I got off the train, amazed at how much I had just paid for a short journey, turned due left at the front of it (without walking into the main station) ,came out on to the street and saw the sign for the hotel. It was midnight, so this was very good.

Friendly welcome, unusual shaped room as there is a circular courtyard, but the room was comfortable and a fair size. Breakfast was very good. Most places were an easy walk from here and I would have no hesitation in recommending it or staying here again.

One criticism would be the lack of light blocking curtains,not ideal when its midsummer and you're just short of the arctic circle.

The Central Hotel is only a five minute walk from the city terminal of the airport train, a ten minute walk from the central railway station, and a fifteen minute walk from Gamlastan, the touristic center of the city. The room was compact but adequate and clean, and the bed was very comfortable. The front desk staff was helpful with recommendations for dining.

I am going to write quite a detailed review of the Central Hotel as Stockholm is quite an expensive city to visit and, if you are like me, you will want to know that you have booked a hotel that is worth the money and will meet your requirements.

We booked flights to Stockholm Skavsta with Ryanair for £44 (Thursday to Saturday). Skavsta is a considerable distance from Stockholm city centre and is actually in/nearer to Nyköping. This is fine as long as you factor in the time and cost of the journey to and from the airport. The best way to travel to Stockholm is with Flygbussarna Airport Coaches. I booked return tickets for this service online prior to our trip for 436 SEK - about £41- £20.50 per person. You can also buy tickets at the airport on arrival, but there seemed to be queues which we managed to avoid due to having booked in advance. The coach stops are to the right of the airport exit (just make sure you are on the right service as they run about three different routes. I think the stop for the city centre was Number 1). The journey takes about 1hour and 20 minutes and the coaches are comfortable and efficiently managed. They alight at the City Terminalen, which is right next to the Central Station - you can travel to almost anywhere in Stockholm from this location.

We arrived at the City Terminalen at approximately 1am and walked the short distance to the Central Hotel. I had been on Google Maps in order to make myself familiar with the location, but essentially you walk out of the City Terminalen, past the World Trade Center and walk across the bridge, there is a set of stairs on the left, which bring you down to Vasagatan (the road that the hotel is on). You can also walk into the Central Station (opposite the City Terminalen) and exit directly on to Vasagatan. The Central Hotel is about a one minute walk up the road on the right hand side (same side as McDonalds and the opposite side, and further up, from the Radisson Blu Hotel).

I was worried about checking in at 1am as some other reviews had mentioned that the hotel was overbooked when they stayed. We booked a double room for two nights for £242 with otel.com. I had never used this company before, but I have no complaints - the confirmation arrived straight after I made the booking and included lots of information on all the relevant terms and conditions. I was also sent a reminder about printing off the confirmation closer to our travel date. I would use them again.

We were greeted by a polite and pleasant receptionist who spoke perfect English and ensured that we had a quiet room, as I had requested. The rooms are basic, very similar to other city centre hotels that I have stayed in, such as the Ibis chain for example. However, the rooms are clean and functional and worth the money in my opinion. The only 'problem' with our room was that it was opposite the offices of the next building (getting changed was certainly a closed curtain scenario!). No kettle in the room, which would have been nice, but they do provide free coffee and biscuits most of the day in the reception area. The breakfast was very good - a good selection of cereals, cooked breakfast, cold meats and cheese, fruits, juice and tea and coffee. The bread was the nicest that I have had in a long time. The catering staff were also pleasant and happy to speak English.On departure we left our bags in the storage room on our last day in Stockholm, again the receptionist was polite and helpful on check-out (12 noon being the generous check out time). Overall, my husband and I really enjoyed our stay at the Central Hotel - it is not particularly modern or luxurious, but it is clean and functional, in a great location and the staff were lovely. I know that other reviewers have said that they experienced problems with wifi/internet access, but I was happy to escape the computer for a couple of days, so can't really comment on that. Also, we stayed in October, so we might have had a different experience in the summer months. It is also worth mentioning that there is an entrance/exit into T-Centralen station (Central Station) practically opposite the hotel (next to the Bishops Finger pub and Max Burger). I recommend you to use this as the main entrance(s) can be rather busy and confusing.

Regarding travel around Stockholm, we purchased an 'Access' card, which seems to be the equivalent to an English Oyster card. We got the 72 hours allowance, which was 200SEK - about £19. There are other tickets you can buy - 24hrs etc - but the access cards make life a bit less complicated as you can travel anywhere, any time. The t-bana public transport system is relatively straight forward once you have a map and know where you want to go. We had a great day out looking around the Gamla Stan (one stop from Central Station) which is the medieval part of the city where you can visit the Royal Palace, Nobel Museum and the Storkyrkan (the 'Great Church'). On our last day we visited the Millesgården, which is a beautiful art museum and sculpture garden - well worth a visit in my opinion. Beautiful!

We would recommend the Central Hotel to friends wanting to stay in Stockholm. Also, respect is due to the Swedes, who speak perfect English and are happy to do so.

This hotel is convenient to the Arlanda express and centrally located. However, as a business traveler from abroad, access to the internet is key, and although this hotel offered wireless internet, it did not work for the 2 days and nights that I was there. The staff was polite but could not do anything about this. The room was small but not bad. However, it rained one night, and the way the windows are configured, the rain makes a lot of noise and woke me up at 3 AM. At breakfast the next day others complained of the same thing.