With our stop in Stockholm for a day, we wanted to find reasonably priced accommodation in a city that’s not known for being affordable. There are several chain hotels in the city, but most of them were going for North of $200, which meant that the detour we took (from London to Istanbul via Stockholm) would have been for not.

The Courtyard Stockholm Kungsholmen was an absolute steal, costing us only 841 SEK (114 CAD, 88 USD, 78 Euros). Considering that it was the middle of the summer holidays, I was pleased with the deal that I had found.  

We chose the Courtyard Stockholm Kungsholmen, aptly named for neighbourhood it is located in. Although it wasn’t located in the city centre, the location of the Courtyard was conveniently located just over a 5-minute walk to the Fridhemsplan subway station. From the hotel, it was only 15 minutes to Gamla Stan (Stockholm Old Town) or T-Centralen (Central Station), and less than 30 minutes to the Globe, in case you want to check out a Djurgarden hockey game while in Stockholm. To get around, we got a 24 hour Stockholm public transit pass for approximately 15$ that also got us to the airport.

The Hotel

Now, to preface this, a Courtyard is one of the most basic hotels in the Marriott chain, so our hopes were not too high. Courtyards are targeted to business clientele who are at the hotel to sleep, and that’s more or less why were were there.

We had booked a Deluxe King Room at the Courtyard Stockholm Kungsholmen but we were upgraded to a Premium View room, owing to my Marriott Gold status (from my Amex Platinum Card). We were also given a personalized note and a welcome amenity of some nuts and water, nothing fancy, but appreciated it after the journey nonetheless.

The room wasn’t large, about 400 sq feet in my estimate, but it had the bare necessities, including a comfy king size bed.

There was a kettle and some instant coffee – not my favourite.

The TV was situated on the desk, which provided a very serviceable place to work.

In the corner of the room, there was a rather uncomfortable and ugly chair, we clearly didn’t use it.

While the room wasn’t stunning, it was more than adequate for a city stay. Unfortunately, the original room had a putrid smell coming out of the bathroom. We immediately phoned the front desk and they brought up keys to a new room, which solved the problem, but there was nothing more than a “sorry” from the staff. The bathroom was standard, with only one sink.

 The breakfast was not included in our rate, so we decided to eat elsewhere. That being said the breakfast looked decent, but we didn’t think it was worth the 175SEK ($23 CA, $18 US).

Although my review of the Courtyard Stockholm Kungsholmen skewed a bit negative, I thought that the Courtyard Stockholm Kungsholmen was an affordable place to stay in an expensive city - I would stay there again if I was looking to spend a few nights in the city.