Sauna for the few became sauna for all, if you could afford it
In a city long defined by its sauna culture yet paradoxically closed off from it, Stockholm is preparing to open its first publicly run sauna this June — a small wooden structure arriving by tugboat that carries the weight of a larger democratic question. For years, while Oslo and Helsinki treated communal bathing as a civic right, Stockholm allowed its waterfront saunas to remain behind membership gates and years-long waiting lists. The city's £436,000 pilot in Hornstull is less about a single facility than about who a city decides its public spaces are truly for.
- Stockholm's sauna culture has long been a paradox: a city of devoted sauna-goers where most residents cannot get in, with private clubs holding waiting lists of tens of thousands and non-member slots disappearing within minutes.
- The gap has grown embarrassing against Nordic neighbors — Oslo offers same-day floating sauna bookings, Helsinki treats public saunas as infrastructure, while Stockholm has let scarcity harden into exclusivity.
- A green, architect-designed sauna built by the same company behind Oslo's floating facilities is arriving by tugboat this week, set to open in Hornstull in June with no membership required and a 90-minute session priced at £12.
- The pricing is already drawing scrutiny — at more than the cost of a guest slot at many private clubs, critics worry the 'public' sauna may still price out students, pensioners, and lower-income residents.
- Private sauna associations are watching nervously as the city drafts rules requiring all central sauna slots to be publicly bookable, a policy that could fundamentally disrupt the membership model they have built.
- City officials frame this as the first of many publicly run saunas to come, signaling that Stockholm's waterfront — and the question of who belongs there — is being deliberately reimagined.
Stockholm has always been a city of sauna people, yet for most residents, getting a turn has meant joining a waiting list that stretches for years. The most coveted spots, run by private membership clubs, hold thousands of names in queue. When a non-member slot opens, it is gone within minutes. This is a city built for sauna culture where sauna access has quietly become a luxury.
The contrast with its Nordic neighbors has grown stark. Oslo offers same-day bookings on floating saunas. Helsinki treats public bathing as essential infrastructure. Stockholm, meanwhile, has let its waterfront saunas remain locked behind membership gates, even as interest in bada bastu has surged. The gap between demand and access has only widened.
In June, the city moves to change that. Stockholm's first publicly run sauna — a green, architect-designed structure built by the same company behind Oslo's floating facilities — is arriving by tugboat this week to Hornstull, a waterfront neighborhood on Södermalm island. The site once held a 1930s public bathhouse before it was demolished last year. The city has invested roughly £436,000 in the pilot, with project manager Pia Karlsson describing the goal plainly: a sauna with no membership, open to residents and visitors alike.
The pricing, however, tells a more complicated story. At around £12 for 90 minutes, the public sauna costs more than guest sessions at many private clubs, raising questions about whether lower-income residents and students will truly be able to participate. The city has signaled it may explore discounted rates once demand becomes clear. Meanwhile, private operators like Mathias Leveborn of Sthlm Sauna — which carries a waiting list of 20,000 members across its locations — welcome the relief, even as new city rules requiring publicly bookable slots at central saunas have unsettled some associations.
Officials insist the public and private models are complementary, not competitive. But the deeper test lies ahead: whether this pilot becomes the first of many, and whether Stockholm's long-held vision of its waterfront as shared space finally extends to the wooden structures trailing smoke at its edges.
Stockholm has always been a city of sauna people. Year-round, at all hours, residents emerge from wooden structures trailing smoke, then slip into the dark water that surrounds the Swedish capital. But for most of them, getting a turn in one of these saunas has meant joining a waiting list—sometimes for years. The most coveted spots, run by private membership clubs, have thousands of names queued up. When a non-member slot opens, it vanishes in minutes. This is a city built for sauna culture, yet sauna access has become a luxury.
Unlike its Nordic neighbors, Stockholm has let this scarcity persist. In Oslo, you can book a floating sauna for the same day. Helsinki treats public saunas as essential infrastructure. But Stockholm's waterfront saunas have remained locked behind membership gates, owned by associations or individuals who saw no reason to open them wider. The gap between demand and supply has only widened as interest in bada bastu—the Swedish term for bathing and sauna—has surged in recent years.
