I had the fortune to enjoy a full spa day in Gothenburg the other day. It was my mother’s 75 year birthday and the children had been asked to kidnap her for the day.

We started off at beautiful St. Jörgen and had booked the bathing ritual. I have to say that it is perfect for couple and groups and fits with the Swedish culture. They have done an excellent job and the number of guests showed that it is a success.

The way it works is that you book a spa ritual day, where you can chose from three different experiences; I think it was calming, energizing and cleansing. We chose the energizing which means that you alternate hot and cold experiences and apply the kit of products you receive according to a schedule. It is all do it yourself, which is why it works so well here in Sweden where we don’t mind this. The products are great, I know the lady who produces them and what high quality ingredients she uses, but would have loved to have them a bit more natural in terms of preservatives and SLS etc. That is always in the hands of the buyer….

Anyway, we did everything from foot bath, kneipp walk, aufguss sauna, cold bucket shower, steam, cold dip, outdoor pool, do it yourself scrub, face mask, foot bath etc. Again, perfect to do in groups or as a couple, however cannot recommend doing it on your own. You would feel very lonely.

St. Jörgen Park Hotel is beautifully designed, great art, furniture and feel and the architect and the designers have done an outstanding job. Overall we were extremely satisfied.

Then we went to another newly opened hotel and spa (and for courtesy I won’t name it) and this experience was exactly the opposite. They hadn’t got it right in terms of lighting, feel and art. It was more modern and cold with some attempts to make it warmer with wood here and there. The service was poor, the quality so so, and staff were not adequately trained. It wasn’t a completely terrible experience, they tried their best and it was clear that systems were not yet set up properly. These things often happen when you just have opened, and it is very common with spas that they get 1-2 weeks pre-opening training and then you open. It is simply not enough when people is the product – and the result is the experience that we had and that we won’t come back. A newly opened spa cannot afford this…

We still had a great time; we just enjoyed a great day together and had a lot of laughs and quality time, which is rare in this busy day. St. Jörgen remains as a great memory to all of us.

//Anna