Denmark
Hotel Vejlefjord in the Jutland Peninsula is often called “the castle in the forest.” A spa or weekend stay includes access to the Thermal Baths & Thalasso Spa, three-course dinner, accommodation, and breakfast buffet. The natural surroundings are part of the experience here too.The Great Northern Spa is the place for relaxation and tranquility. Calm can do so much for your body. Explore the spa and wellness area, with specially designed treatments and a wonderful yoga studio.
Faroe Islands
Next year, Ress Spa at Hotel Foroyar is opening an outdoor area, along with a new spa house where guests can enjoy indoor and outdoor swimming pools, Finnish sauna, a steam room, a hot pot, a cold pot, a lounge area, and a café—all with breathtaking views of Tórshavn, the smallest capital in the world.Finland
There’s nothing more Finnish than sauna; this practice cleanses you both physically and spiritually. Today’s saunas come in every size and form: traditional wood-heated saunas, saunas carved in ice, tent saunas, smoke saunas, luxurious design saunas and even a sauna cart in a Helsinki Ferris wheel. The country has more saunas per capita than any other in the world.Loyly is located in a former industrial area on the Helsinki waterfront. This delightful sauna offers visitors respite from the hustle and bustle of the city. The sculptural wooden building features three wood-fired saunas, a year-round outdoor swimming pool, and a welcoming restaurant serving Finnish classics such as meatballs and creamy salmon soup.
Greenland
Hot springs in Greenland are a common natural phenomenon, but the island of Uunartoq is home to the only place where the springs are warm enough to bathe in. The island is surrounded by mountain peaks and drifting icebergs, so guests can lie in the warm water and enjoy the magnificent natural surroundings—an experience for both body and soul.
At Hotel Disko Island, discover Greenland’s exclusive black sand beach as you take a refreshing ice-cold dip in the dark blue, iceberg-dotted Disko Bay. Follow with a relaxing visit to the warm and inviting wooden barrel sauna. From Qeqertarsuaq, you’ll see reddish-black mountains rise majestically above the town’s colorful buildings. The surrounding back country is incredibly lush, with more than half of Greenland’s plant species.
Iceland
Geothermal wellness in Iceland thermal pools has been relished in Icelandic society for ages. Locals of all ages frequent the hundred public pools for both health and social purposes—in order to unwind after a long day or to catch up on gossip with friends.Norway
The Well Spa, Scandinavia’s largest wellness center and spa, is just south of Oslo at Kolbotn. It offers 11 pools, 15 saunas and steam baths, more than 100 showers, waterfalls, a Japanese bathhouse, a Turkish Hammam, Moroccan Rhassoul, relaxation rooms, and a restaurant—you’ll have a dreamlike experience here.Sweden
Swedes take their leisure time and spa visits very seriously. Wellness Swedish-style means getting away from a hectic work and home life to a weekend retreat to live the simple life with family and friends. Or being pampered at a luxury, traditional spa in the countryside. Wellness in Sweden also goes hand-in-hand with the right of public access here—you are allowed to roam the countryside as long as you leave it the way you found it. Many spas here offer packages that include walking and hiking.Perhaps the world’s most extraordinary sauna experience is Sauna by Elin, in a former underground mine. Today’s deposits are no longer the ore in the rock; the wealth is now found in the mine’s adventure experiences, including the Lady of the Mine sauna ritual. Your senses will travel from heat to cool, from soft to hard, and from darkness to light at the same time as the endorphins flow in your body.
