Sommerro Hotel: Oslo´s art deco urban resort

Sommerro is a destination hotel where you would want to spend time inside the hotel, not just a base for sightseeing the city. The building, the rooftop bar and pool, the jazz performances, and the beautifully restored 1930s bathhouse all make the hotel an attraction in itself. If you book Sommerro and then spend every waking minute outside, you've paid too much for a nice room. Book the hotel, use the facilities, and it easily can become amongst the best hotel experiences in Oslo.

The building used to be the headquarters of Oslo Lysverker, the city's old electricity company. It went through one of Norway's largest-ever preservation projects and opened as a hotel in 2022. The Art Deco features are original, not recreated, from the chandeliers down to the preserved door handles and light fittings. The sunken bar in the main hall is where people used to pay their electricity bills.

What it's like inside

You walk into Ekspedisjonshallen, the old cashier hall, and a jazz trio is playing. The ceiling fresco runs the full length of the room, which is full of people across low tables with wine, coffee or working on their laptops. It just doesn't feel like a hotel lobby. 

The atmosphere is the thing about Sommerro that's hard to see from the photos. It's a social building that locals use as much as guests do, from the restaurants and bars to the wellness floor and rooftop. On a Friday evening, the ground floor has the energy of a good neighbourhood spot. If you want a quiet place where the lobby is only used by guests, and you can sit in peace enjoying your pre-dinner drink, this is the wrong property.

Where to eat and drink

Sommerro has seven restaurants and bars. Not all of them need your attention.

The one you'll use most is Ekspedisjonshallen. It's the all-day brasserie where breakfast is served, where the jazz band plays every evening (the hotel has its own house band with rotating guest vocalists), and where you might end up for an after-dinner drink. The atmosphere is the draw. The cocktail list is good, the brasserie menu solid, but not groundbreaking (the prawn cocktail and beef tartare are both good), and the room itself, with the Krohg fresco and the low lighting, is one of the better places to sit down with a glass of wine in Oslo. The dinner here is OK, but the food can´t compete with Oslo's top restaurants. The food isn't the reason to sit here though.

Plah & Ahaan is where the food stands on its own. The Thai restaurant also on the ground floor has built a following of its own in Oslo and is worth booking even if you're not staying at the hotel. 

Barramon on the ground floor does Basque pintxos and wine. Good for a light start to the evening before dinner elsewhere. Izakaya, the casual rooftop bar, does street food bites with sake and cocktails and is the more relaxed alternative to TAK upstairs.

Get the breakfast

Breakfast at Sommerro is normally included and it's one of the best hotel breakfasts in Oslo. Served in Ekspedisjonshallen, buffet plus à la carte ordering. Norwegian smoked salmon, good bread, scrambled eggs, pancakes with orange and raspberries, oatmeal with wild berry compote. Even coffee is ordered a la carte via the waiter, not a mediocre coffee machine at the buffet line.

Well-decorated rooms

Even the smaller rooms feel considered, where the green-tiled bathrooms are stocked with Byredo amenities, a retro Bluetooth speaker you can pair with your phone, walk-in showers, and the same Art Deco detailing you get in the suites. The difference between room categories isn't finish, it's the space.

Room categories start at Twin Alcove (only 19 square metres) and run up through Standard, Superior, Deluxe, Junior Suite, and Heritage Suite (up to 100 square metres). For two people, don't book below Superior. Nineteen square metres is uncomfortably small for two, unless you don't have much luggage and don't plan on spending much time in the room anyway. Deluxe is a good choice for a weekend, but if you have the budget, the Junior Suites are really spacious and give complimentary access to the rooftop pool.

Regardless of room category, you should consider booking a courtyard-facing room. Sommerro is in a busy area, and rooms at the front can hear street noise from Solli plass.

Vestkantbadet and the rooftop

Vestkantbadet opened in 1932 as a public bathhouse and has been restored tile by tile. Per Krohg's mosaic Swimming Women and Seals (which became the hotel's logo) covers the wall above the pool. It's not a large pool, maybe a dozen metres across, but swimming laps under a protected 1930s mosaic in original Art Deco surroundings isn't something you do anywhere else in Oslo. The changing cabinets are the originals, hand-sanded back to how they looked ninety years ago. Separate saunas for men and women.

Pool and Finnish sauna are included for hotel guests. Unlike most other hotels in Oslo in this range there's no extra charge and no booking required for the main pool area. The age limit is 16.

Separately, the hotel has a cold plunge pool and infrared sauna on the wellness floor, a rooftop pool with a sauna and views over Oslo, and a truly excellent 400-square-metre gym that's better equipped than many commercial gyms in the city. The rooftop pool is not included though, and needs to be booked separately. 

Vestkantbadet is open to non-guests and members too. Don't expect a private spa retreat. What you get is a beautifully restored public bath that happens to be inside your hotel, and free for you to use as much as you like.

Location

Solli Plass is the polished west side of central Oslo. The Royal Palace and Palace Park are a short walk. The National Museum is about 10 minutes on foot. Aker Brygge and Tjuvholmen roughly the same. Nationaltheatret station, where the Flytoget airport express stops, is right next door (you need to take the western exit). Oslo S, MUNCH, the Opera House and Bjørvika are a short tram ride away. 

What doesn't work

Sommerro is a big operation running multiple venues for hotel guests and locals at the same time, and the service can sometimes be slow, which one might not appreciate at this price. 

The hotel has live jazz performances, DJs, occasional stand-up comedy, cinema screenings, and public events. Coupled with street noise from Solli plass this means Sommerro is not a quiet hotel. Although courtyard-facing rooms will be quieter, if silence is your top priority, Sommerro is the wrong choice. And a one-night stay where you check in at 22:00 and leave after breakfast is a waste of money. The price makes more sense if you are staying more than two nights, using the pool and the spa. Book it for a quick stopover and you'll wonder what the fuss was about.

Sommerro vs luxury alternatives

The closest luxury alternatives in Oslo are The Thief, Hotel Continental and Grand Hotel. 

The Thief is located on Tjuvholmen at the tip of the harbour. It's a contemporary art hotel, with waterfront views, a quieter island feel, generally more spacious rooms and free entry to the Astrup Fearnley Museum next door. It's a better choice if you want a calmer, more contemporary design-forward hotel. 

Hotel Continental is probably the best choice in Oslo for classic luxury and service. It has been family-run since 1900, is located directly opposite Nationaltheatret station (amongst the closest any Oslo luxury hotel gets to the airport train), with sharp service, great breakfast, and the legendary Theatercafeen. Unfortunately there's no pool, no rooftop and no spa, but if all you want is traditional five-star hospitality with great service, Continental is the better bet. 

Grand Hotel has one of the most central locations directly on Karl Johans gate, opposite the Parliament, but service is inconsistent. It's managed by Scandic, one of the largest hotel chains in Norway, and seemingly suffering from corporate cost-cutting. This shows from uneven maintenance to a breakfast that has slipped from its peak, and variable service. The rooftop bar and public spaces are still impressive, and it has a spa.