Where to stay in Stockholm?

Sweden's capital city Stockholm is located on 14 islands on Lake Mälaren which are connected to each other through 14 bridges. Although the city is located very north, its climate is relatively warm. And thanks to its northern location, the days are 18 hours in summer and are just 6 hours in winters. With its 2 million population, Stockholm is also the largest city in Sweden and is a must see with its historic city center, cultural activities and the beauty of its nature.

Where to stay in Stockholm? Stockholm hotels get naturally cheaper as you go further from the city center. The best value for money Stockholm hotels can be find just outside city center and next to public transportation stations which will still provide an easy access to city center where most Stockholm tourist attractions are.

The name of the Stockholm historic center is Gamla Stan. There are accommodation opportunities in Gamla Stan but if you want to stay in this popular and expensive Stockholm area, you need to book in advance. Other than Gamla Stan, Lower Norrmalm (just to the north of Gamla Stan) is known as The City and is the most central area in Stockholm. Hotels in Lower Norrmalm are expensive but towards the north of the area you can still find some nice and relatively cheap Stockholm hotels.

In the 4 star Stockholm hotel category, there is high competition and this is reflected to customers as campaigns and discounts. The room rates in this class are usually between 900 - 1200 SEK. Since there is a huge competition, we suggest you to use an online hotel comparison web site to check for the best prices.

Gamla Stan (Old Town)

Gamla Stan is the historic center of Stockholm and is also known as Staden mellan broarna (the city between two bridges).  Gamla Stan is in fact an island. North Gamla Stan houses the Royal Palace and Swedish Parliment House and the rest of the area houses cobblestone streets, historic buildings and most of the tourist attractions in Stockholm. Royal Palace (Kungliga Slottet), Stockholm Cathedral (Storkyrkan), Riddarholmen Church (Riddarholmskyrkan), German Church (Tyska Kyrkan) and Nobel Museum (Nobelmuseet) are all in this area.

Small Riddarholmen Island forms a part of Gamla Stan and is a must see place with its 17th century houses and palaces.

Hotels in Gamla Stan are very popular so book in advance if you want to stay here. Especially in summer time it is very difficult to find a hotel here. The area is close to car traffic so if you have a car and you want to use it, this area may not be for you.

For Stockholm hotels in this most popular and central Stockholm area visit Stokholm Gamla Stan Hotels pages.

Stockholm Cathedral(Storkyrkan)

Lower Norrmalm , The City

Lower Norrmalm is known as The City and is the most central area in Stockholm. This is also the financial and business center of Stockholm. There are usually 4 and 5 star Stockholm hotels here but as you go further north to residential areas, you can find cheaper and mid level Stockholm hotels. One of the advantages of staying in Lower Norrmalm is that you can access Gamla Stan on foot.

In 1950s and 1960s, Lower Norrmalm has been redeveloped to create a modern city and unfortunately most of its 19th century building were demolished in this process. Especially the Klara District has lost its character completely in this era.

Grand Hôtel (Södra Blasieholmshamnen 8 (T Kungsträdgården)) next to Royal Palace in Norrmalm is the most luxurious hotel in Scandinavia. This hotel was the place where royal families stayed and now it offers classic, old fashioned luxury and a unique experience on its own. The rooms with lake view are very popular and usually full. Even if you do not stay here, the piano bar of the hotel is a must see.

For a comprehensive list of Stockholm hotels in this area, you can visit Stockholm Norrmalm hotels page.

Östermalm 

Stureplan Square in Östermalm, a high class neighborhood in Stockholm, is an important Stockholm night life and shopping center. Kungliga nationalstadsparken (Royal National City Park), Skansen Open Air Museum, Gröna Lund Amusemement Park and Vasa Museum are also in this area.

Some of the most famous and expensive restaurants in Stockholm such as Sturehof, Spy Bar, Riche, Laroy, Hell's Kitchen, East and Sturecompagniet and expensive bars are here between Stureplan Östermalm and Norrmalm. You can also find shops like Versace, Hugo Boss, Gucci, and LV here. If you want to stay in this colorful, central and luxury area, you can check Stockholm Stureplan hotels pages.

For hotels in Östermalm, you can visit Stokholm Östermalm otelleri pages.

Arnoldhuset's Spy Bar is one of the most famous and luxury night clubs in Sweden.

Södermalm

Södermalm Island is just to the south of Gamla Stan and is simply known as Söder (South). Götgatan Street crossing the island from south to the north is ver famous and houses one of the most colorful Stockholm night life spots, Medborgarplatsen. Fjällgatan on the north shores of Södermalm offers a fantastic Stockholm view.

