Hotel Birger Jarl

Class: First

Style: Cutting edge

Rooms: 235

Named for the city’s founder, the Hotel Birger Jarl is a chic, upscale vision of Stockholm, with its kiss-me red lobby and birch-wood paneling that makes even the most jaded of interior decorators catch their breath. Every piece of furniture is custom designed by someone native, as are the staff uniforms. Downstairs, the lobby acts as a rotating gallery for local artists. Forget the faceless “international style” — the Birger Jarl is pure Swedish.

Twelve of the rooms are individually designed by different architects, both famous and up-and-coming, including the star of Swedish modernism Thomas Sandell. It’s not much of an exaggeration to say they’re live-in artworks, so it’s worth your while to book one, and see if you can’t get a peek at the others. In one, soft light sculptures are beamed on the walls. In another, photographs of a beech forest slide open to reveal windows, and the Stockholm urban vista outside. The “Birger Suite,” with its black lacquer headboards, somber geometry, and rice paper lamps, reminds us of a samurai’s reception hall. And our favorite Thomas Sandell room, with its all-white walls covered in brightly colored sprinkles, is oddly reminiscent of a nursery.

Some hotels are so cool they’re almost chilly; but the Birger Jarl isn’t, thanks to the staff. Swedish hospitality is unpretentious, frank, and friendly. Should you choose to stroll through in a tee-shirt and jeans, they’ll help you very nicely with your backpack. And there’s also attention to those less aesthetic conveniences that are necessary in making any hotel stay a treat: like effortless internet connections, generous bathroom accessories, and a gym that overlooks the rooftops of Noormalm.

Breakfast is on the house, and is one of the most fantastic smorgasbords in all of Sweden — pickled herring, cold meats, scrambled eggs, cheese. So feel free to act playful in Sandell’s polka-dotted creation. For at the Birger Jarl, high-design style and low-key relaxation are not mutually exclusive notions.