Barken Viking

We booked the cheapest, or close to cheapest room they had on offer, in the off season. It's not that bad, and I think it gives a realistic rendition of how it would be to travel with this ship some 60 years ago. For better or worse. The room: I want to start by saying the entire room was slanted. I didn't measure, but I would probably say about 12 degrees. Gave you that authentic sea voyage sickness vibe, some would call it charming. The interior is sparse, but functional. We had one opening porthole window which was sufficient. The bed was soft, but the pillows were cheap and did not bounce back after lying on them, easily the worst part of my stay. The in room bathroom was dimly lit with a crooked toilet seat and an almost clogging sink. But the water pressure and hot water was fine. The hotel and staff: The reception and "mess hall" had charming sea themed interior, but has definitely seen better days. It's not staffed, which is fine and we got our key easy enough. Breakfast was served at 7 am and to get access to the food you simply state your room number and name to the person on call. The breakfast was my biggest surprise. Given the cost of our stay I had expected bare bones, but it was a good selection of bread, musli, toppings, sausage and scrambled eggs. There was a distinct lack of fruit, but again, given the cost I was pleased. The temperature for the mess was a bit too cold for my liking and while clean, it was very worn down. Location: Great! Close to the central station and a quick walking distance away from both major shopping streets, culture and public transit. A shame you can't explore the ship freely. All in all I think if you stay here when the rates are low and you have realistic expectations that this isn't the Ritz I think you'll be "happy enough", but I think I've had my fill with one stay at the Barken Viking.

To begin on a positive note we found the room very comfortable and slept extremely well and the breakfast was good. The check in process was also smooth and this is a good location to explore the city from.||The issues we experienced however sadly outweighed the good and I have listed these below.||1. Firstly, in the room we had a lamp where the inner cores of the cable were exposed where they entered the plug. I am unsure of electrical standards in Sweden but in the UK this is considered dangerous and would not pass a safety check. ||2. The two fluorescent bulbs on either side of the bathroom mirror were both damaged but the left hand one didn’t work and had a very large crack. ||3. My last issue relates to the complete lack of a bar and restaurant for food and drinks which we expected to be able to use in the evening. Our reason for this was that on the Booking.com website which we used to book the room it clearly states that there is both a bar and a restaurant in the list of facilities and clearly shows images of this in the photos, as an addition to this again indicated in the photos we expected to be able to use the upper deck to sit outside if we wanted but this was closed off. The signage outside of the hotel also indicated the availability of a restaurant.||We had a fantastic day in the city and but would certainly not recommend the hotel and on any future trips to Gothenburg we would not choose to stay here.

We had a room in the bowels of the ship. Although windowless, fluorescent lighting in a hotel room was a shock. I thought that had disappeared in the 1980s. I’d expected somewhere to hang clothes but there were no cupboards, no wardrobe, no drawers, no towel rail, not even a coat hook! The only furniture were two chipped and battered side tables from Ikea and one rickety straw chair that had seen better days. In fact all the furniture in the public areas had seen better days. It looked worn and tired. The room had no kettle with complimentary tea or coffee which combined with no restaurant left us with no access to hotel food or drink until morning breakfast. No reception after 2pm so any random stranger could wander in off the street if they lurked outside the front door and timed their entry with someone else exiting. And they did. The hotel receptionist was also overseeing breakfast the following morning. She works hard. Overall the ship looks uncared for. Don’t be fooled by the romance of a hotel on board a ship in a major Scandinavian city. The reality is anything but romantic!

Barken Viking is a beautiful ship and a good hotel. Sitting in Gothenburg's harbor it is only a short walk from the Gustav Adolf square, very lively. The top deck though is inexplicably closed which significantly diminished the value of the stay, one can only imagine resting up there in the sun... or having a drink as the sun sets, a shame. Check-in is a little strange, there is nobody here to check you in, and the only staff you'll see are the cleaning crew, which feels a little impersonal. However the room was clean, and our bathroom was nice.

This was a decent place for a last minute emergency. I had a staff member remotely help me check in at 1 am (thank you). The room had a smell to it and it was a bit of a dated/ faded/ non-imaginative experience. The bed was clean and comfortable enough. The breakfast was appreciated.

Stay away from room 303 - the feuds in the box mattress died years ago. It really need to be changed. It’s not a good nights sleep for sure. There is a strange smell in the room. The wall-to-wall carpet really needs a deep cleaning. Both the room and bathroom is spacious for the price. Breakfast is good - you get what you pay for. Staff is welcoming and friendly. Be aware that Uber cannot pick up or drop you off in front of the hotel. The ship deck is a charming place to enjoy the sun set or a drink during the day. Central location close to the Göteborg Centralstation

It was great...10 years ago! No reception, no personnel. Broken toilet seat. No closet! Nowhere to store your stuff. Many stains, dirt. Towels and hair dryer were missing in my room. So I called the "virtual reception" (no personnel there at 7 p.m. // 19:00). The man's advice: >Wait until tomorrow, the "lady for breakfast" will give you a hair dryer<. ...and this is what you get for €120/night!

Nice stay with lots of character. We enjoy a themed venue and the Viking energy was abundant. If you’re looking to add a quirk to your stay in Gothenburg then here is the place. Breakfast included which was plentiful and comprised of traditional Swedish platters. Great addition to this stay and would recommend for this inclusion absolutely. Felt very safe as a Queer couple staying there too!🏳️‍🌈 thanks Viking!

My wife and I stayed here two nights during our stay in Gothenburg -- the staff was friendly and helpful, the overall atmosphere was quiet and relaxed, and the room was comfortable and clean. The highlights are that it's close to a lot of things in the city, easy to find if you lose your way, and a novel experience seeing as how you're sleeping on an old ship. Make sure to clarify in your booking that you'd like a king size bed or two twins -- the option isn't made very clear so it can be tricky.

This review is for the bar only. This is a pretty cool place when you think of it. I am surprised it hasn't more customers on a Saturday night. Bartender took forever to mix a mojito. Go here for a cool view and atmosphere.

BED BUGS. DON'T STAY. I'd give this place ZERO STARS if I could... Our first night, we watched as a bug crawled out of one of our pillows. We were pretty sure it was a bed bug, but since it was the only one we saw and reception was closed for the night, we figured it was a fluke. We went and told reception first thing in the morning, they claimed they had dogs come in and check our room. No compensation or even apology was offered-- they just claimed the room was fine now so we stayed another night. When we got in the room, we found another bug carcass on the bed, but it was dead and all we saw at the time, so we stayed because we had to leave early in the morning... big mistake. We woke up at 4 am to MULTIPLE BUGS CRAWLING ACROSS THE BED. The white sheets appeared to be infested with tiny dots of all sizes running up and down. We grabbed all our stuff as fast as we could and waited at our bus station for over two hours because we didn't want to spend one more second in this disgusting place. We left a note for reception with our keys and still didn't hear anything from the hotel staff-- I can't even compliment them! Bites were confirmed by doctor to be bed bugs... so I honestly don't believe anything was ever done about our complaint... the whole boat is probably infested now, at this point. I've never been so disgusted. I would never recommend this place to anyone. This hotel is TERRIBLE.

This place was very dirty, stains everywhere and very few amenities. The novelty of sleeping on a ship was lost on us not being able to go up to the deck. Good breakfast though. I would recommend going somewhere else tbh