Götgatan and the adjacent streets are full of restaurants, bars and shops. Götgatsbacken is closed to vehicle traffic and is a very popular area.

Business hotel Hilton Slussen in Södermalm offers a fantastic Gamla Stan view. Hotel Rival, is owned by Benny Andersson from ABBA. One of the most interesting and extraordinary hotels in Stockholm is Rygerfjord Hotel and Hostel which is basically housed in an old passanger ship.

For a comprehensive list of Stockholm hotels in this areas, you can visit Stockholm Södermalm hotels page.

Gamla Stan view from Södermalm

Where to stay in Copenhagen?

Copenhagen, the capital city of Denmark, may have just about 1 million inhabitants but it is still large enough to offer more than satisfying shopping, colorful night life and cultural activities. It is an intimate, safe and very easy to explore city which has started its life as a small Viking fishing village in 10th century and became Denmark's capital in 15th century. Copenhagen became the most important city in its region in 17th century and today, it is the 3rd richest city in the world. It is not only a major Scandinavian finance and commerce hub; with Tivoli Gardens, the Little Mermaid statue, Amalienborg Palace, Christianbsorg Palace, Rosenborg Castle, Frederik's Church and many museums, it is an important tourist destination.

In this post, we will answer where to stay in Copenhagen question. Most Copenhagen hotels can be found in the Copenhagen city center, which is called Indre By, and the southwest of the center, an area called Vesterbro. Hotels in Copenhagen, like other Denmark hotels, are expensive. So book your Copenhagen hotel online to avoid more expensive prices and chase the hotel discounts. If you leave the hotel reservation to the last minute, you can spend almost all your Copenhagen travel budget to a hotel room!

If you are looking for relatively budget Copenhagen hotel, one of the 3 hotels of Cab Inn hotel chain are good options. Hotel Cabinn City is a central and relatively cheap Copenhagen hotel. CABINN Metro Hotel is 10 minutes to Copenhagen city center by metro and is 5 minutes away from Copenhagen Airport by train. The rooms are quite small but basics like TV, shower and toilet are decent.

Copenhagen map and regions. Indre By, the center of Copenhagen. Most Copenhagen hotels
Indre By and Vesterbro.

Indre By

Indre By (means Inner City) is the Copenhagen City Center and this area within the city walls was all Copenhagen until 1850s when King Christian IV has allowed people to settle outside city walls. Indre By is naturally the historic center of the city and most of the sightseeing and tourist attractions of Copenhagen are in Indre By.

In the heart of Indre By, city's medieval part, named Strøget, can be found. Cornered by Rådhuspladsen, Slotsholmen, Kongens Nytorv and Nørreport, this square shaped area is full of historic buildings, churches and narrow streets. This is also the shopping hearth of Copenhagen. To the south of Strøget, you can find parliment house in Slotsholmen, and giant Christiansborg Palace (plus some museums).

The answer to the title of this blog post is Indre By. But already expensive Copenhagen hotels are extra expensive in this area. If you want to stay in this historic center of Copenhagen, you can take a look at our Copenhagen Indre By hotels page.

Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen

Tivoli

Tivoli is between Copenhagen City Centre and Vesterbro and is the most tourist oriented part of the city. Staying in a  Tivoli hotel puts you just in the geographical center of attractions in Copenhagen. You can find infamous Tivoli Gardens, central train station and  lively Rådhuspladsen town hall square here. Tivoli is also home to museums like Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek and Nationalmuseet and modern art and architecture centers like Danish Design Centre.

For a comprehensive hotels in this popular part of Copenhagen and details like nightly room rates and guest reviews as well as price comperisons, you can check our Copenhagen Tivoli hotels page.

Vesterbro (Sydhavnen. Enghave, Valby and Vanløse)

Although central, Vesterbro was not considered a safe place until recently but thanks to a huge renovation effort, it is now one of the alternatives to accommodate in Copenhagen.  If you are looking for a Copenhagen budget hotel, you can find the cheapest ones near central train station and the neighbourhoods behind Trivoli. Although the area still has some junkies and prostitutes in the night, you can also find some of the best Copenhagen hotels here.Safety here can also be increased by taking Vesterbrogade direction to walk to your hotel instead of Istedgade.

There is almost nothing interesting for tourists in Vesterbro. The most important attraction here is probably Carlsberg Brewery. The only reason you would stay here is the proximity of the location to Copenhagen City center and the price of the hotel room. For hotels here, check Copenhagen Vesterbro hotels page.

