The Absalon Hotel is a three-minute walk from Copenhagen Central Station in the upcoming Vesterbro district. It is an excellent base for seeing Copenhagen and beyond.
Vesterbro, a haven for foodies and lovers of quirky boutiques and design stores, is steaming ahead with classy gentrification. Absalon’s recent sophisticated revamp has edged it clear of the neighbors in the style stakes.
A beautiful white neo-classical 19th-century building was always going to provide an elegant competitive edge. Owned by the same family since it’s 1931, familial care and love are very evident throughout.
The facilities
Throughout the day, the hotel bar draws in locals who spill out into a courtyard protected by sails from the summer sun. There isn’t a hotel restaurant but plenty of places to eat locally, particularly at Uformel. As the cool, edgy younger brother of Michelin-starred Formel B, the restaurant throws away the rule book and adds a cosmopolitan flair to the purity of Nordic cuisine: Danish beef tartar comes with the intense flavors of sun-dried tomato. You can opt for tasting menus or select à la carte. The Sommelier’s recommendations for the tasting menus were superb, particularly an Alsace dry white to accompany the pickled mackerel starter and a bubbly French Rose for dessert.
The location
As it is just a twelve-minute train ride from Copenhagen airport to Copenhagen train station and then a three-minute walk, you can be your room in the Absalon within twenty minutes. From the station, you can take trains to the Viking Ship Museum at Roskilde, Hamlet’s Castle at Helsingør, or even a day trip to Malmo in Sweden. It’s around an eight-minute walk to Nyhavn, the iconic canal inlet of traditional colored houses and wooden ships.
Nice touches
The hotel’s sustainable initiative encourages you to decline housekeeping and receive a gift instead: hand soap, nuts, a day’s bike hire, or a 100 Danish Krone voucher to spend at the bar. Every day, across at the sister hotel, The Andersen, there is a Cocktail Hour, with complimentary wine available from 5 pm to 6 pm. If you book direct with the hotel, their Concept 24 system allows you to keep your room for 24 hours from the moment you arrive. For example, if you check-in at 330 pm, you can check out at 329 pm the next day.
Cost
Rooms, with breakfast, begin from $170. Book direct with the hotel to receive a 100 Danish Krone bar voucher and the privilege of Concept 24.
The best part
Not only is Denmark happy, always in the running for the top spot in the Global Happiness League, but the Absalon staff is happy, too. The hotel won first place for the “Best Place to Work” in Denmark in 2018 and came third in Europe overall. No surprise that the staff is smiling and very eager to help.
The final verdict
The revamp of the hotel’s rooms soft-furnishings bring color, comfort, depth, and texture to the Absalon Hotel in a city where design can, at times, be a little too functional and minimalistic.