Covering all angles: Cool Stockholm with Berns Hotel

From world-renowned music and imaginative art to a thriving fashion and design industry: Stockholm has all angles covered. 

Soak it all up with a stay at Berns Hotel, a stylish, cultural hub at the heart of this exciting city.

More than just a chic boutique hotel, Berns is an entertainment palace offering live music, art exhibitions, great food and more. Guests at this glamorous venue can dine at the award-winning restaurant, Asiatiska, or feel like an A-lister at Berns’ separate townhouse-style brasserie, Nosh and Chow. Check out hip gigs in its grand Stora Salongen concert hall or enjoy guaranteed admission to its super-exclusive basement nightclub, Gallery 2.35:1.

Berns regularly partners with cultural events taking place in the city, such as Stockholm Fashion Week and the renowned annual Film Festival, and provides a great, central location for exploring the very best bits of cool Stockholm.

Here are some of Stockholm’s culture highlights for spring and summer 2014:

MUSIC.

Stockholm has become something of a music hub in Scandinavia, and not just because of Sweden’s reputation for pop perfection. Indeed, the local music scene has diversified somewhat from the days of ABBA and Ace of Base, making way for big names such as Swedish House Mafia and, more recently, Avicii, to achieve worldwide success.

NOT TO MISS:

ABBA mania

Easily the most popular act in the nation’s history, ABBA set the bar for Swedish – and international – pop music. No trip to Stockholm would be complete without a visit to the city’s ABBA museum, particularly in 2014, the 40^th anniversary of the quartet’s Eurovision win.

Dance the night away

Discover Stockholm’s lively, vibrant and varied nightlife: from the archetypal rock club Debaser, with live music seven nights a week, to world-class bands at Berns’ chandeliered concert hall; and from top DJs at Berns’ nightclub Gallery 2.35:1, to jazz, Latin and hip hop at Fasching, the city’s cool, Manhattan-style joint.

WHAT’S ON?

• Spring concerts at Berns

In April, Swedish starlet Lykke Li will be gracing the stage with songs from her brand-new album, ‘I Never Learn’; due for release this spring. In May, the Manic Street Preachers will also head to Berns – an ideal, intimate setting for the band’s new album that revolves around gentle acoustic modes.

24 April & 11 May, Berns, Berzelii Park

• Summerburst

Now entering its fourth year, this year’s festival line-up includes Calvin Harris, Hardwell, David Guetta and many more.

13-14 June, Gärdet park, Östermalm

• Stockholm Music & Arts Festival

Last year saw performances from big names such as Laura Mvula, Regina Spektor and Prince, with 2014 promising even more of the same.

August (2014 date TBC), Skeppsholmen 

GET A ROOM: Berns’ Manic Street Preachers concert package costs from SEK 1695 / approx. £160 pp (two sharing) including two nights’ B&B and concert tickets. Flights extra.

FOOD, ART & CULTURE.

Dubbed Sweden’s cultural centre, Stockholm’s array of contemporary art galleries and unique museums, accompanied by its delicious cuisine, are an irresistible combination. From fascinating historic displays at the Nordic Museum and at Skansen, the world’s first open-air museum, to regular art exhibitions and a fine selection of restaurants that take traditional Swedish dining to another level, this is a city for culture vultures and gastronomes alike.

NOT TO MISS:

Go underground

The Stockholm Metro is one gigantic art gallery, featuring pieces created by some 150 artists. For the price of a Metro ticket, join an expert-led tour to see sculptures, mosaics, paintings and art installations.

Catch an exhibition over brunch

With regularly-changing exhibitions displayed beneath the gilded balconies of its Asiatiska restaurant, as well as in the hotel’s lobby and nightclub, Berns is the place to discover unique artwork. Pop in for the hotel’s renowned brunch and marvel at Berns’ exhibition of the moment.

Visit trendy SoFo

Stockholm’s SoFo – south of Folkungagatan – is packed with hip fashion boutiques and stylish vintage. Pop to the seven-block square for fine galleries, cool restaurants, Scandi-furnishings, laid-back pottery studios, retro clothing and erotica.

