Nordic Light Hotel, Stockholm, Sweden

The Nordic Light Hotel is Stockholm’s first design hotel and opened in 2001 in a square, seventies-style building that used to house a clothes shop. Its interior design, which is nearly 22nd century in feel, was inspired by two typically Scandinavian (and particularly apposite for Stockholm) elements – light and water. Certainly there can be few other hotels in the world where a light architect (in this case Kai Piippo) is more responsible for the overall character of a property.

In terms of location, there is no more conveniently sited hotel in Stockholm, especially if you are in the city on business. It stands just around the corner from the Arlanda express station (a 20 minute ride from the airport) and adjacent to both the central train station and bus terminal, and is in the middle of Stockholm’s commercial district, Normalm. If you are in town for sightseeing, the old town (Gamla Stan) is just a twenty minute walk away and most of the other city sights are easily accessible via the fast, clean underground or bus.

Even before you go inside the hotel, its light motif is clear through the large ground floor windows, with sphere and sun shapes visible on the white canvasses of the lobby walls. As you enter, the next thing you notice are the twisty glass stalactite lights hanging from the ceiling.

The lobby reflects the owners’ desire for openness and transparency, in being large, open and partitioned off by a ceiling to floor see-through curtain. It is predominated by square and rectangular shapes and a long white freestanding reception desk off to the right. This being Sweden and the home of IKEA you can’t help mischievously wondering if everything has been self-assembled from a kit.

But this open lobby/bar/breakfast area is certainly inviting enough, with a flickering fire during those bitter dark Stockholm winters and groups of (you guessed it) square black armchairs breaking up the space. This bar area is popular with locals and business people, both for brisk lunches (a short menu features a few Scandinavian fishy favourites like Shrimps on rye Bread and Crab cakes as well as winter warmers such as Apple and Parsnip soup) and for evening drinks (with the accent on cocktails and American wines). There’s a lively and sociable hum to the bar right up until last orders at 1am.

The Nordic Light’s buffet breakfast is set up at the far end of this open-plan ground floor and has most of the choice you’d expect from a four star hotel. On my visit, though, the "hot" options had grown tepid and when commented on were simply taken away and microwaved. The remaining "hot" food stayed on display getting ever colder. You’ll also have to wait until the bar opens to get a decent cup of coffee.

As with most modern design hotels the overall intention at the Nordic Light is to create, both in the public areas and in the 175 guest rooms, an uncluttered, spare look with mostly white walls and black fittings. In the hotel’s quite narrow rooms this is helpful in giving an impression of greater space, with accessories neatly tucked away from sight.

But it is the light shows in the De Luxe bedrooms that really distinguish this hotel from the mob of other modern hotels in Stockholm. They also add warmth to keep a stay here on just the right side of "cool". But above all, having lots of in-room lighting effects to play with is fun. You can adjust them in a spectrum of colours based on whether you want to look lively or drift into a slumber. You can get the effect of a throbbing disco going (though at the moment you’ll have to bring your own CD player) or allow the lights to change more gently, shifting and rolling in waves. Hey, if you’re on a "romance package" and you’re feeling cheesy you can even project red hearts onto the wall. "The guest controls the mood of the room" explain the hotel designers, "harmonic, rhythmic or provocative. The light can calm and revive a busy soul or stimulate action and movement. We equip our guests with brush and paint and leave them to create the perfect environment."

The beds are spongy and light, dressed in soft white sheets and rounded off by three fluffy white pillows. Bathrooms are bright and those in De Luxe rooms have both tubs and separate power-shower cubicles and offer "Temple Spa" goodies aimed at a typical guest in a "hip and happening hotel".

For the business traveller, there’s a desk and good connectivity in the room, the essential cable stations and the hotel has free access to a "guest office" for longer work sessions. For smaller meetings the top-floor conference centre has the Nordic Light’s best views over Stockholm. Beneath the hotel is the very small health and fitness area – "Nordic Relax" – with a tiny gym, separate male and female saunas and reasonably-priced massage available on request.

Across the road from the Nordic Light is the larger sister hotel the 367 room Nordic Sea, which is the more corporate of the two properties. Whichever of the two hotels you are staying in, you’ll probably want to drop into the Nordic Sea lobby to gawp at the enormous fish in the central aquarium or to down a vodka in the adjacent Icebar. Built of "the clearest ice that can be found, from the Torne river in Northern Sweden", and kept at a permanent temperature of –5 degrees centigrade, the Icebar is apparently the world’s first permanent bar made of ice. If you like dressing up to go for a drink then the need to don a warm but nerdy silver-coloured cape and "scooter" shoes here should appeal. It’s also the kind of venue that guarantees conversation with total strangers and without question Stockholm’s coolest bar. In terms of temperature at least.

Back at the Nordic Light, the service displays a different kind of Swedish cool, remaining just on the friendly side of nonchalant. But in any case if you are staying here, you’re not here to be fussed over. You’re here for the light show and the excellent location, so sit back and enjoy it.