Åhus Gästgivaregård

The location is the best thing about the hotel and restaurant, and an ocean view room makes the stay especially pleasant. It's a clean Swedish hotel, and the food is on a par with any decent eatery. They have local beer, though the seafood selection is a little limited despite being so close to the water. It's a lovely small guesthouse in the countryside. It doesn't have some features of a five-star hotel, such as a bar, but it's still a very nice place to stay. I only wish it cost less than a flight ticket, as I'd probably visit more often.

The main problem was how little English most of the hotel staff seemed to know. At check-in, we could see how anxious they were when we didn't speak Swedish, and we got almost no information, not even directions to our room. Ordering at the restaurant was similar. It made for a very strange hotel experience. The rooms are comfortable, the hotel is nice, and breakfast was good. The restaurant menu is somewhat limited and rather expensive. The only thing missing from the room was air conditioning.

We won't choose this place again, and I hope other guests have a better stay. Our room smelled of sewage, and there were at least 20 sewer flies at a time, with more coming in. The window only opened about 5 cm, so airing the room out quickly wasn't an option. The staff said they hadn't encountered this before and apologized, but offered no compensation. It's a nice spot right by the water in Åhus, which made the two-star experience especially disappointing.

The front-of-house service really let dinner down. We were served the wrong dish, the staff seemed stressed and quite inexperienced, and they couldn't answer basic questions about the menu. No one introduced the courses, and we didn't feel looked after. They also brought a small off-menu “bite” without saying what it was, so we had to ask. That was odd, especially when guests may have allergies or other dietary needs. The Saturday evening had a great vibe, with a lovely interior and a good location. The food was what I'd expect for this kind of restaurant in quality and price, perhaps towards the expensive end given the menu, ingredients, and presentation. For much better front-of-house service, I can warmly recommend Kastanjelund's Restaurant, where I had a great experience a few months ago.