Forest sauna in the Nacka Nature Reserve, 15 minutes from central Stockholm. Wood-fired sauna on the lake shore, winter bathing in Källtorpssjön.
Hellasgården is a nature reserve facility on the shore of Källtorpssjön in the Nacka forest, 15 minutes by metro and foot from central Stockholm. The sauna sits directly on the lake. In winter, a hole is cut in the ice for the plunge. This is not a resort or a day-spa concept — it is a municipal facility built into the natural infrastructure of Stockholm's eastern green belt, and it has been used that way since the 1930s.
What earns Hellasgården its place in this list is the proximity of genuine wilderness to the city centre. The Nacka Nature Reserve is a serious forest, not a park. The lake is clean. The sauna is wood-fired in the traditional sense. Stockholm residents use this as they would use any other public facility, which is the highest possible assessment of a sauna: one that gets used without ceremony.
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