Victoria Hotel

Description:

• This hotel was the oldest in Stavanger, and once it was the place to stay. But its competitors, recommended above, have long since outpaced it. Nonetheless, it remains a durable favorite. It is not a hotel where a rock star would be catered to, but if you're a hardworking sales rep for an oil-service company or a leisure traveler without huge expectations, it will work just fine. It was inaugurated in 1900 in the redbrick-with-stone-trim building that's now carefully preserved as a town landmark. It's set prominently at the edge of the harbor, but in a less-touristed waterfront area used for the mooring of fishing boats and supply ships servicing the North Sea oil platforms. Over the years, the hotel's role in Stavanger has changed: Once its clientele was primarily concerned with the herring and canning industries; now about 85% of its clients are middle-bracket employees within the oil service industries. Expect a thoroughly decent, muted hotel with a helpful staff, and a lobby that's outfitted in a paneled style that you might have expected from a 19th-century hotel in England. Rooms are well maintained and not overly large, each with conservative traditional furniture. Each has a floor plan that, thanks to the hotel's U-shaped layout and antique shell, is different from each of its neighbors.

• © Frommer's 2013

Awards:

Frommer's

•  Recommended 2010