Life.Culture.Discovery.

Mälardrottningen: the Stockholm yacht hotel once owned by American socialite Barbara Hutton

The Woolworth heiress received the boat, built in 1924, from her father as a gift on her 18th birthday

The vessel is anchored at Riddarholmen, an island in central Stockholm, and there’s plenty to do both on- and off-board

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The Mälardrottningen Hotel, in Stockholm, Sweden. Photo: Stephen McCarty

Published: 6:45pm, 21 May 2019Updated: 6:45pm, 21 May 2019

What is it? That depends on the end at which you’re standing: the prow bears the name Mälardrottningen, but the stern says it’s the Lady Hutton. Either way, this is what used to be the world’s largest motor yacht – a vessel that revels in a big celebrity history and no little mystery.

Not that she actually sails anywhere these days: after almost a century of service, she reposes at anchor on the western flank of Riddarholmen, a small island in central Stockholm that abuts Gamla Stan, the Swedish capital’s spectacularly preserved medieval city centre. Mälardrottningen (meaning “the queen of Lake Mälaren”) is an old term for Stockholm and it is this name that’s used in connection with the vessel’s role as a hotel.

Hotel? Correct: the Mälardrottningen is a three-star property that offers 61 cabins of 65 square feet or a relatively spacious 86 square feet. Each size is available as a double or single, the former coming with bunk beds if you prefer an added nautical touch and regular beds if you don’t. Fittingly, plenty of timber is used throughout – which may be a secondary reason for the no-smoking policy. Every cabin has a bathroom with shower, free Wi-fi, cable television and air conditioning.

Amidships can be found a sauna, and a bar and lounge with a glass panel in the deck for those who like to gaze at large (redundant) diesel engines. The yacht’s foredeck is now mainly an enclosed restaurant and bar, although outdoor promenades can still be undertaken along both gunwales.

One of the Mälardrottningen’s cabins. Photo: Stephen McCarty

What do we do for fun? The yacht’s portholes face the Middle Ages immediately to starboard, while to port lie open water and the Södermalm district, full of cafes and vintage stores and with an arty vibe. If your visit is short, you are likely to find most of what takes your fancy within ambling distance of the boat, beginning with Riddarholm Church, to starboard, built in the late 1200s and the burial place of Swedish monarchs. It’s also Stockholm’s last remaining medieval abbey.