Centralbadet, Stockholm: Historic Bathhouse and Saunas

What Centralbadet is

Centralbadet is a 1904 bathhouse in the middle of Stockholm, built in Art Nouveau style and still occupying its original address at Drottninggatan 88. Its centrepiece is the Salongsbadet pool, which was the men's pool when the baths opened in 1904; women had a separate pool one floor up.

The building's architecture is the reason it appears on so many Stockholm lists: swimming happened under ornamental tiling and curves rather than in a plain tiled box. If you are chasing the Nordic bathing tradition rather than the architecture, the Finnish sauna is the reference point, and the city's working saunas are covered separately.

The facilities as built

The published pool list describes what the bathing floor was designed to offer: Salongsbadet for lengths, a thermal pool and bubble pool both at 38 degrees, a Kneipp bath where you walk alternately through cold and warm water, and a cold plunge of around 4 degrees that the house presents as an ice hole. The swimming pool water was kept at 28 to 30 degrees, a little warmer in winter and cooler in summer.

Read those figures as a description of the facility, not an offer: the pools and saunas they belong to are shut while the renovation runs. The sauna cabins themselves, their temperatures and the session structure are not part of what the bathhouse publishes, so there is no useful picture of how a sauna round there ran.

Beyond the water, the building held a gym, a yoga studio, a rooftop terrace, a hairdresser and a restaurant, Ecobaren. In practice the pools and saunas are the reason to care about the address as a bather; the rest supports a longer visit once the bathing floor is back.

The renovation and what it changes

Centralbadet states that its pools, saunas and gym are closed for renovation throughout 2026 and until the work is complete. No reopening date appears alongside that notice, so the practical reading is simple: do not build a Stockholm itinerary around bathing at Drottninggatan 88 this year, and treat any date you see elsewhere as unconfirmed until the bathhouse announces one.

The reception at Drottninggatan 88 is listed as closed as a consequence of the works, with occasional variation in hours. That rules out dropping in to look around or to buy a spa entry on the day; everything that remains open is booked in advance and happens elsewhere in the building or at another address.

This is a full closure of the bathing operation, not a partial one with a reduced pool list. Anyone who last visited for the Salongsbadet, the thermal pool or a winter cold plunge should plan on nothing being available on that floor, and should not assume the gym is a fallback either. The trade-off is a year without one of Stockholm's most distinctive indoor swims.

What is still open: treatments and Ecobaren

Spa treatments continue at a separate address, Engelbrektsgatan 5, on weekdays from 09:00 to 20:00 and at weekends from 10:00 to 18:00. Appointments there are booked through the bathhouse's online system, and the reception team can be reached by phone on 08-21 88 21 or by email if the booking needs help.

Ecobaren, the restaurant on Drottninggatan, keeps its own hours: Monday to Friday 12:00 to 20:00, Saturday 11:00 to 18:00, closed on Sunday. The house warns that hours can shift on days of poor weather, so a lunch or a drink is the realistic way to use the main address this year.

For treatments, arrive 10 to 15 minutes early, particularly on a first visit, because the Engelbrektsgatan 5 area makes parking slow and a late start can eat into your appointment time. Cancellations go through the customer account pages rather than by phone or email.

None of this replaces a sauna. If your reason for going was heat, cold water and a quiet hour afterwards, the treatment rooms and the restaurant will not deliver it, and the sensible move is to pick a working venue and keep Centralbadet for a later trip.

Getting to Drottninggatan 88 and Engelbrektsgatan 5

For Engelbrektsgatan 5, the nearest tunnelbana station is Hötorget: leave by the Olof Palmes Gata exit, head towards Tunnelgatan and follow the tunnel the whole way. Phone lines for booking queries run Monday to Friday 10:00 to 16:00, which is worth knowing before you set out.

On a bike, you can leave it outside the door or across the street by Humlegården. Drivers have street parking plus several garages within a three to ten minute walk, including the Stureplan and Birger Jarlsgatan garages run by Aimo Park and the Grevgaraget and Östermalmstorg garages run by Stockholm Parkering; daytime street parking is often time-limited, and the house suggests using a parking app before you arrive.

