First Hotel Fridhemsplan, Stockholm

First Hotel Fridhemsplan is part of a big Nordic chain, but shares its building with a budget youth hostel.

The mid-range hotel is quite handy for the tunnelbana (subway) but looks tatty, with purple carpets throughout and a bit of a run-down feel, especially in the lobby.

However, as with the youth hostel, the rooms aren’t actually too bad. The main difference between the two options is that the hotel rooms have en-suite bathrooms, while hostel rooms share facilities along the corridor. Stay in one of the hotel rooms and you’ll also get breakfast included in the rate.

Be aware that the smallest and best-value rooms here are windowless.

To get a room with any kind of natural light you’ll need to shell out around 1,300 SEK. And let’s be honest: for those kind of prices, you could probably find a better a deal elsewhere (Connect Hotel City, for example, has similar rooms for around 300 SEK less).