© Viggo Lundberg, Arctic Bath
Harads, Schwedisch-Lappland · am Lule-Fluss
Arctic Bath
Arctic Bath sits on the Lule River near Harads, a village of around 500 people in the north of Swedish Lapland. The hotel is, quite literally, a structure on the water: a circular ring of stacked timber, inspired by the era of log-floating when felled trunks were sent downriver. In summer the building floats; in winter it freezes into the ice. At its centre is the open cold bath — ringed by three saunas, hot baths and a treatment room. It is a place built around bathing, warming and the stillness of the Arctic Circle.
- Location
- Harads, Schwedisch-Lappland · am Lule-Fluss
- Best for
- Wellness · Couples · Northern lights · Design · Slow travel
- Best season
- Ganzjährig · Year-round (Nordlichter Sep–März, Mitternachtssonne Jun–Jul)
- Price
- €€€€
- Visit hotel website
- arcticbath.se
Transportation Options
- Flughafen Luleå (ca. 1 Std. 15 Min.)
- Bahnhof Boden (ca. 45 Min.)
- Privattransfer auf Anfrage
Basic Information
- Number of rooms: 12
Hotel Features
- 12 Kabinen — 6 schwimmend auf dem Fluss, 6 am bewaldeten Ufer
- Offenes kaltes Bad (~4 °C) im Zentrum des schwimmenden Rings
- Drei Saunen, Warmbäder & Spa-Behandlungsraum
- Schwimmendes Restaurant, nordische Küche (1 MICHELIN Key)
Gallery
© Daniel Holmgren, Arctic Bath
© Daniel Holmgren, Arctic Bath
© Daniel Holmgren, Arctic Bath
© Viggo Lundberg, Arctic Bath
© Arctic Bath
© Arctic Bath
© Daniel Holmgren, Arctic Bath
© Arctic Bath
© Maria Broström, Arctic Bath
© Arctic Bath
Our take
Why we love it
The open cold bath at the centre of the ring, around 4 °C all year — warmth, plunge, rest, under northern lights or midnight sun.
Architecture that tells of the region's log-floating history — a building that floats in summer and freezes into the ice in winter.
A floating restaurant cooking Norrbotten's wild larder — reindeer, moose, berries, fish — recognised with a MICHELIN Key.
© Daniel Holmgren, Arctic Bath
The Cold Bath
The heart of Arctic Bath
At the centre of the floating ring sits the open cold bath, kept at around 4 °C the whole year. Around it are grouped three saunas, hot baths and a treatment room. The ritual is simple and old: begin in the heat, plunge into the cold water, then come to rest — and start again.
In winter the structure is frozen into the ice of the Lule River; in summer it drifts on open water. Above the cold bath stand the northern lights in winter and the midnight sun in summer. Arctic Bath understands wellness along four simple cornerstones: good nutrition, exercise, peace of mind, and care of the body and face.
© Daniel Holmgren, Arctic Bath
A House That Floats and Freezes
Architecture on the Lule River
The floating part of Arctic Bath — the cold bath and six water cabins — was designed by architects Bertil Harström and Johan Kauppi. The circular form, with its timber jutting out over the edge, is inspired by a log jam from the floating era, when the timber of Norrbotten was carried downriver.
The result is a building that lives with the seasons: in summer it floats on the Lule River, in winter it becomes part of the ice. Guests reach the hotel across jetties and wooden decks, with the water — or the ice — directly underfoot.
© Daniel Holmgren, Arctic Bath
The Cabins
Six on the water, six on the shore
Arctic Bath has twelve cabins. Six float as water cabins for two near the shore, with private access over a footbridge and their own wooden decks above the river. Six more stand elevated on the wooded bank, designed by AnnKathrin Lundqvist: three sleep up to five guests, three are suites for two.
Inside, warm timber, large windows onto the landscape and a restrained Nordic design set the tone. It is not about scale but about closeness — to the water, the forest and the northern light.
© Arctic Bath
The Restaurant
Norrbotten on the plate
The floating restaurant on the Lule River cooks a Nordic cuisine with a clear Arctic accent. The ethos is local, pure and sustainable: reindeer, moose, wild birds, fish, berries and dried herbs from the surrounding nature of Norrbotten, alongside dairy, honey and beef from the region.
Chef David combines recipes handed down through family and the local community over generations with experience from Asian Michelin-starred kitchens. For the stay as a whole, Arctic Bath holds a MICHELIN Key.
People
The Hosts
Arctic Bath is built around a simple idea: to place the Nordic bathing culture — hot and cold in alternation — in a setting of exceptional calm. The circular, floating architecture takes up the history of log-floating rather than hiding it, and the twelve cabins keep the place deliberately small. Wellness here is understood not as a list of treatments but as a rhythm of heat, cold, rest, good food and the landscape of the Arctic Circle.
12 June 2026
The Luxury of Jumping Into the Ice
Why Arctic Bath is less a hotel than an encounter with the North.
The map is loaded from Google Maps, which may transfer data to Google.
Location
Sweden
Harads, Norrbotten
Arctic Bath, Harads, Norrbotten, Sweden
Arctic Bath lies near Harads, a village of around 500 people on the Lule River in Norrbotten, the northernmost part of Sweden. Luleå airport is about an hour and 15 minutes away, the railway station at Boden roughly 45 minutes. All around is the vastness of Swedish Lapland: forests, the river, long winters with northern lights and summers with the midnight sun. The region offers dog-sledding and snowmobile tours, ice fishing and hiking — and, with the neighbouring Treehotel, another well-known design project in the same village.
Book Now