Scandic Frimurarehotellet

The hotel is nicely situated near the train station. I had an early start, and they kindly arranged a breakfast box for me to take along.

The family room has four separate beds, so siblings can sleep peacefully too. There’s a very nice playroom, plus a movie room in summertime, and the courtyard feels cozy. The bar was good, and breakfast had a good selection spread across several spaces, so it didn’t feel cramped. The breakfast rooms and the whole building are beautiful. A beautiful hotel.

The staff were exceptionally friendly and welcoming at check-in and again in the morning at breakfast. The location is central, with good parking options. We’d booked a family room for two adults and two children, but only found three sets of bedding: two on the double bed and one on the roller bed. There was also a sofa, and after we asked, they brought extra sheets and bedding, which sorted out the kids’ sleeping arrangements. The double-bed mattresses were very uneven and wobbly, as if they’d been used for a long time, so we didn’t sleep comfortably. Outside, traffic noise was extremely loud overnight. It sounded like cars racing along the street in front of the hotel repeatedly, with noisy engines and at high speed. That wasn’t something the hotel could control. There was no air conditioning, so we had to choose between opening the window for fresh air and hearing the noise, or keeping things quiet but stuffy. At breakfast, I’d have preferred better quality over quantity. There were huge amounts of cut vegetables, but they didn’t look or taste very fresh. Smaller platters prepared fresh might taste better and reduce waste. There were four or five kinds of meat ham or cold cuts and two cheeses, all fairly bland, but no vegetarian vegetable spreads. As a vegetarian, I’d have appreciated tomato spread, hummus, or something similar. The furnishings where we sat were worn, and the area wasn’t very clean: there were milk stains on the sideboards, and the tables and chairs weren’t clean either.

Storm Dave caused railway disruption, with trains delayed or cancelled, but the staff at Scandic stepped up. They let us use our rooms well after checkout time and made coffee and tea available too.