Hotel Review - The Lord Nelson, Stockholm, Sweden - Small, but Perfectly Formed

The Lord Nelson is a small hotel situated right in the middle of  Gamla Stan, Stockholm's Old Town. It has the distinction of being the narrowest hotel in Sweden at just under six metres, but it does stretch a long way back. It is a very unique family run hotel, first opened in the mid 70's and now run by the children of the original owners.

The hotel is jam packed with naval memorabilia, much of it relating to Nelson. Each floor is named after a ships deck and the rooms after a ship. On each floor are beautiful grandfather clocks. On the first floor, overlooking Västerlånggatan, is a small library with comfy leather seating and a computer. It is a lovely place to sit and watch life pass by on the busy street below. There is also a roof terrace, again with comfy seating, tubs of flowers, blankets for when it gets cool and views over the roof tops of Gamla Stan. 

The Library

The rooms vary in size, (and are accessed by a real key!) but many are very small, like ship's cabins, with wooden floors and a port hole in the bathroom door, mine had a picture of a ship on the wall, a small desk an old fashioned wooden chair, a TV, and a few books and a narrow but comfortable bed, very homely. The bathroom was very clean and had all the modern fittings people expect, the water was always hot. The free WiFi worked very well. Note that there are no tea/coffee making facilities in the room, but on two nights when we arrived back at the hotel the receptionist happily made us coffee for no charge which we drank in the dining area.

Dining Area

Breakfast was taken in a small dining area beside reception. It had everything you could want including Swedish specialities such as herrings in a creamy sauce, crispbread and pink caviar. Everything was very fresh and constantly topped up by staff. They even had two baskets of boiled eggs, one containing three minute eggs and one six minute one, all wrapped in linen cloths to keep them warm. There was also a very good selection of bread/rolls.

The staff were delightful, very friendly and all spoke excellent English. They were very helpful with suggestions of places to eat and ordering taxis and the suchlike, nothing was too much bother for them. 

The location of the hotel right on the middle of Gamla Stan was perfect, in minutes you can walk to the Royal Palace, The Nobel Museum, Riddarholm Church, Storkyrkan and Stortorget. The centre of Stockholm and the main railway station are just a ten or fifteen minute walk away (depending on how fast you walk!) So if you are going on any organised trips the pick-up places are all within an easy walk.

Finally, the price for this hotel, considering its location (and the fact this was expensive Sweden) was very

Getting Acquainted with Lord Nelson

reasonable, I paid £200 for three nights bed and breakfast. If you want big, spacious rooms this hotel is not for you (though the same family run two bigger hotels in the same area, details on their website). But if you want a quirky, friendly, personal hotel that is well located and reasonably priced I have no hesitation in recommending the unique Lord Nelson Hotel.

Address:  Västerlånggatan 22, Gamla Stan, SE-111 29 Stockholm, Sweden.
Website: Lord Nelson Hotel

Stockholm 2 - Island Hopping and a Doomed Warship

We were up early and went down for breakfast. It was lovely, a good choice of typical Continental breakfast fayre along with more Swedish things like herrings in a creamy sauce, caviar, crispbread and pickled cucumber. They even had a choice of 3 minute and 6 minute boiled eggs wrapped in linen cloth to keep them warm. A member of staff was constantly checking and keeping everything topped up.

After breakfast we walked through the

arches of the government buildings and over the bridge. It was a beautiful morning and old Stockholm looked so lovely with its spires and gorgeous historical buildings. We walked on into the modern city centre.

We saw a lovely chocolate shop on Drottningsgatan (Queen Street) and just had to go in. We saw an interesting shop full of chocolate and other delights so we just had to go in! There were some chocolate things

called skumtopp which made us smile, they are marshmallow covered in chocolate and much more delicious than they sound. They also sold Swedish crispbread which was circular with a hole in the middle and dozens hung on a pole above the counter.

We walked on to the Tourist Information to pick up my Stockholm Card that gave discounts on trips and museums. We also booked the Under the Bridges boat tour for the next day.

Then we caught the hop on hop off bus. We had decided to do a circuit first and then get off at places we wanted to see more of. We toured the centre of the city, passed the City Hall its three golden crowns on the tower gleaming in the sunlight. 

The Opera House which was beautiful, and, like a lot of the buildings, it had a Germanic look about it. We skirted

The Royal Palace

Gamla Stan with its narrow roads it was impossible for the bus to enter properly. 

We passed the huge Royal Palace and saw the changing of the guard. We then crossed a bridge onto the green island of Djurgården   which is Stockholm's leisure place with amusements and parks and also where many of the city's museums are. 

On the second circuit we got off the bus at the Vasa Museum which houses the Vasa warship. The building itself was spectacular with the "masts" soaring out of the roof of the building. The Vasa was built in 1627 and sank on its maiden voyage 1300 metres from where it set sail. It lay on the seabed until it was recovered in 1961. It was in an extremely well preserved state and put on public display. 

