This is one of those “hotels” that has an advantage on price and location, but fails to deliver on the basics. I’d tend to describe it as a “Guest House” rather than a hotel for reasons that will become clear – except that it’s more than twice what you’d expect to pay for such accommodation in the UK.

The rooms are pretty basic, with old style sockets, and a table lamp that only had one pin on its connection, so I wasn’t sure if it was safe to use. The curtains weren't wide enough to cover the windows, so had to be adjusted depending upon where you were in the room! There is just a sink in the corner, with a shower shared between 10 or so rooms on each floor. My room was very noisy, with the lift motor being impossible to ignore, as well as the crossing signal warnings in the street when one of the local trains went past.

The breakfast was included, and was a reasonable buffet affair, although the hot choice seemed to vary depending on who prepared it – the grilled mini-sausage of Sunday morning were replaced by an unappetising looking omelette on the following two days.

I was disappointed to read a note in reception that seemed to imply Danish Legislation required them to charge an extra 3.65% on transactions made with foreign credit cards. I thus had to draw out cash to avoid this charge – despite having found out it was an optional charge the hotel had chosen to impose on its foreign guests.

Another big issue for me was that the hotel reception was unstaffed from 5pm on a Sunday evening – meaning you needed a PIN Code to get into the hotel. Unfortunately when I’d checked in the night before there was no mention of the 5pm closure – just that it would close at 10pm on Saturday evening – luckily someone took pity on me as I waited at the door.

Ironically, over the weekend it seemed like a one-man show, with the same person doing breakfast as reception, and I had initial sympathy if he did that all week – but in fact I didn’t see him during the week, with two others then in charge.

The good news is the location – which is adjacent to Helsingor railway station, and hence very close to the ferry port for the quick trips to Sweden, as well as trains to Copenhagen and North Zealand. Although it seems very expensive, by Danish standards it’s a lot cheaper than you’d find in Copenhagen – so it was one of the few times I’d found a “Copenhagen Card” to be of benefit, as that includes all the trains in the region (note that the DSB day passes don’t allow travel this far out).

I’d certainly consider staying in Helsingor again – it’s a nice little town, with good communications, but might look for an alternative to the Skandia unless they were all charging Copenhagen prices.