Carlsberg Brewery and its famous Elephant Gate

Christianshavn

If you have not decided yet on where to stay in Copenhagen, we can also recommend Christianshavn, a neighbourhood just outside the city center. With its nice cobblestoned streets, canals and old Dutch style houses, the area is nicknamed as "Little Holland" and is a very beautiful place to see. This area is on an artificial island between Indre By and Amager and once, it was considered a separate city. The main attraction in Christianshavn is Christianshavn itself and its Amsterdam like aura.  Freetown Christiania is also a place to see here. The area was famous among tourists to "smoke" but thanks to the official effort it is difficult to find something to smoke now. Hardcore drugs are illegal in Copenhagen so even if you may see its trade, stay away from them.

For a comprehensive, price compared list of Christianshavn hotels, you can visit Copenhagen Christianshavn hotels page.


Amalienborg and Nyhavn

Amalienborg Palace is towards the north-east of Copenhagen city center and is home to Denmark's royal family since 1974. The neighbourhood next to this area, Nyhavn is famous with its pastel colored buildings, colorful cafes, restaurants and bars right next to beautiful canals. This area is lively all around the year and is the starting point for most Copenhagen canal tours.

For a comprehensive list of Amalienborg and Nyhavn hotels, Copenhagen Amalienborg and Nyhavn hotels pages.

Copenhagen Nyhavn and its colorful buildings

Where to stay in Belgrade?

Belgrade (meaning White City) is the capital of Serbia and with its 1.7 million population, it is also the largest city in the country. The tourism potential of Belgrade is recently discovered and the city is becoming a popular tourist destination fast.

Belgrade is famous with its colorful night life. Belgrade night life is not only lively and colorful, it is also very friendly. Bars, night clubs, shows, casinos and restaurants fill the city nights but the most popular clubs are on the river boats. Belgrade casinos and night clubs draws tonnes of tourists from all around the world but especially from Europe.

In this post we will briefly guide you on where to stay in Belgrade. We will give some Belgrade hotel recommendations at the end but first introduce the popular neighborhoods in Belgrade to accommodate.

As you can see in the below Belgrade map, the city is located on the plateau where Sava and Danube rivers intersects. The historic center of Belgrade is on the river shores and is called Stari Grad (old town). This is the center of tourism and as a tourist most interesting places for you would be here.

The Belgrade city center is composed of Stari Grad, Vracar and Savski Venac Neighborhoods. We will recommend you to stay in the city center or at least just right next to it. You can take an airport shuttle from Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport and you do not need to take a lot of taxis (taxi scams are fairly common in Belgrade).

Belgrade map and Belgrade's neighborhoods. Old town is the tourism center and with Vracar and Savski Venac, it forms the city center. Try to find a Belgrade hotel in these neighbourhoods

If you want to stay in a Belgrade hotel near Belgrade night life then look for a hotel near Terazije Square in the old town. But since the night life shifts to riverside in the summer, you can look for a hotel near river in this season. For this, Zemun is a very good location to stay in the summer months and you can simply take a boat on the river to the center and night life.  Many people think Zemun is a part of New Belgrade (Novi Belgrad) but this riverside neighborhood is a seperate area. If you would like to stay here, you can take a look at Belgrade Zemun hotels pages.

If you do not know Belgrade well (especially if this is your first time in Belgrade), try to find a hotel in Stari Grad or Zemun. In Srari Grad, you will find popular but relatively expensive hotels near Terazije Square. If you are looking for central but cheap Belgrade hotels, take a look at the train station area.

For a detailed list of hotels in Belgrade as well as room prices, you can take a look at Belgrade Hotels page.

Belos is also 10 Belgrade hotels with high guest ratings(*):

1 - Selection Apartments (3 Star) - Dobracina 9, Belgrade, Serbia
2 - Zira Hotel (4 Star) -  35 Ruzveltova Street, Belgrade, Serbia
3 - Hyatt Regency Belgrade (5 Star) - PO Box 067, Milentija Popovica 5, Belgrade, Serbia
4 - Hotel Srbija Garni - (3 Star) - Brankova 13-15, Belgrade, Serbia
5 - Belgrade Art Hotel (3 Star) - Knez Mihailova 27, Belgrade, Serbia
6 - Holiday Inn Belgrade (4 Star) - Spanskih Boraca 74, Belgrade, Serbia
7 - Queen's Astoria Design Hotel  (4 Star) - Milovana Milovanovica 1, Belgrade, Serbia
8 - In Hotel Belgrade (4 Star) - 56 Arsenija Carnojevica Boulevard, Belgrade, Serbia
9 - Belgrade City Hotel (4 Star) - Savski Trg 7, Belgrade, Serbia
10 - Design Hotel Mr. President (4 Star) - Karadjordjeva 75, Belgrade, Serbia

Hyatt Regency Belgrade

(*) -  These are from hotelscombined hotel search engine with highest and minimum 100 guest ratings.

