Skagen Brygge Hotell

Description:

• No hotel in Stavanger has the charm and character of this favorite, which is as modern as tomorrow in comfort but lives in the past architecturally (even if its white wooden "wharfhouses" are merely replicas). This is the most architecturally distinctive and the most visible hotel in town, thanks to its prime harborfront location in the center of Stavanger's historic core. About 10 of its rooms occupy a 19th-century brick building that's partially concealed on the hotel's back side. But the genuinely dramatic part of this hotel fronts the harbor. As a replacement for warehouses that, throughout the decades, burned to the ground, architects duplicated the look of an interconnected series of steep-gabled, tall and narrow town houses, modernized with oversize windows and a sense of postmodern flair. Older rooms are cozy, and warm, with exposed masonry and flowered Laura Ashley fabrics. Sunnier, more dramatic, and more panoramic are the big-windowed accommodations in the newer section, some of which might evoke greenhouses if it weren't for their leather-upholstered furniture, hardwood floors, Oriental carpets, and sense of high-tech flair.

• © Frommer's 2013

Awards:

Frommer's

•  Very Highly Recommended 2010