Hotel Skeppsholmen

Class: First

Style: Scandinavian

Rooms: 81

The Swedes have a knack for making wooden floors and off-white walls feel like the height of luxury. However, the Hotel Skeppsholmen, which is housed in two 17th-century buildings on an island in the heart of the city, is more than just another exercise in Nordic minimalism. The building is listed as one of the most important in Sweden and the designers, from red-hot Stockholm-based company Claesson Koivisto Rune, faced super-strict preservation orders - not even a coat hook could go into the walls without permission and no structural changes were allowed. The result is a hotel that retains its historical character, with worn stone staircases and wooden shutters in the bedrooms, but with hip Swedish furniture (including amazing beds from Duxiana) and sleek Italian bathroom fittings. The hotel's location is a great asset. It's almost next-door to the Moderna Museet, minutes from the National Museum and the Opera House, and an easy walk to all the city-centre shops. There's also a ferry link to the Old Town. However, because the island has few buildings on it, it's silent at night. Centuries ago, the first tennis courts in Sweden were built just outside the hotel and today another bit of Swedish history is being installed: the redbrick building in front of the lobby is being converted into a recording studio for Benny from Abba.

Source: Conde Nast Traveller The Hot List 2010.