Kronan Bed & Breakfast

The rooms are good, the owners are friendly, and the food is very good, but the service is terrible. I had to stay here for a long time because of work in the area and had no real choice about the accommodation. Sometimes the key wasn’t in the coded key cabinet I’d been assigned. When I called or texted, they usually replied much later, and only then could I get a room. Arriving in the evening wanting to settle in and sleep, then facing that kind of uncertainty, is totally unbelievable to me. Kronan gets one barely deserved star. If lower ratings were possible, I’d give it one.

We were heading to Vara for an event at the Concert Hall. The accommodation price Kronan quoted was like that of a nicer Gothenburg hotel, so I turned it down, though I did reserve a dinner table. The welcome was familiar, to put it mildly: a man sent us upstairs and said he’d serve us, while his son showed us to a table and took our drink order rather shakily. I ordered the plank steak medium rare, but it arrived very well done. The chili seemed to have been warmed in a microwave, and the sauces tasted like something from the Coop around the corner. The split potatoes were good, at least. After dinner, my Irish arrived lukewarm too. Maybe the coldness of the place had rubbed off on it? The experience was okay, but the prices didn’t fit the mediocre food. Replace the chef, bring in staff who know what they’re doing, turn up the heat, and lower the prices, and this could be good.

The breakfast at a local high-class pastry shop was probably the best thing about our stay. The rooms were quite okay, but there was just one toilet for six or seven rooms. We visited during Oktoberfest, when the music was insanely loud. I kept jolting in bed from the bass, so sleep was out of the question. Letting guests book rooms on a night like that is beyond criticism.

The restaurant has an incredible whiskey collection, so if you’re into whiskey, it’s well worth staying overnight for a visit. The rooms are a good standard, and check-in and check-out were contactless, which was nice during covid. Breakfast was handled the same way, left outside in a bag.