Bathe like a local: Oslo Fjord
Sweat legend Mikkel Aaland on the buoyant Norwegian steam scene.
Oslo’s waterfront has undergone a remarkable transformation. Once a gritty, industrial stretch of the city, it is now home to one of the most vibrant, community-driven bathing cultures in the world. The author of Sweat (1978) and the docuseries Perfect Sweat (2024), charts the rise of its fabled floating and dock-side saunas—or badstues.
By Mikkel Aaland
I’m old enough to remember Oslo before the oil boom of the 1970s, when the city still felt like a large village on the edge of Europe. Back then, public badstues were few, often tucked inside swimming halls and sports centers. The fjord itself was industrial, polluted, and treated more as a visual backdrop than a space to inhabit.
“Oslo’s waterfront badstue scene is a powerful reminder that access to clean water and communal bathing is not a luxury—it’s a right”
Mikkel Aaland
Then came the oil money. Norway, flush with North Sea petroleum wealth, invested heavily in public infrastructure, reviving the Oslo waterfront with architectural marvels like the Opera House, the Munch Museum, and the Deichman Bjørvika Library. The water was cleaned up, the harbor opened—but something was still missing: meaningful public access. The fjord was beautiful, yes, but untouchable.
That began to change in 2016, when a group of dedicated cold-water swimmers launched the Oslo Badstuforening (sauna association). They started with a single wood-burning floating badstue built from driftwood by two self-proclaimed anarchists, Martin Lundberg and Hans-Jørgen Hamre. Måken (The Seagull) was moved 14 times to different parts of the waterfront to avoid confiscation before it was legally anchored at Sukkerbiten. The nonprofit now boasts more than 18,000 members and operates 26 badstues in the Oslo region, many of them floating on the fjord.
Sukkerbiten "Badstue to the people"
When I meet jet-lagged visitors to Norway at Oslo Central Station, I often walk them along the waterfront until we reach the tip of Sukkerbiten, a rectangular peninsula that resembles a sugar cube. There we find a cluster of floating badstues run by Oslo Badstuforening. Their motto? “Badstue to the people.”
"We’re open to all social classes, all parts of the city, all ages, and people with disabilities", says co-founder and director Ragna Marie Fjeld. “We offer free badstue sessions for refugees every weekday, and often for school classes too.” Membership costs 400 kroner per year (about $40 USD), but non-members can book sessions online.
The badstues here have bird names: Skarven, Anda, Havørnen, Havhesten, Albatrossen. One of my favorites is Trosten (The Thrush), designed by Spanish architecture firm estudio Herreros to be fully accessible. I attended its 2024 opening along with Norway’s King Harald and Queen Sonja, Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit. All social classes indeed! Trosten even made Time Magazine’s list of the 100 best places to visit in the world.
After sweating it out at Sukkerbiten, I often take my guests for a beer or meal at nearby food trucks. My daughter, a teacher and Oslo Badstuforening member, recommends Barcode Street Food, which offers plenty of vegan options. My wife can’t speak highly enough of Indian Street Food Inc. After a good sweat and dip in the fjord, I can eat just about anything.
Langkaia & KOK
Walking from Sukkerbiten along Langkaia, you pass another line of Badstuforening badstues before coming to a line of floating saunas moored to land, all branded KOK. Unlike the nonprofit Badstuforening, KOK is privately owned. Founded in 2017 by former airline pilot Kristin Lorange, KOK has quickly become an Oslo icon.
As an environmentalist, Lorange realized that those who directly engage with the fjord are more likely to care for it. Today, KOK operates nine motorized floating badstues in Oslo. One even made headlines after towing a Tesla that had mysteriously ended up in the fjord. KOK is now expanding their business into the UK and the US.
SALT
Continue past the row of KOK floating badstues and you’ll arrive at SALT—a truly one-of-a-kind cultural space marked by a towering wooden pyramid inspired by the traditional fish-drying racks of northern Norway. What began in 2014 as a modest art project in the Arctic, founded by Erlend Mogård-Larsen with help from Finnish architect Sami Rintala, has since evolved into one of Oslo’s most dynamic hubs for art, music, and architecture.
SALT now features multiple badstues, food courts, live concerts, art installations, and special events. It’s a place that defies easy categorization—equal parts performance venue, communal sweats, and open-air gallery.
SALT has been selected as the host site for the 2026 International Sauna Congress—a prestigious global gathering focused on the social, medical, and architectural dimensions of sauna, held every four years in a different country.
While bathers at SALT don’t have direct access to the fjord for a plunge, there are plenty of satisfying cold-water options on site to complete the hot–cold cycle.
Inspiring the world
For decades, sauna/badstue evangelism was the domain of the Finns and Swedes. But when it comes to transforming urban waterfronts through public bathing, Norway—and especially Oslo—is setting the global pace. From Copenhagen to San Francisco, city planners and wellness advocates now look to Oslo as a model.
Oslo’s waterfront badstue scene is a powerful reminder that access to clean water and communal bathing is not a luxury—it’s a right. I feel especially fortunate to have witnessed its birth in my lifetime.
By Mikkel Aaland @mikkel.aaland
Happenings
Finnfest USA 2025
No festival about Finnish culture is complete without sauna - join the Sauna Seminar on July 31, and experience the best saunas Duluth has to offer.
Finnfest, Duluth, MN, July 31 - August 3, 2025
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One last thing
A good bath transcends time, space, and species.
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