Below ground and out the back
Le Caveau
There is no pool. A stone warehouse with a courtyard the size of two parking spaces was never going to hold one, and digging under a building of this age to make room would have been a bad idea for everybody. What we have is a hot room, a wet room, a cold tap and somewhere to sit afterwards.
All of it is in the old cold vault under the receiving hall, down a short flight of steps beside the lift. It is free for guests and seldom busy, since the whole thing takes eleven people at a push.
The vault
Sauna, steam and a cold shower
The sauna is lined in aspen and heated by an electric stove with stones on it, and you can ladle water on. It holds about eight at a squeeze and six comfortably. It runs at roughly 80 degrees, which is what the old ventilation shaft can carry.
The steam room next door is tiled in white and sits at around 45 degrees, with the humidity at the top of the scale. Between the two there's a cold shower fed straight off the mains, and in January it is colder than anything you've paid for elsewhere.
- Every day
- 07:00 – 22:00
- Quiet hours, no talking
- 07:00 – 09:00
- Towels
- on the shelf, take two
Next door
The rest room
There are six wooden loungers, a jug of water with juniper in it and a small cast-iron stove that is lit from November to March, and no screens of any kind. The vault keeps a steady temperature all year, which makes this the warmest corner of the building in winter and the coolest in July.
One treatment room opens off it. A massage therapist works from the hotel on Thursday, Friday and Saturday afternoons and bookings go through reception. Sessions run sixty or ninety minutes, with deep pressure or without, as you prefer.
- adults and children over 14
- swimwear in the steam room
- no phones below stairs
- book treatments at the desk
Outside
The courtyard
The courtyard is walled on three sides and cobbled, about nine metres by seven, with a linden in the corner that is older than most of the city around it. The north wall gets no sun from November, so snow that falls there in December is still there in April, compacted and grey at the bottom and white on top after every fresh fall.
A path is kept clear from the courtyard door to the gate, and a bench goes out when the weather allows. Tables appear at the end of May, and the bar serves outside until the light goes, close to ten o'clock in June.
Guests are welcome to sit outside in winter too. A basket of blankets stands by the door, and staff won't tell you it's too cold.
Beyond the building
Walking, skating, swimming elsewhere
The flat walk along the quays runs for several kilometres in both directions and is cleared all winter. The outdoor rink at the old port is five minutes away and lends skates. The municipal pool with lanes is a twenty-minute walk up the hill, or a short bus ride if you ask reception which bus.
In summer you can swim in the river at the beach downstream, though the current needs respect and the water is colder than it looks in photographs.
What else is nearby