The Drottninggatan 88 building itself is central enough to reach on foot from the Hötorget area, but with its reception closed there is no reason to make the trip unless you have booked a table at Ecobaren.

Where to sauna in Stockholm instead

Stockholm still has a spread of public saunas, from wood-fired cabins to harbour-side cold plunges, and the city guide to saunas in Stockholm sets out which ones suit a short round and which reward a longer stay. Start there if the renovation has left a hole in your plans, and check each venue's own booking page for session times before you travel.

One pattern worth understanding before you book anywhere: the Swedish bathhouse model pairs a hot room with a cold dip and a long sit afterwards, which is why places with access to sea or lake water feel different from an indoor city pool. The Finnish sauna tradition supplies most of the vocabulary and habits you will meet in Stockholm cabins.

Booking ahead matters in Stockholm, especially at weekends and in the small floating and outdoor saunas where capacity is a handful of people at a time. The trade-offs are the usual ones: changing rooms that are tight at peak hours, a cold walk between the hot room and the water, and sessions that sell out.

If you want a bathhouse interior in the Centralbadet mould — tiled, historic, indoor — Sturebadet in Stockholm is the closer comparison for the style of building, though its facilities and rules are its own. For a wood-and-water day out of the centre, Hellasgården pairs a sauna with a lake, and the Hellasgården Sauna Guide details how that visit works.

Travellers heading further afield in Sweden have a lot more to work with, and a broader view of saunas in Sweden helps set expectations on rules, prices and mixed or single-sex sessions. If your trip takes in Malmö, Ribersborgs Kallbadhus is the obvious cold-water bathhouse, and the guide to the Ribersborgs Kallbadhus explains how the pier baths run.

A plain safety note

Whatever sauna or cold plunge you end up at, drink water, skip alcohol beforehand, and leave the hot room if you feel unwell. If you have a heart condition or are pregnant, ask a doctor before bathing, and take the cold water at your own pace rather than following anyone else's count.

Getting to Centralbadet and its treatment rooms

If you are working out how to reach the bathhouse on foot, the contact page names the nearest T-bana as Hötorget, with the exit at Olof Palmes Gata: walk toward Tunnelgatan and follow the tunnel the whole way. That route brings you to Drottninggatan 88, the address listed for the reception, which the site notes is currently closed while the renovation continues.

Treatments are delivered at a separate address, Engelbrektsgatan 5, and the contact page recommends arriving 10–15 minutes before your appointment, especially on a first visit, because the area can make parking take a little extra time and delays can eat into the treatment itself. The page suggests using parking apps before you arrive, allowing extra time for inner-city traffic, and considering taxi or public transport to avoid parking stress.

For cyclists, bikes can be parked outside the Engelbrektsgatan 5 entrance or across the street by Humlegården. Both street parking and several garages sit within about a 3–10 minute walk, and the page lists Sturegatan/Stureplan garage (Aimo Park), Grev Tureplan/Grevgaraget (Stockholm Parkering), Birger Jarlsgatan garage (Aimo Park) and Hedvig Eleonora/Östermalmstorg garage (Stockholm Parkering); note that street parking is often time-limited during the day.

Booking is done online via Boka, and cancellation can only be made through Mina sidor; if you need help, the phone line 08-21 88 21 is staffed Monday to Friday 10.00–16.00, and email is info@Centralbadet.se.

Plan Around the Closure

Centralbadet is worth knowing about and not worth planning around in 2026: the pools, saunas and gym are closed for renovation, the Drottninggatan reception is shut, and only the Engelbrektsgatan 5 treatments and the Ecobaren restaurant are running. Book either through Centralbadet.se and leave the bathing for a future trip.

If the point of your trip is sauna, book a working Stockholm venue instead and keep the Art Nouveau pool hall on your list for whenever the renovation ends. The one useful habit to carry over is to confirm a session before you set out, since the city's small saunas fill quickly.