Clarion Hotel Ernst

“Return to Ernst Kristiansand”

A long established hotel with good customer service in a central location. Decor needs some refreshment.

“Great breakfast.....but...”

This hotel is central located. Breakfast is extremely good. But rooms are very tiny, a litlle worn out. In general the hotel is very oldschool.

“It’s a hotell for if there are nothing else available!”

This is an older hotel in the heart of Kristiansand. Location is very good. Close to shops and water. Some might say it’s an hotel with character and charm. I prefer hotels and rooms with a newer standard and interior. The room floor is leaning, the interior is from the 70s it feels like. The blac… more

This is an older hotel in the heart of Kristiansand. Location is very good. Close to shops and water. Some might say it’s an hotel with character and charm. I prefer hotels and rooms with a newer standard and interior. The room floor is leaning, the interior is from the 70s it feels like. The blackout curtains and beds are very good thought. The gym equipment is really really good for a hotel! But they made the sauna and spa in the same area, so it’s the warmest place in the hotel. Not very thought out! If you run you will be running in 25 plus degrees. It’s just a bad layout! They should have been separat. The internet, is probably the worst I have ever experienced at a hotel. It’s the slowest most unstable connection ever. Watching a full movie from internet? You won’t likely get through it without multiple dropouts. If you are here to cleanse yourself from screentime, you won’t mind it. Me doing a lot of stuff and needing the internet, I’m glad I’m only here for 2 nights. Comming back I will definitely get another hotell.

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“Kristiansand Stopover: A Bed, a Bike Garage, and Aperols by the Sea”

Kristiansand isn’t the kind of place you plan a pilgrimage to; it’s the kind of place you wash up in after rolling off a ferry from Denmark. Three minutes after docking in Hirtshals, you’re parked, checked in, and wondering whether you’ve landed somewhere beautiful or just another port town that su… more

Kristiansand isn’t the kind of place you plan a pilgrimage to; it’s the kind of place you wash up in after rolling off a ferry from Denmark. Three minutes after docking in Hirtshals, you’re parked, checked in, and wondering whether you’ve landed somewhere beautiful or just another port town that survives on cruise ships and kebab joints. Turns out, it’s both. The Clarion Hotel Ernst fits right into that contradiction. On the surface, it’s a business hotel, built to swallow up bus tours and floating latrine crowds in bulk. Inside, the décor feels like a mash-up between corporate conference chic and someone’s idea of “luxury” straight out of Riyadh—gaudy, a little odd, but harmless enough. My room was fine. Not inspiring, not offensive. Clean, tidy, with a view that promised the harbor but delivered an office building across the street. The marketing shots oversell it, but hey, what else is new? The real perk was downstairs: safe parking for the bike. That mattered more than the thread count of the sheets, because Kristiansand after dark has its fair share of riffraff. But once I ditched the helmet and walked the waterfront, I realized this town had some charms. I stumbled into a marina-side restaurant that was pouring Aperol spritzes like water and serving seafood that reminded me why coastal Scandinavia is worth the detour. Sunshine, good fish, cold beer, and too many Aperols—suddenly, the beige hotel room didn’t matter. Morning came easy: grab a croissant and a coffee around the corner, fire up the engine, and get out of town. Kristiansand is beautiful, sure, but it’s not a linger-and-soak-it-all-in kind of place. It’s a stopover, a launch pad, a place where you spend one night, not three. So the Clarion? It does its job. No more, no less. A safe bed, a place to stash the bike, and a reminder that sometimes the real hotel experience happens once you step outside its doors. Rating: 3.5/5 – Not memorable, not regrettable.

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