Brondums Hotel

Brondums Hotel

Step past the red brick front and the light comes in through mullioned windows onto herringbone parquet, with every room painted its own shade of wall color, in a house that has taken in guests since 1859, when merchant Erik Brøndum turned his trading yard into lodgings. By the time Georg Brandes, Carl Nielsen, Marie and P.S. Krøyer, Holger Drachmann, and Anna and Michael Ancher were holding dinners and parties in its sitting room roughly 150 years ago, the hotel had already become Skagen's meeting point, and Skagens Museum sits right next door today, a link no other hotel in town can claim. The 44 rooms come in three types: Superior and Standard doubles looking onto the garden or courtyard, and a Standard Family Room; none are reachable by elevator, so guests booking an upper floor should expect stairs. Downstairs there is a restaurant and bar, a library, a garden and terrace for slower mornings, a courtyard used for summer lunches of smørrebrød, a conference hall for small meetings, and a historic, award-winning wine cellar. Staff speak English and German, Wi-Fi is free throughout, and Skagen Sønderstrand, rated among Denmark's best beaches, is roughly 500 meters away. This suits someone who wants painted-wall rooms and real art history over a designed lobby, and who does not need a crib or a rollaway bed, since the hotel offers neither. It will not suit anyone travelling with a pet, since only service animals are permitted, or anyone who cannot manage stairs. The painters found the light here first. Their rooms are still standing, still lived in. Brøndums Hotel has welcomed guests since 1859 and once hosted dinners for Skagen's painters, right next door to Skagens Museum. Its 44 rooms sit above stairs with no elevator, and pets aren't allowed. It suits art-history lovers more than families needing a crib or a lift.