Grand Hôtel Saltsjöbaden Spa & Resort has always had the bones of a grand resort hotel. Opened in 1893 on the initiative of banker and politician Knut Agathon Wallenberg, the waterfront property was conceived as Sweden’s answer to the great European coastal hotels of its era. More than 130 years later, it is being carefully reworked for a new chapter. One in which gastronomy, wellness and hospitality are intended to become as much of a draw as the setting itself.
For now, much of that future still sits behind scaffolding and construction work. “But when you walk through the property, you realise just how substantial this project is,” says the hotel’s new CEO, Sunniva Fallan Röd. “You can see that something special is taking shape.”
The first phase of the redevelopment is expected to welcome guests during the second half of 2026. An exact opening date has yet to be confirmed, but when the doors do open, food and beverage will play a central role. “We will have four restaurants, and gastronomy will be a major focus for us,” says Fallan Röd. “Not only in terms of quality, but in how it connects to wellbeing.”
The redevelopment has been under way since 2022, under the ownership of entrepreneur Mikael Solberg and his family. For Fallan Röd, the appointment comes with a particular sense of responsibility. “It feels like being entrusted with somebody’s baby,” she says. “There’s a responsibility not only towards the hotel itself, but towards the hospitality industry as a whole. In my opinion, what the Solberg family is doing is restoring a remarkable place to the grandeur it deserves, while adapting it for a modern era.”
For Fallan Röd, the connection between gastronomy and wellbeing is not about restriction. Pleasure has to be part of the equation. “We believe people should be able to enjoy life. You can take care of your health, exercise and feel your best, while still having a glass of wine or eating an ice cream. Those things are not mutually exclusive.”
The restaurant line-up will include Franska Matsalen, a glass pavilion overlooking the water, a spa restaurant and a lobby restaurant. Detailed concepts are still being developed, but the aim is to give each venue its own distinct character. “We want people to have genuine choice. Different concepts, different moods, different experiences,” Fallan Röd explains.
The original French Riviera inspiration is still part of the brief, but in Saltsjöbaden that idea has a distinctly Nordic expression. Darkness, silence, fresh air and water. For international travellers, Fallan Röd believes the appeal can lie in details that may feel commonplace to a Swedish audience. “To many people around the world, walking on ice or lying in a hammock in the middle of winter, looking up at a sky full of stars, is something extraordinary.”
The spa itself is also being significantly expanded, ultimately featuring seven pools. Fallan Röd sees that as the basis for longer, more structured stays, where treatments, training, nutrition and time in nature can be combined. “The goal is not to tell people how they should live, but to inspire them and perhaps give them tools they can take back into everyday life,” she says.
Art, photography and music will also shape the hotel’s new identity. Having said that, the renovation is not centred around adding new layers. “There is enormous respect for the history of the property,” says Fallan Röd. “The question has always been: what was the original vision, and how do we capture that while still creating something contemporary?” In practice, that has meant returning to historic drawings. In the original lobby, for instance, the room’s former ceiling height is restored. The same attention to heritage will carry into the restaurant line-up, too, with the lobby restaurant named Knut & Alice Vardagsrum, after Knut and Alice Wallenberg.
Further down the line, Fallan Röd hopes Grand Hôtel Saltsjöbaden Spa & Resort will be regarded as one of the world’s great hotel destinations. “We want you to leave with more energy than when you arrived,” she says. “We want you to immediately start thinking about when you can come back. You know that feeling when you’ve had such a great experience that words don’t quite do it justice? That’s what we’re aiming for.”
