Finnish with a flourish

Enjoy heat, ice and the northern lights in Oulu, says Jane Haynes

- 

The temperature inside the sauna, somewhere in a dark Finnish forest a few miles north of the city of Oulu, was already a just about bearable 80C when another scoop of water was flicked on to the coals, landing with a prolonged hiss.

The Brits among us, easily spotted by our red faces and embarrassing swimwear, had been chatting with our naked Finnish hosts about what made their country so happy.

Finland takes first place in the UN's Happiness Report, while the UK can only muster 19th. “Where are we going wrong?” I asked.

It is all to do with the sauna, said local social democrat councillor Tanja. Stripped of clothes and pretensions, all are equal, she said.

Oulu 2026 design curator Päaivi Tahkokallio added an extra twist. “In Finland, people spend 20% of their time talking, 80% listening. In the sauna, in the taxi, in the cafe, there is little by way of chitchat. Words are not wasted, so important words are heard.”

I wanted to listen to more pearls of wisdom, but could sense my blood pressure rising and my eyeballs sweating from the heat. It was time for a breather.

Giggling outwardly, but feeling very exposed, I opened the door from the sauna to an icy blast, stepping into snow to cool down the Oulu way.

I looked up and that’s when it happened. I'd stumbled across the northern lights. A dazzling show of green with a hint of pink was flashing through the dark outlines of the snowy forest canopy. With typical Finnish understatement, this bucket-list moment was deemed merely “a nice end to the evening” by our lovely hosts.