The Quirkiest Places to Book Your Stay in Sweden

The first floating hotel in Sweden remains its best, with stylish white rooms that are pared-back and peaceful. This relatively well-known hotel has been open here, just off the island of Klädesholmen on a west-coast archipelago, since 2008. The surrounding conference venue and accommodation have expanded since then, but the key selling point – aside from the obvious floatiness – is the excellent on-site seafood restaurant, which predates the floating hotel by nearly a decade.

There’s no electricity and no shower here (though it’s possible to wash in the stream), so what exactly are you paying for at Kolarbyn EcoLodge? Something quite special, actually – the chance to sleep inside one of 12 thoroughly camouflaged forest huts, with woodland vegetation growing across the roof. It might tempt you away from mod cons more easily than you thought, especially once you realise there’s also a DIY sauna on site.

Jumbo by name and jumbo by nature: this budget hotel occupies a converted Boeing 747 jet. As you might expect within a converted plane, rooms themselves are on the small, white and spartan side. There are private spaces for one to three guests and even some dorm options, but also a vertiginous luxury suite in the converted cockpit, with views across Stockholm Arlanda Airport, where your bed for the night has been grounded since 2009.

Three decades in, a hotel that’s sculpted from fresh ice each winter then left to melt in the spring continues to be a bonkers, and brilliant, accommodation concept. Changing artwork means that you never return to quite the same place from one year to the next, and it’s always true that the IceHotel – in Jukkasjärvi, 124mi (200km) above the Arctic Circle – has to be seen to be believed. Even the beds are made of ice. If you’re not sure where to stay in Sweden, you can’t go wrong with the IceHotel.

One of the most distinctive places to stay in Scandinavia, this hotel set in a forest in Swedish Lapland comprises a set of contemporary, architecturally forward treehouses, as well as floating buildings on stilts, each one different to the next. Rooms with wow factor include one that takes the form of a mirrored cube, and another built to resemble a classic flying saucer UFO. The view of the Northern Lights from here is quite something, too.

This isn’t the only hotel in the world set in a former prison, but – as you might expect in Stockholm – it is one of the better ones, with surprisingly comfy rooms that are still recognisable as converted cells. Situated on the island of the same name, Långholmen is in a handy location within Stockholm and also puts you within easy reach of the nightlife and cultural opportunities of Södermalm.

Two rooms, stacked vertically, are the core accommodation offering at this predominantly underwater hotel, on a floating platform in the middle of Lake Mälaren, Västerås. Expect to see fish swimming past your bedroom window, and remember to bring whatever you’re planning to eat and drink, because you’re half a mile from the mainland and can’t return until the boat comes to get you again. It’s not as claustrophobic as you might fear, given the small outdoor seating area that’s right on the water.

Four cartoon-like, bulbous huts styled as toadstools and tree stumps are among the accommodation options at this hotel in Västra Götaland, West Sweden – in a wooded area close to the Göta Canal. The buildings, created by chainsaw artist Sören Niklasson, feel straight out of a Nordic fairytale. It’s a novelty hotel choice that’s not for everyone, but if you love it, you’ll really love it. Kids will love the children’s mini canal nearby, with its toy boats.

You’re in Sweden, but very much in the hands of Danes at this romantic forest cabin retreat, founded by two Danish chefs. It’s at a lakeside spot in the wilds of Halland: woodland that’s home to bears, moose and eagles, around two hours’ drive away from Gothenburg. Each weekend there’s the chance to sit down to a five-course meal at the unique forest restaurant. A diverse range of workshops are on offer here, too – and did we mention there’s a spa?