The Best Spas to Visit in Stockholm

Here you’re right in the centre of Stockholm, on Drottninggatan, one of its busiest streets. Your pampering port of call: a stunning art-nouveau building opened in 1904. Centralbadet is a huge operation for such a core location, spreading over more than 3,000sqm (32,292sqft) of floor space. With a Nordic sauna and a superb swimming pool, it is expert at massages among other skincare treatments. It also has a roof terrace, a barber’s, an excellent restaurant and a Roman bath. All that and it is mere steps from central metro station Hotorget – ready to relax? Centralbadet is waiting.

Looking to celebrate a milestone birthday or significant anniversary? Try this spa, grand by name and by nature. The hotel is one of the most elegant in Stockholm, with a list of celebrity guests and royal visitors that has been growing since it opened its doors in 1874. The spa leaves no (hot) stone unturned in pursuit of pampering perfection, including massage, skincare, Chinese medicinal treatments and a very special Nordic bathing experience. (Be aware that this includes boiling in the sauna before jumping into cold water.) If you want to be king or a queen for a day, the Grand Hotel is the place for a right royal splurge.

The centrally located Sturebadet is another excellent city spa that’s slightly more wallet-friendly than some of the grander institutions. While you’d never know it if you parachuted straight in, it’s in one of Stockholm’s most bustling, luxurious shopping centres. By contrast, within Sturebadet you feel completely and utterly detached from the modern world. Helping its appeal is its ornate pool, in operation since the 19th century; also its excellent-value package treatments that bring diverse elements together in one extra-long, deliciously snooze-inducing experience.

From Selma’s rooftop pool you get the most astonishing views out over the good-looking Swedish capital – it’s perhaps the main reason why Stockholmers love this beautiful, superbly soporific spa. Nothing’s too hardcore here – you can even sip a glass of champagne while you laze around poolside, admiring the magnificent buildings rising all around. The day-spa option is a great choice, whereby you pay for pool access and get to use the sauna and the gym, as well as experiencing all the quality treatments you’d expect from a tip-top spa.

By the sea in Saltsjö Boo, and a bus ride from Central Stockholm, Yasuragi is a stunner that might have been airlifted intact from Kyoto or Tokyo. On arrival – for authenticity – you are handed a traditional yukata robe to don. This place is a vision of Japan, from its slatted blinds to its low futon beds. (You can book a package with accommodation.) Facilities and activities look eastwards: there are Japanese baths and Japanese yoga on the programme, as well as do in and qi gong,forms of self-massage and meditation. High on the list of guest requests is meditation with Tibetan singing bowls – part of an experience that’s like no other in Stockholm.

If you don’t mind heading some way beyond the centre, there’s a perfect one-night stay in the town of Gnesta, home to an outstanding spa. It is called Södertuna Slott – which means Södertuna castle – set as it is in an old castle on the banks of Lake Frösjön, deep in the countryside. Wellbeing here means rustic hikes, canoeing and cycle rides as well as nourishing cooking perfected by first-rate chefs using local ingredients. (You might add a bottle of wine from the cellar.) All this is just under two hours by train from Central Stockholm. The spa majors in excellent facials and full-body treatments that’ll have you soft as putty for your return to the city.

Despite its location in a frenetic shopping centre, Axelsons is a temple of tranquillity. It’s a simple spa that’s gained a reputation among shoppers who fancy a quick massage or complexion freshen-up. Using Elemis products, the therapists work swiftly and softly, helping you switch off while they perform cleansing facials involving brow-shaping and pore-purifying. The pedi-pampering is famously good here: foot bath, foot peeling, nail care, filing and a light massage with a wonderful cream. Five steps to heaven.

Skepparholmen Nacka is located out in bucolic Saltsjö Boo, an incredible seaside location, and is accessible by bus from Central Stockholm. Part of a four-star hotel with comfy rooms and ensuite bathrooms, the spa is inspired by the seasons, as treatments are based on different times of the year. There is a wide range of facials, body treatments and massages on offer, and all in all, this is a wonderfully light and airy spa, home to two pools with mesmerising views of the sea.

Njuta is relatively new to the Stockholm spa scene but its location and range of treatments have not gone unnoticed among wellbeing aficionados. The setting: a 19th-century green villa on a cliff over the ocean on Nacka, an island between Stockholm and the archipelago proper. It’s sufficiently removed give you respite from urban pressure, but it can be reached by public boat in just 15 minutes from Slussen metro station. Where to start once you check in? The Heavenly Feet massage certainly does what it says on the tin – try it and you’ll be walking on air when you leave.

Surrounded by walls covered in sunsets and ancient ruins, this Central Stockholm spa is ready to take you on a pampering journey around the world. You might treat your feet to a Caribbean-inspired foot treatment employing coconut- and lime-infused products. Or travel to China courtesy of a bamboo massage – the technique is used to increase blood circulation. Other procedures here take their cues from Hawaii and Sweden – famed for deep neck and back massages – as well as Thailand, where pressure techniques are incorporated. For the ultimate experience, book the private relaxation space.

Set in the glossy glass-and-stone confines of the Clarion Hotel Stockholm on the trendy island of Södermalm, the Elements Spa is a sensitively designed modern space for urban relaxation. The Ayurveda-inspired space has an array of soothing treatments up its sleeve, such as water massages, a sauna in steam or mixed herbs, and swimming in an indoor-outdoor pool. Brave the ice shower then recline on a daybed outside while you sip on complimentary herb tea and graze on fresh fruit looking across the lush treetops to Årstaviken Bay.