to be told, sooner or later we’ll encounter it. Write to me!