On my trip to Malmo last month we stayed at the wonderfully unique Ohboy Hotell on the Western Harbour. Ohboy Hotell is accommodation with a difference, offering 31 loft hotel rooms (55 rooms in total) within walking distance to the city and Central Station. And the beach is only around the corner, as well as lots of cafes, bars and grocery stores.
The hotel offers accommodation for the modern, urban traveller, making it easier to live green with solutions to enable the sharing of resources, reducing emissions all the while living a comfortable life in the city. The loft hotel rooms’ interiors are locally sourced – design, production and materials for the furniture are all from the south of Sweden.
The location is perfect; five minutes from the Central station and the city centre. The sea and the beach is just around the corner, as is grocery stores and cafes. Every room includes comfortable beds, a kitchen, workspace and your own bike to get around town – it’s the hotel of the future!
The rooms
At Ohboy Hotell they have two types of rooms, suitable for 1-3 people. The first is the Loft hotel room Double bed, located overlooking the skateboard park, with a bright and open location on the ground floor, with 22 sqm, double bed and ensuite bathroom.
The second type of room is a Loft hotel room Queen size, located facing the inner yard with a wooden deck and overlooking the hotels lush bamboo garden. The room is slightly bigger, offering 24 sqm with a queen size bed and a single bed under the stairs.
The hotel rooms include free access to a bike, cleaning, wifi access, kitchen with mini-stove, dishwasher and fridge, and new bed linen once a week, as well as baby bed free of charge upon request.Both rooms are perfect for a couple or friends wanting to explore this rapidly changing city!
In the hotels loft rooms you can live just like at home even though you are in a hotel – offering you everything you could need during a visit to Malmo. The bedroom and bathroom are located downstairs and the kitchen, lounge corner and work space upstairs. There is coffee and tea for you on arrival, and for when you would like to cook yourself a meal there are basic cooking necessities.
However, one top tip I’d provide is head out to the local Malmo For breakfast we can recommend the cozy café around the corner, or you could make it yourself, buying all that you need from the several grocery stores nearby! Every hotel room has its own entrance directly from the street with a small garden outside for you to store bikes and anything else you may have that doesn’t need to be inside.
You are also provided with unlimited access to a bike so that you can move around in the city easily – we loved this and spent a whole day on the bikes exploring the city.
To do in Western harbour and Malmö
There is so much to do and see around the hotel and with your bikes, you have the opportunity to see even more!
The Western Harbour is close to the city centre and to experience Malmö´s culture, entertainment and shopping you can get there in five minutes by bike or by bus. In the closest area, right across the street you will find Stapelbäddsparken which is the biggest skatepark in the north of Europe, along with a boulder park and a roller derby course.
If you like the sea you’ll be happy to know the beach is only round the corner and in the summer you can relax on the long sandy beach of Ribersborgsstranden. Or maybe you prefer deeper waters at Scaniabadet where you can dive from the jetties or sunbathe on the wooden deck.
Nearby Scaniabadet you can also find beachvolley courses and Musikullarna, hills with built-in speakers playing music and all year round you can enjoy sauna and maybe winter bathing at Kallbadhuset, a beautiful and charming facility from the 19th century, where Swedes take the opportunity to go swimming in the sea naked – we did this but didn’t go naked as we were too shy! I dare you….
Last but not least, also close by is the iconic Malmö landmark, the Turning Torso, that you can see from the hotel. This spectacular building with it’s 190 meters and 54 floors is the highest residential building in Sweden.
How to get here
Ohboy Hotell is situated in the Western Harbour, five minutes by bike or bus from the Central station or the city centre.
Bus
From Malmö Central station the easiest way to get to Ohboy Hotel is by buss nr 5. It leaves every 7 minutes. Download the public transport app for the skåne region, for iPhone and Android as this is super easy to use and you can also buy tickets and plan your trips through the app.
Bike
In a flat city like Malmö, taking the bike is an obvious choice. Each room has one bike. If you are in need of more, you can rent through the bikesharing app Donkey Republic.
Ohboy Hotell – Lilla Varvsgatan 24, 211 19 Malmö, Sweden ( +46 40 856 06)
