Spa in Sweden, Denmark and Norway: how to choose
Prices and details checked .
Spa in Sweden, Denmark and Norway is not one kind of purchase: it runs from two hotsprings above the rapids at Storforsen to a Wednesday sauna ritual on Møn. Five places in three countries, and what separates them is kind rather than price.
Three countries, three different ideas of a spa
The word covers a warm outdoor pool booked two hours at a time, a one-hour sauna ritual with oils and music, a wood-fired tub on a farm, and an ice bath followed by a private sauna. Those are not variations on one product. A two-hour soak and a night in a glass room ask different things of your evening and your budget, which is why a straight price comparison tells you almost nothing about which to take.
They also sit in three countries, and geography settles more than price does. A Danish sauna evening on Møn and a Swedish glass room in Jokkmokk are separate trips, not two stops on one, so the country you pick is the trip you take. Not every place that sells a sauna is a hotel either: Adventure Norway's belongs to a rafting base with cabins and a campsite, and Glamping Höga Kusten is a working farm with tents.
Storforsen: two hotsprings looking down the rapids
Storforsen's two hotsprings are warm outdoor pools set beside the relax area with a view over the rapids, booked in two-hour slots and holding 8 to 10 people each. They run all year, with one hard limit: below minus 20°C they close for health reasons, so a January visit is worth a phone call before you commit to it.
The indoor side comes with the room rather than as an extra: men's and women's saunas, a shared steam sauna, a cooling pool at roughly 20 to 22°C, a gym and a lounge, open daily from 16:00 to 23:00. Breakfast, parking, Wi-Fi and that relax area are included in the hotel rate, and check-in is from 14:00. The catch is that the relax area only opens to people staying at the hotel, so there is no day ticket, and the cooling pool closes from 1 December, which leaves the outdoor hotsprings as the winter option, weather permitting.
Jokkmokk and the High Coast: two ways to pay for quiet
Peace & Quiet Nature Hotel in Jokkmokk sells its sauna inside packages rather than by the hour: the one-night Body and Soul Harmony trip arrives by dog sled, sleeps in a floating glass room and includes a private guided ice bath and sauna. A floating glass room starts at 463 EUR a night and a Mountain Glass-room at 1,424 EUR, and the trade is real: the glass rooms have a toilet but no shower, so summer washing means the lake and winter means cryotherapy or hot towels.
Glamping Höga Kusten is the opposite bargain. Every overnight at the Undrom farm includes a wood-fired sauna, dinner cooked over an open fire and breakfast, from 1,750 SEK per person per night, and a private hot tub is 750 SEK on top, available April to November. A second site next to the High Coast Distillery opens June to September with whisky tastings and dinner in the restaurant; one night there is 2,625 SEK per person, which buys a different trip from the farm.
Møn: a Wednesday sauna ritual with the owner running it
Ellevilde Boutique Hotel on Møn runs its saunagus almost every Wednesday from 20:00 to 21:00 in what it calls the island's largest sauna, for 249 DKK per person. Kenneth, who owns the hotel, leads the hour with essential oils, music, three rounds of heat and cold dips in between, and it needs booking ahead.
The rest of the wellness side is smaller and arranged around your stay: yoga with the resident teacher on Saturdays or Sundays, and massage in your room for 45 or 60 minutes, booked before you arrive. Rooms start at 895 DKK for a small double with a shared bathroom and reach 1,695 DKK for a double with private bathroom, terrace and a sleeping loft. Organic breakfast is served from 8:00 to 9:30, and check-out is at 10:00 unless you pay 100 DKK per person to keep the room until noon. Reception runs Monday to Friday, 10:00 to 16:00, so confirm arrival arrangements if you are coming in the evening.
Bjelland: the sauna comes after the river, not instead of it
Adventure Norway at Bjelland is a rafting centre with cabins, a campsite and a sauna looking over the Mandal River, not a spa hotel. The sauna is 200 NOK per person, and there is a second version in a traditional wooden lavvu with an open fire at the same price, bookable alongside the centre's group day packages.
That framing is the useful part. You come for the river and the sauna is what happens afterwards. Rafting down a 6 km grade 2/3 stretch is 700 NOK for adults and 600 NOK for children under 16. Adults pay 600 NOK for the via ferrata, and 525 NOK buys the evening moose safari, which runs Tuesdays and Thursdays in July, August and September. The base has outdoor showers and toilets rather than a spa changing room, so pack accordingly.
