Ellery Beach House

Sweden is a country that sets out its stall from the start, one where the passport officer cheerily wishes you a wonderful trip. And as you step onto the platform at Stockholm station, you find that it is carpeted. What kind of place carpets a train-station platform, you might wonder? One, in our experience, where everyone seems friendly and happy, and everything seems designed to make sure you have a very easy and pleasant time.

Ellery Beach House is a convenient 30-minute taxi ride from central Stockholm. While you could simply head straight there, once esconced at Ellery, you’ll want to settle in and enjoy the cocoon of relaxation and indulgence it offers, so it's wise to add in a day or two to see Stockholm first, as Mr Smith and I did. Highlights of our 36 hours in the city include browsing in the iconic Svenskt Tenn store and museum by the waterfront, watching swans surf tiny icebergs on the river, rifling in charity shops that feel more like high-end boutiques, trying traditional toffees at Pärlans confectioners, sourcing fantastic coffee and buns for breakfast each morning, and the most incredible lunch at Ett Hem.

We visited in March, a slightly bleak hinterland between the snowy winter months and the sunny spring; the ice had mostly melted, but buds and blossom had yet to burst. In fairness, this point in the year doesn’t show anything to its best advantage, but it is testament to Ellery Beach House that we had an absolutely wonderful time. Perhaps try and time your own visit to a moment when the hotel is either cloaked in snow for ultimate hygge, with its multiple firesides and saunas, or bathed in summer sunshine, when the outdoor spaces must really come alive with music, swimming and sunbathing. That said, it is somewhere designed for seamless inside-outside fun all year round, and there is very little we couldn’t do and enjoy — and we didn’t have to contend with peak-season crowds.

Ellery Beach House is a discreetly charming modern hotel in a gorgeous situation, located on the tip of Lidingö island in the Stockholm archipelago. There are several heated pools and saunas, incredibly friendly and helpful staff, a choice of various bars and two excellent restaurants, all set in comfortable interiors that typify chic, snug Scandinavian design. We went for a run each morning in the picturesque pine forests that surround the property, and spent the afternoons at Coco Beach Club being looked after by Aladdin, a man who seems to delight in living up to his name and granting your every wish with charm and charisma. Lounging on a vast day-bed by the pool, spotting the occasional ferry gliding across the sea towards Helsinki, and summoning delicious cocktails and bar snacks at the push of a (literal) button above our heads, made for an entirely unwinding experience.

At a hotel with so many heated swimming pools — three outdoors, and one shallow basking strip inside — it’s strange to report that we never once saw a Swede swim laps. Instead, they idled contentedly in the bath-warm waters, steam rising into the frigid March air, as they drank cocktails expertly mixed by Cami, the cool Colombian mixologist, and chatted and canoodled from morning until night. Our favourite spot was the sea-view sauna (one of a handful of saunas at the hotel), tucked behind a wooden jetty, with a huge glass window to watch the watery world go by, and a ladder to dunk in the Baltic Sea when things get too heated. 

Breakfast each morning will bamboozle with its abundance — everything you could desire, from fresh juices and smoothies to pancakes, cold cuts and shakshuka. Top tip: don’t miss the divine brownie bites. Take a table by the panoramic windows and settle into a velvet sofa to enjoy it all at leisure. We couldn’t even contemplate another meal until dinnertime, at which point you will face the choice between two brilliant restaurants. Palmers is the more formal and refined of the two, while Coco's has a sultry, subterranean feel, and utterly delicious Latin American ’tapas’.

You can be as lazy as you like at Ellery Beach House, taking advantage of the excellent spa for a facial or massage, and hanging out in the beach club all day and all night long. Or, you can be a little more playful and practise padel, enjoy a few games of pétanque or table tennis, and try any of the many other activities on offer. Above all, this is a place for lounging, for spending time with friends or lovers, and soaking up the unique Swedish way of being, which seems encapsulated by the hotel’s motto: Always believe that something wonderful is about to happen. I can attest, it always did.