‘A place for everybody’: Stockholm to open its first publicly run sauna | Sweden

There is little doubt that Stockholm is the city of sauna goers. All year round, from early morning until late at night, city dwellers can be seen emerging from wooden huts, trails of wood smoke emerging from chimneys, and lowering themselves into the deep brackish waters of the Swedish capital’s coastline.

But for locals and visitors alike, accessing one of these saunas can be like getting into one of the world’s most exclusive private members’ clubs: The most popular waterside venues have waiting lists in the thousands that stretch for years, and when new places open they disappear within minutes. While some quotas can sometimes be reserved for non-members, it is difficult to reach them.

To change this, the city of Stockholm will open its first public sauna in June, with the mission of “sauna for everyone”. The new facility in Hornstull, a waterfront neighborhood on the largely residential island of Södermalm, is a pilot project that officials hope will be the first of many city-run, membership-free saunas.

Project manager Pia Karlsson from the City of Stockholm transport office said the 5.5 million Swedish krona (£436,573) project was born out of a desire to move away from the prevailing “sauna for the few” model. The city wanted a sauna that was “100% accessible, so no membership. Accessible to city residents and our guests.”

The Swedish capital has relatively clean water, ideal geography spread over several islands and a large number of eager customers. bada bastu – the Swedish term for bathing and having a sauna – has become internationally famous. Finland’s participation in Eurovision last yearBara Bada Bastu (Just Enter the Sauna).

Despite all this, the city has been slow to capitalize on the demand for accessible waterfront saunas. Many are behind lock and key, privately owned by member associations or individuals.

The sauna scene in the northern neighbors brings the famine into particularly sharp relief. In Norway’s capital, Oslo, it is relatively easy to find a same-day sauna space at one of the Oslo Sauna Association’s seven floating saunas, although its popularity has increased greatly over the past decade. Helsinki, Finland, where using a sauna is considered an important part of daily life, has numerous public saunas and even a community-run sauna by the water.

Stockholm’s new sauna arrived by tugboat on Tuesday. The area, lined with weeping willow trees and open to users for swimming, was home to the 1930s floating public bathhouse Liljeholmsbadet, which was removed last year after falling into disrepair. The city is also building a sauna pier that will be open to non-sauna goers.

Inspired by the city’s historic painted wooden water pavilions, the new green building was designed by architect Dinell Johansson and built by Marinbastun, which also built the Oslo Sauna Association saunas.

Karlsson said: “An idea we had since the political mission was a sauna for everyone and a place for everyone. We are a public pontoon and a public space on public land. We wanted that to permeate the site.”

Although they drew inspiration from other countries through research trips to Finland and Denmark, the Stockholm vision is part of a much broader vision, he said: “We know we’re not the first… but then we thought we could be the best.”

Stockholm officials say the sauna is part of a broader quayside strategy aimed at opening up the city’s waterfront, including new swimming areas, walkways and seating areas.

It is also planning new rules requiring all sauna slots in the city center to be available for public booking.

The new booking rules have been criticized by some sauna associations, who say they could make it harder to maintain the old membership model, making it cheaper for regular sauna users.

Karlsson believes the city’s and privately run models “complement each other” and that the city’s pricing means it won’t undercut other saunas.

But it costs 150 crowns (£12) for 90 minutes, which is more expensive than guest sessions at many privately run saunas, and for some the cost may be prohibitively expensive. Initially, everyone will pay the same fee, but Karlsson said they will look at different pricing structures for students and retirees once there is a perception of demand.

Mathias Leveborn of Sthlm Sauna, whose saunas have a waiting list of 20,000 people for membership and 13,000 for a single site in nearby Vinterviken, said the demand for more sauna space was huge.

He said they had to wait more than a year to get approval for a new project to open in Södermalm in September. “It’s great that Stockholm is finally starting to catch up with the other Nordic countries. Fundamentally, diversity is good,” he said.

Svante Spolander, Operations Manager at the Swedish Sauna Academy, said: “Interest in saunas has increased noticeably in Sweden in recent years and people have to wait for long periods of time to access a sauna bath. Therefore, it is very positive that more places are being built so that more people can benefit.”