If you like your hotel on a quirkier side of things, and you happen to be in Gothenburg Sweden. Then check out Hotell Barken Viking.

The time has come and to continue telling you more about my backpacking fun across Europe throughout February.

We pretty much a swift routine where we would hop onto a train to our chosen destination, and while on the train we would look at booking.com on our phone for a cheap suitable hotel and then once we arrived at our place, we then booked and checked into a hotel.  It just saves time from walking around with our backpack and then trying to decide where to spend the night. It also meant we had flexibility and we can choose to go in or out anytime.

Anyway, that specific morning we left Copenhagen to arrive at Gothenburg. We did our usual looking for hotels on our phone using booking.com app. Halfway through the journey, Richard turned to me and said he had an idea and it will be a surprise for me. I was intrigued by this and desperately wanted to know what this surprise was. I was told that to trust him on this and not to ask him questions.

So we arrived at Gothenburg and by the hand, he leads to this surprise. I was completely muffled by this and also a little anxious and worried. What if I didn’t like ‘this surprise’?

Richard told me to shut my eyes and not to peek. We turned a corner and he told me to open my eyes and went ‘surprise, this is where we spending our night’.

In front of me was a big ship. Yes, you read that right. A big full ship – complete with masks and portholes.

It a ship that is docked, which has been converted into a hotel. Well, you can imagine my surprise when I saw it. Yeah, I was dumbfounded and so excited that I get to spend the night on a ship.

Let me introduce you to Hotell Barken Viking. A 3-star hotel that is on a ship. It was once active and did serve as just as a sailing ship – but retired and was even at one time converted into a school, before being turned into a hotel.

Before you ask, it was stationary and doesn’t move. So we didn’t go sailing anywhere. While on board you didn’t feel the wave moving about.

The inside of the ship reminded me a little of titanic (I know, complete cliché of me but that genuinely was my first thought of it!) as it was decorated with lifebelts on the side of the walls, and old fashion ship steering wheels. It has a genuine marine decorum to it and I like it a lot.

Our room was a small room, but it still had that marine ship sailing feel to it. Our stays also included breakfast, which was lovely. There was no need to find a coffee shop or bakery to have breakfast.

The breakfast was both a continental and cooked buffet, so we could happily fill up on croissants on one course and then go up for second for eggs and bacon.

Apart from the room and the breakfast, there wasn’t much else to do. As we arrived in winter and it was snowing quite heavily in Gothenburg, a lot of the hotel bar and entertainments was closed. I have a feeling during the summer it would be filled with activities.

Now settling down for the night in Hotell Barken Viking, I can say without a doubt was the best night sleep I had throughout Europe. The bed was warm, soft and incredibly cosy. The kind of bed where you just want to stay in it forever.

With outside being really cold (freezing cold may I add), there was something quite comforting and cosy staying at Hotell Barken Viking. Waking up in the morning and peering through our room porthole to see heavy snow falling was exciting and also spellbounding as you couldn’t stop looking through it.

I recommend Hotell Barken Viking beyond a doubt. It a quirky hotel and something you should consider if you’re in the Gothenburg area. Our room was lovely and I cannot fault the breakfast either.

Overall we thoroughly enjoyed our stay at Hotell Barken Viking and it was sad to wave it goodbye and to continue on with our journey. I would return in a heartbeat if I could.