The cocktail bar at Hotel Rival is Stockholm's most cinematic place for a classic drink: an art deco room of red velvet and mirror glass on Mariatorget, inside the Sodermalm hotel owned by ABBA's Benny Andersson.
Published October 15, 2025 - By Daniel Okafor
Hotel Rival overlooks Mariatorget on Sodermalm, and its cocktail bar carries the building's history in the decor. Wikipedia records that the property combined a cinema, restaurant, bakery and hotel from the late 1930s, and that Benny Andersson of ABBA restored and reopened it in 2003. The art deco cocktail bar keeps parts of the original 1937 interior, with dark red velvet sofas and mirror glass.
The room
The bar is the design draw. The Culture Trip describes a classic art deco room rich in period detail, and it reads as a film set more than a hotel lobby annex. The wider hotel runs three bars in total, the cocktail bar, the bistro bar and a separate spot called Watson's named after Andersson's dog, so the cocktail room is the dressed-up option of the three.
What to order
This is a classics room, so order accordingly: a properly built Negroni, a Martini or a Manhattan suits the surroundings better than anything novelty. Pricing sits in the $$$ band typical of a Stockholm hotel bar, so this is a considered drink rather than a session. The bistro kitchen covers food if the evening runs long.
The crowd and best time to go
The crowd blends hotel guests, theatre-goers from the 700-seat venue downstairs and Sodermalm locals who come for the room. The bars open from noon daily, which makes an early drink easy, but the cocktail bar is at its best in the evening when the velvet and low light do their work. Time it before or after a show at the in-house theatre.
What regulars say
White Guide and visitor reviews return to the same point: the setting is the star, a genuinely characterful art deco room that few Stockholm bars can match. The honest caution is that it is a hotel bar at hotel prices, so go for the atmosphere and the classics rather than a cutting-edge cocktail menu.
Who it is for
This is for the design-minded drinker, the pre-theatre crowd and anyone who wants a Stockholm cocktail with a story attached. Skip it if you are after a buzzy late-night room or budget rounds. For more of the city, see our Stockholm cocktail bars guide and the full Stockholm bar guide.
The hotel itself is part of the draw. Rival sits right on Mariatorget, one of Sodermalm's calmer green squares, and the cocktail bar shares the building with a bistro, a bakery and the 700-seat theatre that the Andersson restoration kept at the centre of the project. rival.se positions the room as a destination in its own right rather than a guests-only lounge, and the daily noon opening backs that up. The bistro bar and Watson's cover the more casual end, leaving the art deco room as the one to book for a dressed-up evening or a pre-show drink before a performance in the theatre downstairs.
The verdict
The Hotel Rival bar wins on room: a preserved 1937 art deco space on Mariatorget, classic cocktails done straight, and an ABBA backstory that is true rather than marketing. Come in the evening, order a Negroni, and let the velvet do the rest. For more Stockholm drinking, compare the all-day Tjoget and the apothecary-themed Pharmarium, then browse our cocktail bars guide.
