Hotel Sanders, the 54-room boutique hotel behind the Royal Danish Theatre, remains the most characterful address in Copenhagen—and both its residence apartment and its largest suite are worth the stretch.
On a quiet neighbourhood street in the historic centre, directly behind the Royal Danish Theatre, sits a hotel of deep greens, aged timber and low lamplight — a place with the manner of a private home rather than a front desk. The address has form: in the 1970s and 80s it drew the city’s cultural cognoscenti, and today its owner continues the legacy in an entirely new era.
Alexander Kølpin, the renowned Danish ballet dancer, opened Hotel Sanders in 2017 as Copenhagen’s first luxury boutique hotel. The design follows his own travels and creative history, and he describes the effect in the language of his former profession: “Entering Sanders is like stepping into a theatre,” where guests remain centre stage and the scenography is merely an exquisite backdrop. It is about as far from the generic, impersonal feel of a chain as a hotel can get.
The interiors, a collaboration with London studio Lind + Almond, marry the glamorous age of travel to the drama of the stage. Bespoke furniture made by local craftsmen offers hints of colonial décor, while polished hardwood and rattan cane-couches strike a register at once casual and elegant, authentic and luxurious. A peppering of Parisian sophistication and English eccentricity adds charisma. In the end, though, it is the simplicity and sensibility of Danish design pulling everything together.
No two of the 54 rooms are alike. The smallest are drawn from the golden age of luxury train cabins, trading square metres for a snug, panelled intimacy — oddly romantic for it.
The Sanders Suite is the most generous of the regular rooms at 62 square metres: a king bedroom gives on to a separate lounge with an open fireplace, and there is a kitchenette and dining room besides, plus a bathroom with walk-in shower and separate lavatory. Windows face both street and courtyard. Travellers after a properly authentic taste of Copenhagen living can instead book the three-bedroom Sanders Residence for a longer stay, furnished in the understated style which made Danish design famous.
Downstairs, The Living Room is the friendly heart of the house, with brimming bookshelves, an open fire and a good vantage point over the comings and goings, coffee or cocktail in hand.
Sanders Kitchen serves all day — breakfast, an unpretentious lunch for guests and locals alike, and in the evening an uncomplicated menu built from the morning markets and speciality items gathered further afield, with a wine list chosen from favourite growers to suit a range of palates. Meals migrate happily to the courtyard, or up to the fifth-floor rooftop terrace, a hidden gem with views across the tiled roofs.
Come evening, TATA — playful, occasionally decadent, intimate — pours some of the best classic cocktails in the city amid vintage charm.
Season allowing, bicycles wait just outside for the ride to Amalienborg or along the harbour, though Nyhavn lies barely 200 metres away.
The Sanders Residence from DKK22,000 a night; Sanders Suites from DKK13,000
