Hotel Rival

Hotel Rival is at Mariatorget 3 on Södermalm, the southern island district of Stockholm, facing the leafy square of Mariatorget. The hotel was founded by Benny Andersson of ABBA and occupies a 1937 building, and it combines a hotel with a cinema-theatre, a bar and a bakery on the ground floor. The Mariatorget metro station is beside the square, giving direct underground access to the city centre, and the bars, vintage shops and cafés of Södermalm start at the hotel's door. Gamla Stan and Slussen are within a pleasant walk of the square. Rooms come as Standard, Superior and Suite types, decorated in an elegant, theatrical style that nods to the building's entertainment links. Indicative double-room rates run from about SEK 1,800 to 3,500 per night. Amenities listed include Wi-Fi, air conditioning, a fitness area, breakfast and a restaurant or bar. Dining is built around the hotel bar and the bakery, which serves coffee and pastries to guests and to neighbours, and the cinema-theatre on site adds evening programming that is unusual for a Stockholm hotel. The hotel has no pool or full spa, though the fitness area covers basic exercise needs. Service is upscale but relaxed, aimed at leisure travellers who want a lively neighbourhood rather than the formality of a boulevard address, and also at visitors from the music and theatre world. As a base in Stockholm, Sweden, it suits those who prefer Södermalm's creative street life, with its independent shops and restaurants, to the shopping streets of Norrmalm.