Suggestions for a nice hotel in Stockholm?
 

We'll be in Stockholm for 5 nights this fall, and we're looking for hotel recommendations.
We'd prefer to be within walking distance of the town center (or at least where we can find restaurants, entertainment, shops, and safe walking conditions in the evening).
We'd like a nice hotel, perhaps 4 or 5 stars, chain hotels are OK.
Most important would be recommendations based on personal experience.

Thanks.

Radisson Blu is nice.

We stayed at Courtyard. It is about a 20 minute walk to city center, on a lovely path along a rive. A metro is nearby for a short ride instead if walking is an issue.

There were many smaller, neighborhood restaurants all around the hotel. We were very pleased with it.

Do check out Tripadvisor, to see the ratings.

Hi

Do not have personal experience yet but have spent the last month off and on doing research for an early Sept stay after a cruise.

Friends recently stayed at the Clarion Hotel Stockholm, a 4 star, in Sodermalm, and it was a short walk to the subway or a 10 minute walk to the Old Town. They enjoyed their stay, it had air conditioning and said it had a great breakfast.

Based on your comment, there might be two areas you could be considering: Gamla Stan which is the quaint Old Town and the Downtown Pedestrian area (closer to the Central Station). Nothing seems to be to far apart with a 15 to 20 minute walk but we prefer to stay, or be close to Gamla Stan (closer not only to the old town but the water, and museums).

However, Stockholm is not inexpensive, especially during the week when we will be there (weekends are less expensive). On Gamla stan it seems there are mostly 3 and 4 star locations, running $300 or more per night or a lot of Hostels. We had the added complication of 4 couples, when someplaces only had 2 rooms left with ensuites. Also, some places have what they call "cabin rooms". A less expensive alternative, but no window. Many of the locations do not have air conditioning and some do not have elevators if these are of importance to you.

You might want to look at Trip Adviser which does provide good reviews and maps. We are told last summer was one of the hottest on record in the area, and many places did have ventilation issues causing sleeping discomfort.

Our stay at the Grand Hotel matched its name:

www.grandhotel.se/en

Thank you all for the replies. I will check out all of these hotels.

DebitNM, did you also stay at the Radisson Blu?

Sheraton is in a very good location; have also stayed at the Courtyard which is very nice but a little further out.

No, we only stayed at Courtyard. And it more like a Marriott hotel than a Courtyard.

(We did stay at a Radisson Blu in Goteburg Sweden and it was lovely.)

How many is "we" and what is your nightly budget.

We too enjoyed a stay at the Grand Hotel - incredible location - but we went in August when the rates are lowest. A 5* hotel in Stockholm will be very big $

we stayed on Gamla Stan - rented an apartment that was part of a hotel. We walked through the hotel to an adjacent building to the apartment.

We loved staying on Gamla Stan! I can't recommend the hotel because we didn't actually stay there, so a bit of a fake reference, but I would encourage you to think about Gamla Stan as a location.

Again, thank you all for your replies.

Odin, I've stayed at many Sheraton hotels (I'm generally happy with them), but, other than location, I'm interested in what you thought of this particular hotel and your stay there.

nytraveler (me too, but now I live in Denver), "we" is 2 persons, me and my wife. When I do the booking, I generally break a sweat when rates reach $245 per night, and I absolutely cringe when they reach $300. In this case, however, I have a travel agent booking the first half of my 6-week itinerary, and I have the final say as to which hotels I want to stay at, but I have no visibility into what the agent was actually charged for the room. In any case, I'll probably only consider recommending hotels under $300 per night (picture me cringing!). Whatever the hotel costs, I'm sure it'll be in the grass compared to the cost of the entire trip.

surfmom, I understand (from my research) that Gamla Stan is considered the center of the old town, and that's very appealing to us (although we don't want an apartment). We'd certainly consider hotels in that area.

DebitNM,
Were you referring to the Radisson Blu Waterfront Hotel, or the Radisson Blu Strand Hotel?

Gamla Stan *is* the old town. That is what Gamla Stan tranlates to in English.

The breakfast at the Sheraton was a lot better than at the Courtyard IMO, the hotel appears to have alot of tour groups at least at the weekends. Room is the usual Sheraton type, there is a small cafe inside the hotel, it is expensive and we left feeling is that all we got for our money but you have to get used to that in Sweden.

Radisson Waterfront is very close to Central Station which is great if you are arriving into Stockholm on the Arlanda Express from the airport. Sheraton is also within a 10 minute walk. The location of the Radisson Blu Strand is beautiful and very convenient for the Vasa Museum.

Our Swedish friends recommended Scandic Hasselbacken Hotel to us. It is located on Djurgaren where the museums are found. Good bus and ferry access to other parts of the city, large included buffet breakfast, free WiFi like all the Scandic chain of hotels.

Thank you all for your replies.

Based upon your information (which proved very helpful), ratings on Trip Advisor and Bookings, and our own research and preferences, we've decided to stay at the Radisson Blu Waterfront hotel.

This forum is a great resource!

I am sure you'll be pleased with your choice. Do go to Djurgarden.

Sorry I missed this. 10 years ago, early August, we stayed at the Radisson Blu Strand (which is on the waterfront, by the way!) and absolutely LOVED it. It was in the perfect area -- walkable to everything.

Staff delightful. At that time, it was the three of us -- me, my husband, and our then 13 year old. The first room we had was really too small to accommodate us, and I asked if we could get a larger room. They couldn't be nicer about it. They moved us up to a suite that was huge with floor to ceiling windows. We could see the sun rising at 3 a.m. (well, I intentionally woke up for it, hearing it was something so breathtaking it would be worth it -- and it was!).

I was so excited about that room, I was hard-pressed to leave the room!

Surfergirl,

Thanks for that input.

One of the reasons we chose the Radisson Blu Waterfront was its proximity to the central train station, which will be handy when we're ready to return to the airport. Another reason were the reviews on Trip Advisor (it was ranked 4th of 163 hotels in Stockholm). And it's also very easy to walk to the central city (actually a bit closer than from the Strand), which is important to us because my wife uses a cane and has to walk slowly., Also, it doesn't hurt that it's about $50.00 less per night.

But it's reassuring to know that, in general, the Radissons in Stockholm get such good reviews. We stayed at a Radisson resort outside of Cesme, Turkey, and we were also pleased with it. I haven't been as impressed with the Radissons that I've stayed in here in the States.

There are now Radisson Blu Hotels in the USA also and we have found them to be much nicer than the regular Radisson Hotels.

Thank you for that information, Cali.