Receive a free Hg2 guide when you book a room online

The Rica chain has dozens of hotels throughout Norway and Sweden. Of the company’s four properties in and around Stockholm, this one in Gamla Stan is by far the best for people who are travelling for pleasure rather than business.

As befits a hotel in the Old Town, the rooms and suites are elegantly furnished in a traditional fashion, reminiscent of the 18th century (though the building is even older, dating from the 1650s). Rooms have rich fabrics and classical prints on the walls, and some even have brass beds.

The hotel’s main asset is its location: you step straight out onto one of the cobbled streets of the Old Town but, thankfully, not one that is permanently swamped with tourists. Once you check in it’s easy to forget that you are in one of the biggest cities in Scandinavia.