Recently in Sweden, I experienced ancient wellness practices intertwined with new science and artistic sensibilities. In many ways, Sweden wrote the book on wellness as a way of life and travel. And my stays at two sister hotels in Stockholm proved the country is in the vanguard of redefining wellness travel again.
In case you missed it, in 2025, Sweden became the first country where doctors can prescribe travel for wellness. The global leader in quality of life, renowned for its thousands-year-old sauna culture, is an inspiration for wellness lifestyle – and a beacon for wellness travelers… and now this:
The “Swedish Prescription”
In a wellness ‘first,’ Sweden has become the first country where patients can actually download a medical referral form to take to their physician to be prescribed wellness travel to the country!
The Swedish Prescriptionisn’t a marketing gimmick. The program is rooted in deeply-held Swedish beliefs and practices, like
- ‘fika:’ social rituals of connecting with loved ones;
- ‘lagom,’ or achieving balance, moderation and sustainability in your way of life;
- love of getting outdoors no matter what the weather; and of course,
- sauna and thermal hot/cold practices,
all of which combine to create meaningful and scientifically-supported health benefits.
Hagastrand and Hotel J: Beyond the Spa Hotel
All that said, why would anyone go to Sweden in the winter, far enough north that the sun rises after 8 am and sets mid-afternoon?
I went to spend a week immersed in the wellness experiences of 2 of the Stockholm hotels in the Nobis Hospitality Group: Hagastrand and Hotel J.
The company has set a new gold standard for wellness travel, following a three-year renovation program, masterminded by Alla Sokolova, its Head of Wellness.
“I think every human being has an innate wish to be in its best form,” she explained to me. Her vision for the wellness program at the hotels is for a stay there to be part of a “never-ending learning journey” to help create winning conditions for guests to achieve their maximum performance, their best selves.
HAGASTRAND SPA AND HOTEL
When it re-opened in Fall, 2025 as part of Marriott’s Autograph Collection, Hagastrand Spa and Hotel was already billing itself as a “new social wellness destination” in Sweden’s capital. A post-modern building attached to a historic military barracks in the quiet, seaside location of Stockholm’s Royal Park, Hagastrand re-launched with a 27,000 square foot, cutting-edge wellness center with some practices that are the first of their kind.
If you’re imagining a clinical, white-jacketed, James Bond-style European health retreat, think again. Instead, Hagastrand offers warmth along with a masterful and welcoming blend of ancient practices and advanced therapies, including modern technologies that can deliver wellness experiences to guests in one-of-a-kind ways, all brought together under one roof.
There’s also a focus on music, “a universal language” that “everyone can relate to,” Alla adds.
“Tuning our bodies and our minds,” as she puts it.
Hagastrand’s facilities incorporate both traditional Nordic and international wellness as well as sensory design and even the much newer concept of ‘biohacking.’
Along with treatment rooms and private suites you expect to find in a spa or wellness center, Hagastrand’s includes:
- Underwater therapeutic music in its 18-meter indoor pool;
A Thermal center, with multiple saunas, including herbal and hammam and also:
- Sweden’s first "Event Sauna," one of the few in the world, for up to 60 guests. As an ‘event,’ one of Hagastrand’s trained sauna masters invites guests in the wellness center to join them in a paced series of rituals where the sauna master employs herbs, music, infused ice and spoken word to lead guests through a wellness journey that changes every time.
- Scandinavia's largest snow room for cryotherapy
- Experience showers, red light therapy, and neuro-acoustic massage loungers.
Gongs, handmade in Italy, including a giant (as tall as a person) gong at the end of the pool played by hand by sauna masters, and
- in the ‘Gongmatic’ room (pictured, top), a ‘self-playing’ gong – also the first in the Nordic countries – which plays in timed performances as guests lie on warm ceramic lounge beds. The audio art installation allows guests to be immersed in the vibrations and embark on a meditative journey.
