Clarion Hotel Sign

Within stumbling distance of the Arlanda Airport express train, the young 558-room Clarion Sign Hotel (opened 2008) stands out with its shiny black granite and blue-glass facade. The hotel’s design (by Swedish architect Gert Windgårdh) is striking, in a sort of high-school-geometry-project sort of way, with two isosceles triangle forms jutting out from the 10-story shoebox. The first two floors are designed by Dane Arne Jacobsen, and the remaining eight feature works by designers across Scandinavia. All have a bare-bones minimalist look with clean lines; the sparse rooms are a touch on the small side, but many have floor-to-ceiling windows that tilt about five degrees outward, allowing you to lean over the edge and rekindle your fear of heights. There’s a small rooftop area with gym, backlit co-ed sauna, and possibly the tiniest adult (heated) pool ever (albeit tastefully designed), which have all been ambitiously dubbed a spa. Hotel guests have to pony up an extra $13 ($26 weekends) to use these facilities.

Insider Tip: To get more for a college-tuition-priced meal, forget the on-site Aquavit and head for Esperanto or Edsbacka Krog.

Room to Book: For the mildly daring, top-floor rooms facing the newly finished public square take advantage of the tilting windows. Or recline (sort of) in Arne Jacobsen’s “egg” and “swan” chairs.