Pick by season first, then by what you want in the water
Season decides more than country does. Northern Sweden has no sunset at all in June and near-permanent darkness in January, northern Norway is dark from afternoon until late morning through the aurora months, and Denmark is sunny in summer and cold in winter, with wind for much of the year.
So match the dates to the bathing you want. The High Coast hot tub runs April to November and the distillery tents June to September, while Storforsen's cooling pool closes on 1 December and its hotsprings carry on through the winter until the temperature drops below minus 20°C. Then pick by what you want an hour before and after the water. Storforsen puts the rapids outside the pool and a hotel bed behind it. Ellevilde gives you one evening with dinner from the same kitchen and a room for the night. Peace & Quiet sells silence behind a glass wall at a price that assumes you mean it, and Glamping Höga Kusten folds the sauna into a night that already includes a fire-cooked dinner. Adventure Norway is the one to book for the river rather than the spa, because judged as a spa it will disappoint.
Frequently asked questions
- What are the best spa hotels in Sweden, Denmark and Norway?
- Sweden has the deepest bench: Storforsen pairs two outdoor hotsprings over the rapids with saunas included in the room rate, and Peace & Quiet in Jokkmokk builds its packages around a private ice bath and sauna. In Denmark, Ellevilde Boutique Hotel on Møn runs a saunagus in what it calls the island's largest sauna every Wednesday at 20:00 for 249 DKK per person. Norway's sauna is at Adventure Norway in Bjelland, a riverside one at a rafting base rather than a hotel spa.
- Which Scandinavian country is best for a spa holiday?
- Sweden, if you want a choice of settings, since the same country offers a rapids-side hotel with two hotsprings, a glass-room retreat with a private ice bath, and a farm where the sauna is included in the tent price. Denmark is the one to pick for a short break with a proper dinner, because Ellevilde's saunagus runs one evening a week at 249 DKK per person. Norway suits a trip where the sauna follows a day on the river, at 200 NOK per person at Adventure Norway.
- How much does a spa weekend in Scandinavia cost?
- The room is the main cost and the bathing is usually the smaller line. At Ellevilde on Møn a small double with shared bathroom starts at 895 DKK a night, and the Wednesday saunagus is 249 DKK per person. At Glamping Höga Kusten a stay from 1,750 SEK per person per night already includes dinner, breakfast and the sauna, with the private wood-fired hot tub at 750 SEK extra.
- Are spa hotels in Sweden expensive?
- They run from 1,750 SEK per person per night at Glamping Höga Kusten, which includes dinner, breakfast and the wood-fired sauna, to 1,424 EUR a night for a Mountain Glass-room at Peace & Quiet in Jokkmokk. Peace & Quiet's floating glass room is the cheaper way onto the same site, from 463 EUR a night.
- What is the best time of year for a spa holiday in Scandinavia?
- Summer for Denmark and the Swedish coast, winter for anything north of the Arctic Circle. Northern Sweden has no sunset at all in June and near-total darkness in January, and northern Norway is dark from afternoon until late morning, which is when the aurora shows. Danish weather is sunny in summer and cold in winter, with wind for much of the year.
- Can you visit a spa in Sweden without staying at the hotel?
- Not at Storforsen: the men's and women's saunas, the shared steam sauna and the cooling pool all sit inside a relax area that only guests of the hotel can use, so there is no day ticket. The outdoor hotsprings are booked separately by contacting the hotel, and you should ask whether that booking requires a room. At Glamping Höga Kusten the wood-fired sauna comes with an overnight stay, and the hot tub is sold as an add-on to one.
- What should I bring to a Nordic spa?
- Swimwear. Storforsen asks guests to bring swimwear for the hotsprings, and Ellevilde asks the same for its Wednesday saunagus. Towels are provided at Ellevilde and at Glamping Höga Kusten, where the tent comes with made beds and towels.
- Are there spa hotels in Sweden with outdoor hot pools?
- Yes: Storforsen has two outdoor hotsprings beside the rapids, each holding 8 to 10 people and booked in two-hour slots, and they run all year except below minus 20°C. Glamping Höga Kusten has a private wood-fired hot tub at 750 SEK, available April to November.
- Are Scandinavian spas mixed gender?
- At Storforsen the saunas are split: a men's sauna, a women's sauna, and a shared steam sauna that both use. Everything else in the relax area, including the cooling pool, is common space open to all hotel guests from 16:00 to 23:00.
