Hotel Rival - Stockholm, Sweden 

Contemporary and comfortable
Posted: Wed, Jul 23 2008
The Rival is not for everyone. If you want grand, go elsewhere If you want to be noticed, go elsewhere If you want privacy and efficency go there. It is in what is a central but predominately residential part of town full of young professionals and what looks like the literary, design and media crowd. The locals use the Hotel's cafe, bakery, bar and restaurant as their local eateries, which makes the experience of staying at the Rival a lot less touristy. I had a room with a balcony which overlooked the Square and it was worth the extra charge. ( Perfect for those long summer nights) The room was comfortable and functional and very solid. On first sight it looked a little plain but the longer you stayed the more it revealed itself. The metro was two minutes walk away making all of Stockholm easy to reach. It was a ten minute walk to the Old Town and easy 20 minute walk to the centre of the city. Expensive? Yes, but as everything is expensive in Scandinavia, the Rival represented reasonable value for money.