Nobis Hotel, Stockholm – the Gold Bar and the bank palace on Norrmalmstorg

One of the first of the 1880s stone palaces on Norrmalmstorg, a former bank with a place in Swedish history, and a bar clad in gold mirrors. This is what it is like to stay at Nobis Hotel – Stockholm's most central luxury hotel.

There are bars in Stockholm, and then there's Guldbaren, the Gold Bar. The ceiling and walls are covered in gold-tinted mirrors and the bar counter is made of imitation yellow onyx, so the whole room glows like the inside of a jewel. Guldbaren is at Nobis Hotel on Norrmalmstorg in Stockholm – and it sums up the hotel as a whole: classic at its core, contemporary in expression and right in the middle of the city.

Norrmalmstorg is one of the most central spots in the inner city. From here it's a few minutes to Stureplan, Biblioteksgatan, Kungsträdgården and Strandvägen, and the hotel occupies two buildings facing the square.

01Two buildings and a bank palace

The corner building on Norrmalmstorg and Hamngatan was completed in 1886 and was the first of the block's lavish new stone buildings, put up when Birger Jarlsgatan was laid out as the city's new boulevard. The architect Oskar Erikson designed a richly modelled rendered facade with polished granite columns, statues at the windows and doorways, and low towers on the corners.

The building has had many lives. There were restaurants on the ground floor from the start. First came Restaurant & Café Francais, and in 1899 Jones Café, Restaurant och Grill moved in, run by Albert Jones and his sister Rachel – meat was grilled in the middle of the dining room, something entirely new in Stockholm. After Jones, the German-born Wilhelm Rössberg took over and turned the place into a German bierstube. From 1903 it was home to Restaurant & Café Metropol, a meeting place for writers, artists and actors, with mirrors, crystal chandeliers and a café under a glass roof in the courtyard. Metropol stayed until 1918 and was revived in 1927 in new premises on Sveavägen, in the Metropol building. Later the building became a bank palace, and in the 1970s it housed Sveriges Kreditbank. It was in that bank that the Norrmalmstorg drama unfolded in August 1973 – the robbery and hostage-taking that gave rise to the term Stockholm syndrome.

In 2008 the property owner had both the corner building and its neighbour at Norrmalmstorg 4 converted into a hotel for the Nobis group, and in 2010 Nobis Hotel was opened by Crown Princess Victoria. Among the meeting rooms is the Board Room, where the bank's board once took its decisions.

02The rooms: Claesson Koivisto Rune

Nobis Hotel has 201 rooms. The interiors were designed with the architecture and design studio Claesson Koivisto Rune, and the hotel describes its guiding principles as comfort, personality, elegance and contemporary timelessness – the aim was a restful, harmonious setting. The beds are by DUX and made up with Egyptian cotton sheets.

Insider tip

Have a drink at Guldbaren even if you're staying elsewhere.

The room categories range from small single and double rooms to Deluxe rooms and four types of suite: Junior Suite, Corner Suite, Panorama Suite and the largest, the Nobis Suite. If you want the square and city life outside your window, ask for a Corner Suite.

03NOI, Bino and the lounge

The NOI restaurant is the hotel's kitchen for guests and Stockholmers alike, and the hotel describes the atmosphere as lively. The chefs cook with seasonal ingredients and influences from all over Europe, and for groups there is a chambre séparée. Bino – Bistro Nobis – is a modern bistro for lunch and simpler dinners, inspired by food from around the world.

Then there's the hotel's large lounge and Guldbaren, where the bartenders work behind the yellow counter. It's a bar that is as much a reason to visit as to stay.

04Who it suits

Nobis Hotel is for those who want to stay right in the middle of the city's business district and nightlife, with everything within walking distance: shopping on Biblioteksgatan, dinner at Stureplan and a stroll along Strandvägen before breakfast. With more than 200 rooms it is a large hotel, but Guldbaren, the lounge and NOI make it feel more like a city club than a chain. If you're after tranquillity and water outside the window, you're better off at its sister, Hotel Skeppsholmen, on the other side of Blasieholmen.

05Nobis and Stockholm

Behind the hotel is Nobis, the hotel and restaurant group founded in 1987 by the restaurateur Alessandro Catenacci when he bought Tore Wretman's restaurant empire. Today the group runs Operakällaren, Café Opera, Stallmästaregården and Hotel Skeppsholmen, among others, and since 2017 also a Nobis Hotel in Copenhagen.

06Around Norrmalmstorg

From here you can reach most things on foot. See the square in VERA PI's street guide to Norrmalmstorg, explore the rest of Norrmalm and plan your walk with Metro Mode's Stockholm map. For a day on the other side of Birger Jarlsgatan, see our guide A day in Östermalm.

For a weekend. For a lifetime.