Travel Blog – Mr & Mrs Smith Boutique & Luxury Hotels

After our Caribbean jaunt last week, Smith’s Hotel of the week team is turning its attention to Denmark’s cultured capital, Copenhagen, to admire that doyenne of design dens, Avenue Hotel…

Style Couture comforts
Setting Green, historic Fredericksburg

Why this week? A sparkling wintry wonderland, Copenhagen’s one of the best destinations to spend the run-up to Christmas. Festive markets abound – including the famed fairytale extravaganza in Tiovoli Gardens – the shopping is excellent (if expensive) and the air has a seasonal nip in it that takes your mind back to yuletides past. Sleek, sophisticated Avenue is one of the Danish city’s most welcoming pads – not only is it close to all the urban action, gorgeous to look at, and filled with impeccably good-looking staff, but, until 20 December, it’s also offering Smith members free Sunday nights if they stay Friday and Saturday.

Our favourite bits Sharing a designer with the entrance to Tivoli,  Avenue Hotel may have its architectural roots in 1899, but it’s been radically reinvented as a showcase of Danish design, with colour coming courtesy of Missoni fabrics, a pewter-topped, leather-lined bar adding sparkle to the cosy lounge, and original works from Denmark’s famous photographers displayed throughout. It’s a temple  to Copenhagen cool; the fire-warmed lounge is the hotel’s heart, where a low-key light jazz soundtrack fills the air – except on ‘Yellow Lounge’ Saturdays, when classical DJs do their thing. Oh, and the breakfast pastries (baked on site) are bloomin’ marvellous.

Mr and Mrs Smith say ‘Although Åboulevard, on which Avenue Hotel is situated, can seem more like Åsmallmotorway at busy times, behind the thickly glazed windows of the hotel, nestled by the fireplace in its laid-back lounge, you feel miles away from Copenhagen’s urban thrum. Here you can sink into a heap of colourful Missoni throw cushions with a microbrewed beer or a glass of fine wine, snaffle a home-baked roll from the vast buffet table, or lazily leaf through the engrossing books of art and design. The walls are lined with glossy photography from some of Denmark’s most celebrated artists, and the young, friendly staff breeze about the hotel in designer garb. Avenue’s not about five-star luxury or yes-man service – its goal is to create a cosy and inviting home-from-home hidey-hole and it achieves it with aplomb, impeccable style, and irreducible good cheer.’

This entry was posted on Friday, December 4th, 2009 at 6:16 pm and is filed under Boutique hotels, Copenhagen, Denmark, Design, Hotel of the Week, Independent reviews, Uncategorized. You can follow any comments on this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.