Ten Budget Hotels in Rome below 100 Euros per night

Both business and leisure travelers are looking for more ways to save their money on upcoming travel to Rome and one of the best way to do that is to stay in a budget hotel in Rome to cut cost on expensive hotel room prices. As a budget conscious traveler blog, we are happy to released a list of 10 Rome budget hotels with below EUR 100 per night room rates. These Rome budget hotels have also collected the best customer reviews and many are located near the city center and/or within walking proximity to metro stations and with their affordable room rates are a boon to both business and leisure travelers.

Although Rome hotels are known to be expensive, travelers can take relief that there are still cheap hotels to be found in Rome.

Hotel De Monti

2-star Hotel De Monti in Rome City Centre is near shopping or the night-life. Set in Latium Wine Region, the hotel provides clean rooms, great location and gourment breakfast for prices starting from 84 Euros per night.

Aurelia Vatican Apartments

Aurelia Vatican Apartments is in Latium Wine Region and 20-minute walk from Valle Aurelia Metro Station. It offers modern and large apartments equipped with a refrigerator, cable / satellite channels and tea and coffee making facilities. Room prices in Aurelia Vatican Apartments starts from 79 Euros per night.

QuodLibet

2 Star QuodLibet in Prati Rome is one of the best budget hotels in Rome with clean room, perfect location and very friendly staff running the premises. Room prices in QuodLibet starts from 99 Euros per night.

At Your Place

2 Star At Your Place in Borgo is in Rome City Centre, a short walk from Castel Sant’Angelo and Via della Conciliazione. Its great location, tasty food and clean rooms make it shine among budget hotels in Rome centre. This bed and breakfast is near many bars, nightclubs and fashionable restaurants.  Room prices in At Your Place starts from 70 Euros per night.

Aldebaran Bed & Breakfast

Located near the Porta Maggiore and only metres from various restaurants, bars and shops, The Aldebaran Bed & Breakfast has a gourmet breakfast, which is served on request every morning. Room prices in Aldebaran Bed & Breakfast starts from 70 Euros per night.

Zero6 Guest House Rome

3-star The Zero6 Guest House Rome is in Rome City Center (Prati) near Vatican City and the Ottaviano metro station. Very clean rooms, spacey and comfortable bathroom and a nice little breakfast. Room prices in Zero6 Guest House Rome starts from 80 Euros per night.

Rome Trevi Fountain

Maria Rosa Guesthouse Rome

Well-known for its food with lots of places to eat close by, the Maria Rosa Guesthouse Rome is in Rome City Centre. The location of the guest house means guests can easily access multiple tourist attractions on foot. The guest house is within a 20-minute walk of the Piazza Venezia, the Capitoline Hill and Campo de’ Fiori, and within a 10-minute drive you can find Roman Forum. Room prices start from 76 Euros per night.

Capricci Romani B&B

Located in Rome City Centre, the Capricci Romani B&B is close to Via della Conciliazione and Castel Sant’Angelo. This B&B offers cosy and comfortable rooms and an airport shuttle service. Room prices in Capricci Romani B&B starts from 60 Euros per night.

Papa Vista Relais Hotel Rome

Situated under a 10-minute walk from Ottaviano – San Pietro – Musei Vaticani Metro Station and Cipro Metro Station, the Papa Vista Relais Hotel Rome offers guests an ideal base when in Rome. Ok, this is not a below 100 Euros hotel but it is almost there. The room prices in Papa Vista Relais Hotel Rome starts from 108 Euros per night.

Hotel Villa Duse

4-star Hotel Villa Duse in Parioli is in a lovely quiet location,comfortable rooms close to local ammeties. Although it is off the center, public transportation to the Rome center is nearby. The room prices in Hotel Villa Duse starts from 108 Euros per night.

For a complete list of Rome hotels you can check Rome Hotels pages. For hotels in Rome City Center, visit Rome City Center Hotels page. For a short guide to district of Rome to stay in, check our where to stay in Rome post.