Stockholm's best Swedish spa experiences with wellness writer Matilde Wergeland (2024)

Holistic wellness expert Matilde Wergeland's recs for Stockholm's best spas range from the Grand Hôtel's traditional luxury treatments to Heat by Sophia Lie's high-tech sauna.

When visiting a country so deeply associated with spa culture, visitors may find themselves overwhelmed by sheer choice – especially in Stockholm, the dynamic yet immensely walkable Swedish capital. To find some of the best Swedish spa experiences in town, we spoke to Matilde Wergeland – a holistic health expert and freelance contributor for Vogue Scandinavia. "It's funny," mused Wergeland. "Growing up here, I didn't really think about Swedish massage being a Swedish thing… but now I see it on spa menus all over the world."

The "Swedish spa" has been traditionally defined by meticulous, vigorous massages and steamy saunas followed by bracingly cold ocean dips. "You really feel [Swedish massage] during and afterwards," explained Wergeland. "I think Swedes like that because we like quality."

Today, Swedish spas are found in lavish hotels, holistic studios and cutting-edge clinics alike; as such, Wergeland's picks range from traditional Swedish pampering to medical-grade facials and infrared saunas. "I'm always looking for new things to try," admitted Wergeland, who has been fascinated by spa treatments since she was a child. "I think self-care is so important because I feel like the outside really affects your inside and reverse… It adds so much to the quality of life, I think."

Here are seven of Wergeland's favourite rejuvenating spa experiences in Stockholm.

1. Best overall: Grand Hôtel Spa & Fitness

Wergeland's top pick is the spa at The Grand Hôtel, a massive 19th-Century hotel on Stockholm's waterfront overlooking the imposing Kungliga Slottet (Royal Palace) and the city's brightly-coloured Gamla Stan (medieval Old Town). "It's the biggest, most luxurious hotel in Stockholm," said Wergeland. "They have an amazing spa, which is super relaxing. It's such a beautiful space and they have really nice full body rituals that I love [and] great massages."

The Grand Hôtel Spa & Fitness stuns with its sophisticated Scandinavian design, resplendent with moody dark tile floors and dramatic marble columns. The indulgent day packages feature breakfasts from the hotel's historic Cadier Bar and include the signature Nordic Deluxe Bathing Ritual complete with saunas, warm and cold dipping pools and decadent body scrubs. Visitors can also access a private gym and a choose from a menu of face and body treatments, like the Nordic Detox, bespoke Joanna Vargas facials and Swedish massage.

"People go there because it's so beautiful," said Wergeland. "The pool in the middle is so peaceful and the lighting is just perfect. I just love the whole aesthetics, design and environment."

2. Best for a day with friends: Vana Spa at the Elite Hotel

Sometimes self-care means spending quality time with loved ones. Vana Spa, located in the Elite Hotel in Stockholm's quiet Vasastan neighbourhood, is Wergeland's pick for a spa outing with friends. "It's relatively new," she said. "And the architecture is really nice."

The elegant, group friendly Vana Spa is one of Stockholm's largest spa centres and gyms, featuring a jacuzzi, aroma room and both dry and steam saunas. After a decadent dip in the indoor pool, surrounded by mosaics and palatial marble columns, guests can sample the range of luxurious full-day spa packages with massages and aromatherapy-charged face and body beauty treatments.

"I would go there for a relaxing afternoon," said Wergeland. "And just enjoy the saunas and the pools."

3. Best for romantic getaway: Yasuragi

For couples longing for a romantic escape, Wergeland recommends visiting the Japanese-style spa Yasuragi. "It's a little bit outside Stockholm," she explained. "But it's really beautiful and relaxing and I think it's nice that you actually have to leave the city for a little while to just get that extra feeling of recharging and disconnecting."

Yasuragi takes its cues from Japanese onsen culture, so visitors are required to complete a cleansing ritual in the spa's ablution chamber before heading to the hot springs to bliss out under a canopy of beautiful pine trees. Guests will also be given a yukata (cotton robe) to wear for the duration of their stay and must refrain from using mobile phones and cameras on the premises – all the better to enjoy the tranquil natural scenery and treatments like the steam salt sauna and carbonated bath.

"They have different kinds of massages," said Wergeland. "They have a lot of different pools and different rituals like the cold plunge… and amazing food…. and beautiful rooms." For the ultimate lovers' getaway, Yasuragi also offers 191 simple ryokan-inspired hotel rooms plus two Japanese restaurants and an izakaya (gastropub). After-dinner drinks at the co*cktail bar with its magical view of the Stockholm archipelago are a must.

