Story Hotel Riddargatan, part of JdV by Hyatt

This upscale corner of Stockholm might seem a more natural setting for a traditional luxury hotel, but Östermalm, in the city center, just off Birger Jarlsgatan with its high-end shops, is where you’ll find Story Hotel Riddargatan. And behind its Thirties façade is a modern boutique hotel that upsets all the old stereotypes about Scandinavian design. It’s equal parts bohemian decadence and rough-edged urban renewal, full of street-inspired art and reclaimed vintage décor.

“The Friggebod” rooms are as compact as they sound, though they’re comfortable enough, and "the balcony” room, too, is exactly what it sounds like. All of them are stylish, fun, and well-equipped, with plush upholstery and attractive subway-tile bathrooms stocked with FACE Stockholm bath products, and with graphic prints on the well-worn walls and furnishings in styles that span the range from the Thirties to the present, it’s about as far as you can get from the utopian high modernism with which Swedish design used to be synonymous.

The real action, of course, takes place in the public spaces. There’s a DJ on weekend evenings, and the restaurant and bar are always lively, serving a pan-Asian menu with a Scandinavian spin alongside inventive cocktails by some well-known local bartenders. Not a hotel for shrinking violets, perhaps, but for a taste of Stockholm’s younger, more vibrant side, it would be hard to do much better than this.