In June, that changes. Stockholm will open its first publicly run sauna, a pilot project designed to crack open what city officials call the "sauna for the few" model. The facility, arriving by tugboat this week, sits in Hornstull, a waterfront neighborhood on Södermalm island, on the site where a 1930s public bathhouse once stood before it was demolished last year. The city has invested 5.5 million Swedish kronor—roughly £436,000—in the venture. Pia Karlsson, the project manager from Stockholm's transport office, framed it simply: the city wanted a sauna that was "100% accessible, so no membership. Accessible to the city's residents and our guests."
The new sauna, painted green and designed by architect Dinell Johansson, draws inspiration from Stockholm's historic wooden water pavilions. It was built by the same company that constructed Oslo's floating saunas, a deliberate choice to learn from a city that has already solved this problem. The site will include not just the sauna itself but a public jetty and swimming areas, part of a broader strategy to reclaim Stockholm's waterfronts as shared space. The city is also drafting new rules requiring all sauna slots in the city center to be publicly bookable—a move that has unsettled some private sauna associations, who worry it will undermine their membership model.
The pricing tells a more complicated story. At 150 kronor—about £12—for 90 minutes, the public sauna costs more than guest sessions at many private clubs. For students and pensioners, this could be prohibitive, though Karlsson said the city plans to explore discounted rates once demand becomes clear. Some worry that even with public access, affordability remains out of reach for lower-income residents. Yet Mathias Leveborn, who runs Sthlm Sauna, which has a waiting list of 20,000 members across its locations and 13,000 for a single site in Vinterviken, sees the new facility as welcome relief. His organization has waited more than a year for permits to open another sauna in Södermalm, due in September. "Diversity is good," he said, acknowledging that the city's move to catch up with other Nordic countries serves everyone.
Stockholm's authorities frame the public sauna and the private clubs as complementary rather than competitive. They argue their pricing won't undercut existing operations and that having both models strengthens the overall ecosystem. But the real test will come in how the city uses this pilot. Officials have signaled this is the first of many publicly run saunas they hope to build, part of a vision to reshape how Stockholm thinks about its waterfront and who gets to use it. The waiting lists that have defined sauna access in this city for years may finally be about to shrink.
Notable Quotes
We wanted a sauna that was 100% accessible, so no membership. Accessible to the city's residents and our guests.— Pia Karlsson, project manager, City of Stockholm
It is great that Stockholm is finally starting to catch up with other Nordic countries. Basically, diversity is good.— Mathias Leveborn, Sthlm Sauna
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why has Stockholm been so slow to build public saunas when the demand is clearly there?
It's partly about how the city developed its sauna culture. Private clubs and associations got there first and established themselves as gatekeepers. There was no political will to challenge that until recently, and no one was forced to. The city had clean water, the geography, the interest—but not the infrastructure.
So this is really about power—who controls access to something people want?
Exactly. When you have a waiting list of 20,000 people for one sauna, you're not managing scarcity anymore. You're managing exclusion. The city looked at Helsinki and Oslo and realized they'd fallen behind on something that should be basic.
But the price—£12 for 90 minutes—that's not cheap for everyone.
No, it's not. That's the tension the city hasn't fully resolved. They want it to be "for all," but the pricing suggests it's really for people with disposable income. They're talking about discounts for students and pensioners, but that's future talk. Right now, it's still a barrier.
Will the private clubs actually accept this, or will they fight back?
They're already pushing back on the new rules requiring public booking slots. But the smart operators, like Sthlm Sauna, seem to understand that more saunas overall is better than fighting over scraps. If the city builds five more public ones, the pressure on their waiting lists eases, and they can focus on their members.
What does this say about how cities think about public space?
It says Stockholm is finally asking: what do our residents actually need, and who should decide who gets it? That's a bigger question than just saunas. It's about waterfronts, access, and whether essential amenities should be locked behind membership fees.