- Cardi suit – like a giant diving dry suit with hands and feet, except that a therapist fills this suit with carbon dioxide. The therapy allows greater blood flow to the cells, which result in greater oxygen delivery, performance and rest. Cardi suits are already used extensively by high-performance athletes, but rarely available to the wellness-seeking public – including me!
The state-of-the-art wellness experiences flow harmoniously with the new versions of familiar practices and are woven seamlessly into a hotel stay that includes warmly Nordic accommodations, stylish bars and a fine dining restaurant (no restricted, seaweed smoothie diet here unless you wish!) that even drew a member of the Swedish Royal Family while we were dining one evening.
HOTEL J
Sister property Hotel J draws inspiration from its location on the Stockholm archipelago in a Newport, Rhode Island-type neighborhood of illustrious and historic seaside homes.
The nautical and natural theme runs deep, from stunning water views and terraces overlooking the sea, extensive gardens that are not just visual, but harvested for wellness herbs and botanicals, and of course, to its wellness offering.
Hotel J’s Sauna by the Sea is a ritual all the more memorable for its location in the Panorama Sauna perched on rocks rising from the waves. The sauna itself is on the second story, with floor-to-ceiling windows providing the perfect vantage point over the sea to become part of your herbal-infused sauna ritual. And a cold plunge into a wintery sea is just steps out the door to conclude your authentic Swedish sauna!
But we also got off property, accompanied by ‘nature therapist’ Lisen Sundgren, who took us on a Swedish interpretation of that famous Japanese wellness practice, ‘forest bathing.’ During a walk on a next-door nature reserve in the twilight, where dimming sight helped sharpen our other senses as we were guided to literally feel, hear, and smell the woods. We ended up on a rocky lookout over the sea and the lights of Stockholm on the opposite side of the archipelago, sipping her homemade Swedish rosehip soup and communing by the mystical twinkles of lamp light.
SANCTUM
From the primal forest… to a wellness rave!
In another ‘first,’ Hagastrand and Hotel J’s parent company has introduced ‘Sanctum’ to the Nordics as part of its wellness experience offering. We were invited to the launch party, held in the Nobis Hospitality Group’s event space at the Stockholm Opera House.
Sanctum holds these ‘wellness raves’ around the world for a growing community drawn to the euphoric release of its hour-long, high-intensity, music-led, 55-minute sessions combining HIIT, Kundalini yoga, breathwork, and meditation. Ours in Stockholm was candle-lit in the awe-inspiring historic surroundings… in complete silence with the sound healing, music and guidance individualized by headphones.
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Embracing the widest interpretations of wellness lived through ancient traditions, Nature, technology, art and the most welcoming Scandinavian culture and lifestyle… these Swedish hotels are setting the stage for a new global approach to wellness travel.
The Nobis Hospitality Group’s founder gives all the credit for the hotels’ pioneering wellness journeys to Head of Wellness Alla Sokolova – a risk, but a calculated one, with a simple foundation of beauty and hospitality.
“Everybody today is talking about longevity and all these things, and sometimes it's too much,” Alessandro Catenacci, owner and CEO of the family-owned Nobis Hospitality Group, told me.
“I hate the word ‘trend.’”
He acknowledges that the groundbreaking wellness offerings of the two hotels is “a new thing for us,” but “things are not so complicated usually if you do it in the right way.” He points out that wellness practices are a natural way of life for Swedes.
“We are a sauna family.
“And this is very important because you, you can't go on doing things if you don't like that. I love it, really.”
Hagastrand and Hotel J may be on the leading edge. But advanced wellness experiences for travel are no longer a novel trend.
As more travelers intentionally seek to incorporate their wellness practices from home in their travels to new destinations, and expand their wellness horizons while traveling, wellness hospitality will take the lead from Hagastrand and Hotel J in helping us discover the destinations’ best experiences to hone our mental, physical and spiritual health.
START YOUR TRIP!
Images and story by: Lynn Elmhirst, travel journalist and expert
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