Clarion Hotel, Stockholm

Author's product rating:   

Value for Money	Excellent
Quality of Rooms	Excellent
Standard of Service	Excellent
Quality of Facilities	Excellent

Advantages:	great views, excellent breakfast, clean friendly top class hotel, great location
Disadvantages:	Can be a little busy, if that's really that bad !

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

The Clarion Hotel in Stockholm, Sweden is one of the largest in the city. Situated on Södermalm (the South Island) it's in a busy, trendy location just around the corner from all manner of bars and restaurants, and is literally across the road from Skanstull tube station which will take you to the central station and the city centre in around fifteen minutes.

It's very easy to find, signposted from the station, and illuminated from the outside by fetching red and blue lights of an evening. It's a four star hotel, and prices are according. Prices vary considerably depending on the season and the days (nights) you wish to stay, so it's worth checking different dates if you can be flexible - you can pick up quite a bargain! Of the price ranges through the week we stayed there we averaged 1000 - 1500 SEK a night (approx. £70 - £110) and we opted for a "Superior Room" which is a little more expensive.

Superior rooms tend to be located on the edge of the hotel. They are a little larger, and all have floor to ceiling windows. Our room looked out over the allotments and river behind the hotel, beautiful especially considering everything was blanketed in crisp white snow for the duration of our stay! Well worth the extra price, we thought - we did see into the standard rooms and they were indeed smaller, with smaller windows. Seeing as we were there mostly to wander the city and spent much of the evenings in the hotel, it was nice to have the extra view and space.

Checkin was quick and easy, the staff were very friendly and all spoke excellent English. Being a little untravelled and inexperienced (on previous stays in the area I've always stayed with friends) we came over shocked and horrified to discover there were absolutely no tea and coffee making facilities in our hotel room, but a couple of quick texts to my Swedish friends informed me that this was not at all unusual there!

That said, it's not like we needed them. The hotel is situated opposite a small shopping mall with a very good supermarket and the room had a small well-stocked minibar - which we emptied and stocked with things we bought there instead *g* (Were you tempted by the minibar at all, it did seem reasonably priced!).

The room and bathroom were spotlessly clean, and the bathroom had a bath and a shower and you could pull back the frosted door (in the dark anyway!) to enjoy a view of the night skies from your bath - very spectacular!

The bed was extremely comfortable, the tv sizeable, and there was a selection of Swedish, Danish, German, English and Chinese channels for the watching, had you time and inclination to watch (which as it happens, we did, so taken were we with our room).

Breakfast could be ordered in advance (up until 3 a.m. the night before) to be served in the room, although we always, always went down for the buffet (included in the price of the room) which was quite frankly the best I've ever seen. I could spend this entire review detailing just the breakfast in fact - it had everything from plate after plate of fresh fruit to fresh prawns (they gave me the fear but I gather some people like them!), a variety of salad, all the breads and crispbreads you can imagine, a choice of soft or hardboiled eggs, and even miso soup! Absolutely delicious and one could have as much or as little as one wished. I also imagine there would be something suitable for any diet imaginable which is a fine thing.

The hotel has a restaurant of its own, and two bars. We did have a drink at the bar in the foyer but when we went to go to the upstairs bar it was absolutely packed, so best to get there early if you want to go! I'm told it's a very popular place with the locals, so that might explain it.

Whilst we didn't eat in the restaurant we did order room service one night to spoil ourselves. The service charge was around £8 - very reasonable! - and the meals (we couldn't help it, we had burger and chips, just to see how good it was) cost around £11 apiece. And it was utterly delicious, and speedily brought too. Well worth it!

The hotel boasts a collection of modern art by mostly local artists and it's very pleasant just to wander with the leaflet you can pick up at the front desk and admire for half an hour or so.

At the front desk the staff will gladly provide you with all manner of information about the city, maps and guides, and they also sell the Stockholm Card, a scheme which enables you to purchase a card valid for 24 or 72 hours that allows you to use all public transport as well as enter a wide variety of the most popular museums the city has to offer - this is very well worth it if you have a day to spare and is a real saver!

We spent a day or two just on Södermalm, in the bars, cafes, and even had a trip to the theatre, almost all of which are located on Götagatan, the street just around the corner from the hotel. Walking down here will take you more or less straight to Gamla Stan, the old town, which is a very pleasant thing to do.

But this is more to illustrate the excellent location of the hotel, the city itself is something else!

The hotel also offers several computers and free internet to its guests, as well as wi-fi in all rooms. It regularly provides full conference facilities to large businesses so it can be rather busy in places sometimes, in terms of the foyer, or at breakfast, but the rooms itself are always absolutely peaceful and quiet so there's always somewhere to get away!

We don't have children so I can't comment on the suitability for children there, although we did see several families staying and they certainly looked happy! The hotel does also allow pets to be brought into the rooms. All rooms are no smoking, but each 'wing' has its own little balcony which can be used to smoke on, or simply to take in the fresh air and enjoy the view some more!

We really did wish we were staying longer, and will definitely be returning as soon as we can afford it! I would thoroughly recommend the Clarion, Stockholm to anyone considering staying in Sweden for business or pleasure, and there are definitely bargains to be had on the prices if you look around a little on their website. Clean, efficient, delicious varied food, fantastic location, full stop perfect!