Sense of Self Sydney brings 1000-square-metres of wellness to Surry Hills

Sense of Self is expanded from its home of Melbourne with a new venue in Sydney.
The 1000-square-metre site sits between Paddington and Surry Hills.
Scandinavian sauna culture has informed the calming design.
READ MORE: These are the best day spas in Sydney

Historically, Australia’s most elaborate bathhouses and spas can be found along the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria and up in Queensland. But there’s been a trend of the country’s best wellness hubs creeping into Sydney lately, assumedly because everyone wants a slice of the city’s rapidly changing lifestyle scene.

We already know that Queensland’s famous Soak Bathhouse is opening two big locations in Sydney come April 2025. Now Collingwood’s Sense of Self wants in on the action, carving out a 1000-square-metre warehouse space sandwiched between Paddington and Surry Hills.

Opening in the second half of 2025, Sense of Self Sydney is a smart blend of hot pools, saunas, steam rooms, treatment spaces and cold plunges. Worked up by architectural firm Ritz & Ghougassian, the heritage brick warehouse has been dressed with Nordic principles, curated carefully to cocoon guests in a simple, transportive wellness ecosystem based on Scandinavia’s endearing sauna culture.

Once opened, Sense of Self will be Sydney’s biggest bathhouse. And easily it’s most comprehensive, filling the earthy-toned spaces with large mineral pools heated to around 39 degrees. An 80-degree sauna will be the hottest space in the wellness maze, while the Hamman steam room sits at 46 degrees and cold plunge pools rest between ten and 12 degrees.

We’ve moved past introducing wellness as a “trend” in the travel and lifestyle space. And yet it’s only become more integral in large cities such as Sydney, New York and Rome, with the best bathhouses stripping away the overstuffed treatment menus and fluffy words. Sense of Self seems to value the need for simplicity, taking the trend forward while taking the minimal approach of less-is-more.

Reportedly, founder Freya Berwick has been scouting a space in Sydney for the past three years. Landing on a location between two of Sydney’s most sought-after inner-city suburbs seems like something worth the wait, but now we’ll have to start our own as the opening is still quite some time away.

For now, check out some of the other wellness spaces and day spas in Sydney if you need to dial in some tranquility, especially during the Christmas holidays.

Sydney Travel Guide will update this news piece when we have more information about the exact location of Sense of Self Sydney and more details about the treatments on offer.