Stockholm opens public sauna, aiming to make tradition more accessible

Category: (Self-Study) Human Interest

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Stockholm has opened its first public sauna with the aim of making the traditional experience more accessible. The new facility is part of a broader city strategy to improve public access to Stockholm’s waterfronts.

Hornstullsbastun (Hornstull’s sauna) can accommodate up to 16 people at a time and includes outdoor showers, sauna baskets, and a designated swimming area along the waterfront.

Popular waterfront saunas often have waiting lists numbering in the thousands, while reservations at newly opened venues can be fully booked within minutes. The new public sauna can be booked online up to one month in advance and is open daily from 6:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. A 90-minute session costs 150 Swedish kronor.

It was officially opened by the city’s vice mayor, Lars Strömgren. “Stockholm has a long tradition of being a harbor city. And because of that, we haven’t really opened up the quays to swimming and to the public. Now, we want to do that more, and we also want to make sure that it’s possible for everybody to get access to sauna,” he says.

Among those who booked the first available sessions was Wendy Liu, a British traveler who said she learned about the opening at a sauna convention. “It’s great to have water and a sauna together. I mean, if a sauna without water is not a real experience, these two need to go together. And this is such a beautiful place. And today we got beautiful weather, so it’s a perfect combination,” she says.

The sauna stands on the site of the former Liljeholmsbadet, a floating public bathhouse dating to the 1930s. The bathhouse was removed last year after falling into disrepair.

Pia Karlsson, a project manager with Stockholm’s transport office, says the city will monitor public interest in the facility and evaluate whether additional public saunas should be opened in the future.

This article and video were provided by The Associated Press.

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[Public sauna called Hornstullsbastun]

[Public sauna]

[Vice Mayor of Stockholm Lars Strömgren cutting off a ribbon at the opening ceremony of a public sauna in Stockholm]

[People walking into the public sauna to see the inside]

Emmy Rämgård (interview): “You come in here and you’re free to have a bath if you would like that. And when you book and pay, you get a code, a QR code. So you can use it here and the door will be open for you.”

[Sign that reads (Swedish) “Sauna”]

Emmy Rämgård (interview): “You come into the sauna. And here is the sauna, and then you have the beautiful view and you can sit here, relax and have a perfect day.”

[View from sauna]

[Inside a sauna]

Lars Strömgren (interview): “Stockholm has a long tradition of being a harbor city. And because of that, we haven’t really opened up the quays to swimming and to the public. Now we want to do that more and we also want to make sure that it’s possible for everybody to get access to sauna. That’s why we combine…there are other private initiatives but now we also have this from the city-run sauna in order to make sure that it’s accessible and open for everyone.”

[Ornament that reads (Swedish) “Hornstullsbatun”]

[Guest getting into water after sauna]

[Willow tree]

[Guest swimming after sauna]

Wendy Liu (interview): “It’s great to have water and a sauna together. I mean, if a sauna without water is not a real experience, these two need to go together. And this is such a beautiful place. And today we got beautiful weather, so it’s a perfect combination.”

[Boat with Swedish flag passing by]

Pia Karlsson (interview): “Mainly this is the place for recreation but also we think that our international guests would like to have — we would like to welcome them to a sauna without any membership.”

[Ladder for going down into water]

[Music performers for the opening ceremony]

Pia Karlsson (interview): “We don’t want to be too cheap and we don’t want to be so expensive. Be in the middle. Because we don’t want to compete with the private sector.”

[Sauna before the opening ceremony]

[Stockholm city flag]

August Almqvist (interview): “I’m running a business with my sister, a sauna business called Folkbastu. So we’ve been trying to get more public saunas in the municipality, in the city for like, for everyone. And I think this is great. Like, it’s the same kind of idea, but where the municipality actually takes its responsibility to do the same and like, build their saunas and open it up for more people.”

[Sign that reads (Swedish) “Sauna”]

August Almqvist (interview): “We’re very conservative in a way, what you’re allowed to do in the city. It’s a very beautiful city and we have a lot of water but it’s also like the democratic kind of how, who are allowed to do it and who is not, and like what and how we can share this shared space and water line together and I think that it has taken a while for politicians and the city to kind of go through this thought process.”

[Public sauna]

[Mälaren lake]

[Boat passing by]

This script was provided by The Associated Press.