We got our tickets and went in and immediately are in a huge room dominated

The prow of the Vasa

by the Vasa, it was stunning, so much bigger than I expected. There were galleries at different levels to the side of the ship so you could see all levels. To the other side were exhibits of articles found in the wreck and videos about its history. 

The ship had a huge, curving prow and highly decorated stern, the masts were massive. Looking at it I wondered how this huge ship floated at all! 

The highly decorated stern of the Vasa

We had a snack in the museum's restaurant before leaving. I had wanted to go to the Nodiska Museum close by but it was closing. I pondered on going to the Abba Museum further down the road which only opened the previous month, but decided against it as it was extremely expensive and we got no discount with our Stockholm Card. 

We caught a tram back to the centre of town and then went our separate ways as we wanted to see different things. I headed back to Gamla Stan and crossed a bridge and onto the small island of Riddarholmen. I wanted to see Riddarholm Church, now a museum and burial place of Swedish royalty until the 1950's.  Unfortunately it was closed, so I headed back to our hotel, popping into some shops along the way. There were some beautiful old buildings in Gamla Stan with ornate carvings around many of the doors. Its so good that it has been preserved for us all to enjoy. 

Before we headed out too eat that evening we had some wine (that I had brought with me knowing how expensive Sweden is for alcohol!) in the lovely little library area of the hotel. It is on the first floor and looks out over Västerlånggatan. It has a comfy leather suite and books to read, very relaxing.

We walked the short distance to Stora Nygatan to an Italian restaurant called Rodolfino's. By coincidence we had both noticed it on our way back to the hotel earlier, it was a bit away from the main tourist area and was therefore a little cheaper than some we'd seen. It was decorated in the red, white and green of the Italian flag, basic, but comfortable and friendly. More importantly, the food was delicious, we shared some wonderful garlic bread then for mains I had a ham and mushroom pizza and Yvonne had seafood pasta and we both ate the lot. 

It was after 11pm when we headed back to

the hotel. It was still light and ahead of us the tower of the cathedral, Storkyrkan, rose above the other buildings and the usually busy main streets were quiet. Already our first full day in Stockholm was over and we were both loving the city. 

Stockholm 1 - A Quirky Hotel and Heavenly Spires

I felt a thrill as the plane descended into Arlanda Airport near Stockholm, I looked down on a landscape full of forests dotted with countless lakes. I always get that feeling when I arrive at a new destination and wonder what experiences lie ahead of me, don't think I'll ever lose that thrill of travelling. And Stockholm is a place I've always wanted to visit, I'll tell you one of the reasons why later.

Before I knew it I was on the Arlanda Express train shooting through the Swedish countryside at 200 kph. It was brilliant, fast - 20 minutes and you were in the centre of the city - clean, roomy, ran every 20 minutes, WiFi. It was also expensive, but there is a bus that takes longer but is much cheaper. However two tips for the Arlanda Express - they have a two for one ticket offer in the summer and pensioners always can get half price tickets.

I stepped out of the Central Railway Station into a strangely quiet Stockholm. We later found out that it was the Midsummer national holiday over the weekend we were there, it didn't affect our trip, just meant the roads were quieter and many general shops were closed.

I decided to walk to the hotel as I knew it was not far away. I savoured my first views of the city, it was beautiful with its islands, water, bridges, historical buildings and tall church spires soaring up into the blue sky. I crossed the Vasabron and to my left saw the Royal Palace, it was huge! I was now in Gamla Stan and soon was struggling with my wheelie case on the cobbles, not a good mix! Eventually I came to Västerlånggatan, a long narrow street on the western side of the island and that used to follow the line of the old city wall. This is where our hotel, the not very Swedish sounding,  Lord

The Lord Nelson Hotel

Nelson Hotel was. It is a hotel like no other, less than six metres wide, full of naval memorabilia much relating to Nelson, the rooms are small, named after shifts and inside like ship's cabins. Its very quirky and absolutely delightful! I will do a separate full review about the hotel soon.

My friend Yvonne was already there and we met up and had a chat. Then we headed out to a nearby restaurant specialising in Swedish food that had been recommended by  the receptionist.  It was called Tradition on Österlånggatan near our hotel and it was a lovely walk through the cobbled streets and lanes of Gamla Stan. 

It was a pleasant place with modern minimal Scandinavian design and served traditional Swedish cuisine with a modern twist. It was expensive so we decided too just go for mains. I had mustard marinated beef with sauté potatoes and pickled cucumber. The meat melted in my mouth and there was lots of it so we didn't have room for another course. We had a glass of wine each, mine was £11.00!! But we both thoroughly enjoyed the meal despite the prices. 

We had a leisurely walk back in the late evening sunshine (love the northern lands long summer days), via Stortorget, the beautiful small square in the middle of Gamla Stan. I was looking forward to exploring the city more in the next couple of days.