4. Best new boutique holistic spa: Dagmar Spirit & Retreat at Hotel Villa Dagmar

First-timers to Stockholm may gravitate to its large, famous spas like the iconic Art Nouveau-era Centralbadet. But for a quieter, yet still luxurious boutique experience, Wergeland likes Dagmar Spirit & Retreat at Hotel Villa Dagmar. "It's a quite new hotel, in the middle of the city centre," she said. "And it's a really small spa, but they have cool, unique treatments. For example, they have chakra massages."

Under the direction of professional dermatologists, therapists and consulting Swedish holistic beautician Mia Hjalmarsson, Dagmar Spirit & Retreat offers a menu of massages and face and body treatments that combine the latest in innovative technology and holistic techniques like sound healing, ear acupuncture and crystal therapy.

"It's all new, really beautiful, like marble floors, walls, everything," said Wergeland. "And the whole hotel is really nice. It has an international flair to it. I always get reminded of Hotel Costes in Paris when I'm there because it has that indoor kind of courtyard. And the food is amazing too."

5. Best for classic body treatments and facials: Ambassade Biologique Recherche Stockholm

Another newcomer to the Stockholm spa scene is the recently opened Ambassade Biologique Recherche Stockholm Scandinavian flagship store. "[Biologique Recherche is] my all-time favourite [skincare] brand," raved Wergeland. "It's just the most gorgeous place and I'm so happy that they finally opened here!"

Located in Stockholm's affluent, fashionable Östermalm neighbourhood, the Ambassade Biologique Recherche Stockholm is a boutique version of the brand's Parisian flagship, with expert beauticians performing the brand's iconic face and body treatments in an intimate, beautifully appointed space.

"The body treatments there are just amazing," said Wergeland. "And also the facials; I think it's so fascinating how they treat one half of the face first and they do this face massage which is really relaxing and good as well… And then you see the difference! And then they continue to the other side."

Ambassade Biologique Recherche Stockholm's facials and body treatments utilise the brand's Hollywood cult line of products. "When you know that these products are really great quality, they have the natural ingredients [and] they don't try to cover up the natural scents with artificial perfumes. I think that gives such a fresh and clean experience for the whole body," said Wergeland. "And they're great at creating a whole journey almost from when you come in to when you get out. [It]'s definitely my favourite salon for body treatments and facials."

6. Best for innovative face treatments: Lash Lift

As much as Wergeland loves a no-nonsense Swedish spa and sauna experience, she can't resist the modern aesthetic spa treatments that are now available in Stockholm, like healing red-light skin therapy, hydration-boosting, rejuvenating IV drips, and compression therapy for inflammation detox. "I think [it]'s really fun to see that people are curious to try other ways to take care of themselves," she said.

Wergeland has been experimenting with the new wave of face regimens –like the Infuzion System® needle-free anti-aging facial treatment – and her spa pick for cutting-edge face treatments is Lash Lift Stockholm. "[It's] amazing," she said. "It was the first place that really brought the lash and brow lifts to Sweden."

Though Lash Lift – which has two locations in Stockholm – is best known for its lash and brow lifts (semi-permanent procedures that curl lashes and lift brow hairs), they're becoming increasingly well-known for their high-tech facials. "They have now also partnered up with other aestheticians and they offer facials and massages," said Wergeland. "... There's so much to try and do. I love it."

7. Best for infrared saunas: Heat by Sophia Lie

Of all the innovative and classic Swedish spa treatments Wergeland has tried, there's one that she calls her "new obsession": infrared saunas at Heat by Sophia Lie.

"I love infrared saunas," she declared. "[Sophia Lie] was one of the ones who brought the infrared saunas to Scandinavia, really in Stockholm. She's amazing. She started out at this really small place and now she's grown into a hotel and she's in Mallorca. She has a new flagship location at the NK [in Stockholm city centre], which is the biggest department store here."

Traditional Swedish sauna culture combines a steaming hot sauna session with an invigorating cold plunge. "A regular sauna kind of heats up the whole sauna and the room," Wergeland explained. "So it gets really humid and hot, but an infrared sauna heats up the body instead, [which creates] an artificial fever. In that way it tells the immune system to step up, so you boost the immune system. By doing that, it's also said to help with skin problems. Also, it helps for muscle recovery… and detoxification."

Heat by Sophia Lie's NK location doesn't stop at infrared technology; it also offers massages, LED light facials, cryotherapy, naprapathy massage and an ice bath studio. Infrared sauna devotees can also purchase a heat sauna blanket to recreate the experience at home.

"I love regular sauna, too," said Wergeland. "[But] I honestly think that I sleep better when I do the [infrared]."

BBC Travel's The SpeciaList is a series of guides to popular and emerging destinations around the world, as seen through the eyes of local experts and tastemakers.

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