Stockholm's first public sauna arrived in Hornstull, Södermalm, on Tuesday, ahead of its opening in June. The city aims to break the exclusivity of private member clubs with years-long waiting lists.
Sauna for All
Unlike its Nordic neighbours, finding a place in Stockholm to enjoy a sauna is notoriously difficult. Most popular waterside venues have waiting lists of thousands, and new spots vanish within minutes. The city hopes to change this with a publicly run, membership-free sauna.
Pia Karlsson, project manager from the City of Stockholm's transport office, said the 5.5 million Swedish kronor (£436,573) project was born from a desire to move away from the prevailing model of "sauna for the few." The goal is a sauna that is "100% accessible, so no membership. Accessible to the city's residents and our guests."
Scarcity Compared to Neighbours
Stockholm's sauna scarcity contrasts sharply with its Nordic neighbours. In Oslo, same-day sauna spots are relatively easy to find at floating saunas. Helsinki boasts an abundance of public saunas, including community-run waterside ones. Stockholm has been slow to capitalise on demand for accessible quayside saunas, many of which are privately owned.
The new sauna in Hornstull, a water-facing neighbourhood on the island of Södermalm, is a pilot project. The site, overhung by weeping willows and offering swimming, previously housed Liljeholmsbadet, a 1930s floating public bathhouse removed last year due to disrepair. The city is also building a sauna jetty open to non-sauna-goers.
Design and Inspiration
The green-coloured building, inspired by historic painted wooden water pavilions, was designed by architect Dinell Johansson and built by Marinbastun, which also built Oslo Sauna Association saunas. Karlsson noted the political mission was "sauna for all and a place for everybody." The city aims to be a public space on public land.
Research trips to Finland and Denmark informed the vision, but Stockholm's approach is part of a broader quay-side strategy to open up waterfronts with new swimming areas, walkways, and seating. New guidelines will require all central sauna slots to be fully publicly bookable.
Criticism and Pricing
Some sauna associations criticise the new booking rules, fearing they undermine the old membership model, which they say is cheaper for regular users. Karlsson believes public and private models complement each other and that pricing will not undercut others. At 150 kronor (£12) for 90 minutes, the cost is higher than guest sessions at many private saunas, potentially prohibitive for some. Initially, everyone pays the same rate, but the city will consider student and pensioner discounts once demand is clear.
Mathias Leveborn from Sthlm Sauna, which has a waiting list of 20,000 across its saunas and 13,000 for one site in Vinterviken, said demand for more spaces is huge. They waited over a year for approval for a new project in Södermalm, opening in September. "It is great that Stockholm is finally starting to catch up with other Nordic countries. Basically, diversity is good," he said.
Svante Spolander, operations manager at the Swedish Sauna Academy, added: "Interest in sauna has increased markedly in Sweden in recent years, and people have to wait a long time for access. So it is very positive that more places are being built so that more people can benefit."
