Tag Archives: hotel

Strandhotel Glucksburg

To relax before the arrival of a small addition to the family in the next few weeks we decided to take a relaxing overnight stay at Strandhotel Glucksburg. The hotel is situated right at the water edge on the German side of Flensburg Fjord, across from the Okseø islands and Annie’s Kiosk in Kollund. This gives the rooms on the water side (called Premier rooms) great views across the Fjord.

The rooms

We stayed in a Premier Room overlooking the water. Our room was located on the fourth floor, which meant that we had to walk up stairs from the 3rd to the 4th floor. This is something to keep in mind if stairs is something you struggle with. However, the views over the water were well worth the climb, even if it was very grey, wet and windy when we were there!

View from Strandhotel Glucksburg

The room itself was quite spacious, with a sitting area on entry, quite a bit of storage if required, and a bed situated to look out over the water. I found the bed very comfortable, though Michael thought it was a bit soft. The linen, however, was some of the nicest I have ever used, particularly the duvet covers! I really need to find where I can buy some of it!

Hotel room at Glucksburg Strandhotel

Going on to the bathroom, again relatively spacious. We had requested a room with a bath and even though we had booked only a few days before for what appeared to be a full hotel, this is what we got. The soaps/shampoos etc provided were also quite nice to use (which is not normal in hotels), though no hair conditioner was offered (body lotion was instead).

Dinner

We had dinner in Restaurant Felix in the hotel itself. For some reason our reservation couldn’t be found, but we were anyways shown to a table (after some time of trying to figure things out). We were offered three 3 or 4 course menus, from which we could then choose individual dishes if preferred, as well as dishes prepared on a lavagrill. Both Michael and I opted for lavagrill dishes, with Michael going for a Husumer rumpsteak and I opted for a lamb fillet. This was then followed by a Valhrona chocolate dessert for Michael and a marzipan mousse dessert for me.

The food was well prepared and the portions were nicely proportioned. The highlights of the meal for me were definitely my lamb… it was very tender and very tasty… and the Christmas ice cream served with the chocolate dessert. This is not to say that the rest was not good, but that these 2 things were exceptionally good!

Throughout the meal the service was also very good… not intrusive but present, and everything done with a smile. All of the servers seemed like they were enjoying what they were doing, which always makes for a pleasant meal out.

Breakfast

Breakfast in the morning is again served in Restaurant Felix. As the previous night, the service was really friendly, and the food was good. There was a wide selection of items, from warm food (3 types of eggs, sausages, bacon and meat balls), good selection of cheeses and hams, toppings, yoghurts, pastries, bread, cereals and juices. There was also a make your own pancakes station!

My absolute favourite thing at breakfast was the home-made muesli porridge offered. To be honest it didn’t look like much and I was going to skip right over it. However, the name intrigued me so I decided to try it out. The home-made muesli is made into a porridge and served with fruit inside (I could distinguish apples and grapes at the very least). It was surprisingly really good… good enough for me to take another portion rather than opt for something else! The pancake station was a hit with Michael, although very few people seemed to be making use of it.

Wellness

Strandhotel Glucksburg is known as a wellness hotel. As such it offers a variety of saunas for use by the guests, as well as treatments. Unfortunately for me it is not recommended that I use saunas at the moment so we didn’t make use of the wellness facilities at the hotel. However, we did go to have a sneak peak and were very graciously offered a tour round by the receptionist there. Definitely something to check out in more depth next time we are there.

Things to do

We took it easy while we were at the hotel, went for a short walk along the water and went for a swim in nearby Forde Therme. Close by is the beautiful water castle Schloss Glücksburg that we have visited on another occasion. If you are into royal matters this is the ancestral home of the House of Glücksburg which includes the current royal Danish family and many of the other royals in Europe like Price Philip of Great Britain.

Glucksburg Castle

Overall Impression

The hotel is not cheap, but if you are looking for a relaxing place it is something to consider. We thought the price was worth it for somewhere close by where we could go to relax. The service was also great all around. What we need now is to have another opportunity to use it (and find what linens they use! They were divine… so if anyone knows, do let me know).

Ambitious Waterfront Hotel in Sønderborg

The plans for the harbour front in Sønderborg does not lack ambition. One of the pieces of the “Gehry’s Masterplan” that has gotten a bit more concrete lately is the hotel and waterpark.

Hotel_Sonderborg_03

If built the hotel will be 85 meters tall with 18 floors. That means that from the top floor you will be able to see all the way to Aabenraa and Flensburg! Furthermore the current plan is that the top floor should be open to the public (crossing our fingers for this to happen). To get an idea of what the view will be like Zoom Film made this visualisation:

http://youtu.be/ou4C7XFmXmI

The hotel will have 210 rooms, conference facilities and – look at this – a water park both with space for fun and games as well as wellness and saunas for the well-off tourists.

Waterpark in Sønderborg

The building is design by Henning Larsen, one of Denmark’s architectural icons within the last couple of decades (or his company, Mr. Larsen passed away June 22nd this year). Henning Larsen Architects have previously made The Opera House and ITU in Copenhagen and The Wave in Vejle.

Read more about the project from:

Henning Larsen Architects
Press release from 2010
August newsletter

Temporary Accommodation in Sonderborg

We were offered a flat in Sonderborg through one of the housing associations. However, the place is available from the 1st of December and I start work on the 15th of November. Therefore, we have to find a place to stay in for around two weeks. This is what we found.

Hostels

We found two hostels in Sonderborg. The first, Sonderborg City, is in the north-west of the city. The second, Sonderborg-Vollerup is on the city outskirts within the Vollerup neighbourhood. Both are part of the Danhostel organisation. This is a Denmark-wide chain of private and public hostels that is a member of Hostelling International, indicating that certain standards of service are met.

Let me dream

B&Bs

Sonderborg being an area that is quite popular with tourists, there are quite a number of B&B options. The options vary from places in the city centre, to places with views of the harbour to places with views of the forest. Luckily for us this was the off season, meaning that we could find a place at a reduced price. Here are the ones we found in Sonderborg:

Éole Airlines

Hotels

We are typically more of a B&B/hostel kind of people, depending on the reason for the trip. Also, we were hoping to find a place where we had access to a kitchen, which is typically not available in hotels. Therefore, we didn’t investigate this option too deeply. However, these are the ones we found in Sonderborg city:

Time to go to bed

Of course, so far we haven’t stayed in any of these places so we cannot really provide recommendations at this point. At the moment we are leaning towards a B&B. However, we will let you know how the decision turned out once we’re in Sonderborg.

All photos in this posts are bedjumpings made by Éole Wind.