I have just spent a wonderful Christmassy weekend in the Danish capital, Copenhagen which is an excellent hub and just an hour’s flight from the UK. Norwegian Airlines hosted our fam trip and they connect to the city from London Gatwick, Manchester and Birmingham and have free wifi on board too! On a crisp Friday morning, we were greeted by Monkfish, a local event company and Tanja our Nordic Choice Hotels expert who whisked us away for our first hard hat tour of the weekend at the soon to open The Hangar, which is located next to the airport and opens on 1st August 2020 with capacity for over 2000 people. A brand-new state of the art venue for congresses, The Hangar is located next to the Clarion Copenhagen Airport and the Comfort Hotel too and will offer 988 bedrooms.
This trip being my first visit to Scandinavia I must say I was not disappointed with the warm welcome and “hygge” feeling which the Danes are famous for. After a typical open sandwich lunch at Restaurant Almanak, we enjoyed a rickshaw transfer through Christianshavn to The Plant, an old factory which has been transformed into a raw event venue. Warmed with Glögg (mulled wine to you and me) and Danish pancake balls (dipped in icing sugar and jam), our next stop was Copenhill, an incredible urban skiing area. This artificial ski slope and recreational hiking area is built on top of a waste management centre and the adventurous members of the group braved the windy weather and skied down the piste in a variety of ways – some on skis, some on snowboards and some on their bottoms…
After all this excitement, it was time to go back to the comfort and warmth of our very spacious rooms at the Clarion Copenhagen Airport, before heading out to Llama restaurant in the vibrant city centre of Copenhagen which was buzzing with Christmas parties. The restaurant did not disappoint with its South American tapas menu and lively atmosphere.
Breakfast on Saturday morning was a delight with an amazing choice of fresh and local food, which set us up for our second hard hat tour – that of the Villa Copenhagen, which gave us a sneak peak of what this much awaited transformed Central Post Office will offer, with 2300sqm event and meeting space, 390 rooms and a roof top pool too!
Next stop was a visit and delicious lunch at the laid-back luxury hotel Skt Petri, just off the pedestrian shopping street (the longest in Europe!). This hotel is a real gem, centrally located and offering meeting space with natural daylight and a relaxed and very welcoming lobby/bar area. The Christmas decorations showcased the classy Scandinavian design and we made sure that our guests had enough time to spot Santa and take some selfies too!
Afternoon coffee, tea and heavenly cake was appreciated at La Glace, Copenhagen’s most famous bakery before heading off by train to Malmö in Sweden across the Oresund Bridge, made famous by the Nordic Noir TV series “The Bridge”. We were all very impressed by the extremely upbeat and lively Clarion Malmö Live, which at just 30 minutes from Copenhagen International Airport and is a fantastic option for a large conference. Drinks at the Sky Bar followed by dinner at Kitchen & Table on the 25th floor with breath-taking views over city and the aforementioned “Bridge” was very much enjoyed by all.
After a quick site visit of the hotel and its 29 meeting rooms (and if you need more space there is a concert hall available too!), we travelled back to Copenhagen for some greatly anticipated Christmas fun in the festively, glittering Tivoli Gardens. Now we are all ready for Christmas!!
