Bergen is a very expensive city, even for Scandinavia. This hotel is far, far away from the interesting parts of town, but if you have a car it offers a cheaper option than the mad prices of the city. At best, it's still an overpriced, average equivalent of an American 2-star hotel.
But before I go into details, let me first let me put my review in context of my own background: I'm a well-traveled American, and I tend to review hotels based on North American standards (because, as we know, "3 stars" in Europe would often be a low "2 star" in North America or Australia/New Zealand). I just finished a rapid fire trip across Scandinavia and the Baltic that involved ten different hotels, so this review is also taken in context of other similar options in the region.
The hotel, like the airport, is located far from the main city. I drove in from the Sognefjord, NE of town (on my way from Oslo) and it took a full 30 minutes to get to the hotel once I entered Bergen. Once you're at the hotel, it's more of a 20 minute drive into the historic downtown (e.g. Bryggen). Thankfully, if offers free parking and is easy to find. The lobby is sterile but not uninviting. The staff was pleasant.
The room was pretty bare bones. The bathroom was very spartan. They did not supply enough towels for two people and they use tacky wall-mounted soap dispensers for everything. The shower was okay. The room uses a central climate control that you have no way of controlling. Terrible idea, but some hotels in Scandinavia have this issue. The hotel did have free wifi.
The breakfast was okay --very average by the standards of the other Scandinavian and Baltic hotels we sampled on our trip. This hotel is very popular with large tour groups, so their coaches litter the parking lot (eliminating spaces) and they can make breakfast and check-out a nightmare if you don't get out before they do.
The hotel is just too expensive for the quality offered. This is the equivalent of a low rent Ramada. The location is terrible if you don't have a car. As such, I just can't recommend it.
- Scandic Hotel Bergen