WHAT’S ON?

• Crossing Borders art exhibition

This spring, Nationalmuseum presents a photographic exhibition, ‘Crossing Borders’, featuring photographs of internationally-celebrated Swedes who have challenged and crossed borders in a variety of ways.

Now – 3 August, Terminal 5, Stockholm Arlanda Airport

• Market Art Fair

The annual Market Art Fair showcases Swedish and Nordic contemporary art.

4-6 April, Liljevalchs konsthall, Djurgården

• Stockholm Pride

Stockholm Pride is the biggest gay pride celebration in Scandinavia. Berns also hosts an annual Pride party – last year’s was raunchily-entitled, ‘Pride and Pre-ejaculation’.

28 July-2 August, Östermalms Idrottsplats

• Stockholm Culture Festival

Over six vibrant days, the city’s streets and squares fill with performers from home and abroad for this annual event. Admission to most events is free.

August (2014 date TBC), various, Stockholm 

GET A ROOM: Berns’ Pride package costs from SEK 2290 / approx. £215 pp (two sharing) including two nights’ B&B and Berns Pride celebrations. Flights extra.

FASHION & DESIGN.

Stockholm Fashion Week has yet to attract the buzz surrounding the four fashion capitals of New York, London, Milan and Paris, but its A/W14 week saw more fashionistas than ever flocking to the city. The success of Scandi-brands has pushed Stockholm into the spotlight, with several hitting UK high streets, including a special new 2014 pop-up in Selfridges – The Scandinavian Co-op. Swedish interiors and product design are also world-renowned, with Stockholm in particular celebrating its flair for design; several emerging talents and new collaborations were revealed at the city’s recent Design Week and Furniture & Light Fair.

NOT TO MISS:

Visit the Stockholm Design District

Stockholm has an entire district dedicated to design studios and stores, located on the west side of Södermalm. Here, discover leading Scandinavian interiors brand, Mitab, leading lighting designers, Hess, and many others.

Buy Scandi-chic design from Berns

Berns’ guest rooms are filled with stylish Scandi-chic, collected from retro and vintage shops, which guests can purchase. Items are hand-picked by Yvonne Sorensen Björud, the Managing Director, who used to run the revered design boutique, Svenskt Tenn.

Travel through Swedish fashion

Stockholm’s Nordiska Museet hosts a fashion exhibition featuring Swedish clothes from the last 300 years. Enjoy a fashion-backwards journey through time at ‘Power of Fashion’ that focuses on three key decades, including all things jeans, in the display ‘Youth Fashion’.

WHAT’S ON?

• Celebrate 90 years of Svenskt Tenn
  2014 marks the 90th anniversary of Svenskt Tenn, Stockholm’s famous interior design company. Celebrations include an exhibition charting Svenskt Tenn’s partnership with Italian design house Fornasetti (until 30 March).

Special exhibitions throughout the year, Svenskt Tenn, Strandvägen 5

• Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week

Scandinavian designers once again took London Fashion Week by storm in February, one particular highlight being the ‘Re-Present fashion showroom and collective’, comprising Scandinavian fashion houses. See the collective’s S/S15 designs before anyone else at Stockholm’s Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week this summer, with catwalk shows taking place in Berns.

26-28 August, Berns Hotel, Berzelii Park

GET A ROOM: Berns’ Fashion Week package costs from SEK 2750 / approx. £256 pp (two sharing) including two nights’ B&B in one of Berns’ luxurious suites and catwalk show tickets. Flights extra.

LEAD-IN PRICE: One night costs from SEK 2290 / approx. £215 (two sharing)

To book, please contact Berns Hotel on +468 566 322 00; reservations@berns.se; www.berns.se/en/hotel

ENDS / 25 March 2014

Press enquiries: For further information, high-res images or to discuss a possible press trip, please contact Laura Manning at Travel PR on tel: 020 8891 4440 or email: l.manning@travelpr.co.uk