Marathon around Stockholm

If you're at any hotel in Stockholm, you're probably somewhere near part of the Stockholm Marathon course, and it's well worth running, even if you only manage 1 of the 2 laps of the full distance.

Hilton, Bracknell, England, 4 to 6 miles

This run takes in an uncharacteristically beautiful part of Bracknell.... Swinley Forest.

Exit the Hilton car park, turn left and left again towards the A322. Stay this side of the A322 and run towards Bagshot, keeping Sainsbury's on your right. Take path to right at next roundabout, and follow path to first pedestrian crossing on left. Over the crossing and into the 'Lookout' car park. Across the car park, and you're into Swinley Forest.

You can quite happily run fire trails and winding paths through the forest for a few hours before returning. But if on a shorter jaunt, then pick one fire road, such as the one at the back of the play area and stay on it until you need to turn around and come home.

NOTE: For those with a mountain bike in your boot, this is Berkshire's undisputed best locations for a ride (see www.gorick.com)

Eurotel, Barcelona, Spain, 4 miles

One for the early risers...

From Eurotel, turn right then left into any north/south 'via'. Run till you hit the sea! You might have to wiggle your way around the Barri Gothic, but that's the fun part. Once you get to the sea, turn round, and run back.

Tip - start earlier than 6:30am if you don't want to be scooter fodder!

Royal Adelaide, Windsor, England

The long walk = a short run (40mins, 5 miles).

Straight opposite the hotel is Windsor's long walk, running dead straight from Windsor Castle up to the Copper Horse statue of George III, for great views over Windsor and towards Heathrow and London.

Stockholm, Sweden, 5 miles

The Djurgarden is Stockholm's lovely green island, just 5-10 mins jog from most of the central hotels. Perfect for a morning or evening run. Either run around the island itself, or, as we did, loop along gravel paths by the waterfront on the north side - running back home towards a fabulous Stockholm sunset.

Sandhamn, Sweden, 4 miles

A stunning run through pine woods and a sandy beach. Late March was perfect - almost deserted island - a real retreat.


From the Sandhamn hotel - facing the sea, turn right, up the hill on the path, parallel to the coastline. Follow this track for 1.5 miles, turning left at the tennis courts. Bear left at the end of the track down a sandy path to the sea. Run up and down the beach - to the headland, then turn back - either along the track or as we did, bravely through winding woodland paths. We were ok, with an orienteering champ in the group!

Royal Berkshire Hotel, Ascot, England

So, here's a fab run in Berkshire. Round Virginia water and back (1 hour, 7 miles).

Out of the hotel, turn left, 1mile, turn left at Ascot Oriental, enter park gates, run round lake (either straight on or right), and back.

Best time of year is April/May when one of the best kept gardens in Europe is blooming with rhododendrums (spelling b, anyone?), asperdistras, geraniums, costafortunums and other hugely impressive displays are at their best. Autumn's nice too!

Poland, Warsaw, Sheraton Hotel&Towers

Left out of the front doors, and straight on - down the steps, through the park (all dead straight) until you pass the kneeling soldier statue, under the road and out on to the Wisla bank. I turned right, but you can go either way, and ran for another 15 mins out, then all the way back totalling 40 minutes and about 4.5 miles.

Nice soft sand/gravel path by the river, and quiet running through the park. Steps on the way home were hard work though!

All-in-all a fab 40 mins in otherwise not very pretty Warsaw (sorry Warsaw! it's not your fault you got bombed and rebuilt in concrete!)

Welcome to Hotel_Runner !

This is Hotel_Runner... a blog for runners who travel.

In my last few years of business travel, I've spent many a mile on treadmills or running through urban landscapes. Some runs were unbelievably fantastic - some were shockingly awful.

I imagine that there are a few other people out there that do the same, and have the same mixed experience.

So, here's a blog, that describes the best runs from Hotels around the world that I've enjoyed, or otherwise.

If you want to, you could post a reply with your experiences too. And to make it an easy search job, do it like this...

1 Add a text description starting with the title: [Hotelname], [Town], [Country] and briefly describe the run, with rough time & distance. Wax lyrical about the run if you want - but it's not mandatory.
2 Upload a .JPG drawing of the route (use MS Paint if you want)
3 Submit the post

Why bother ?

1 You'll remember the run much better for next time you're there
2 You'll feel good about sharing your great running experiences
3 You'll be part of the open-source movement
4 Other people will appreciate it

What's next ??

1 I'll kick it off and describe my favorite hotel runs, and hopefully others will do the same.
2 I'll keep a check on your replies also.
3 If there are vast numbers of replies, I could stick it in a website or something that's easier to navigate, so that it becomes a nice database for everyone to use, and add to.

So, go ahead and share your fab hotel running experiences.