Comfort Hotel Gabelshus

Choose between graceful modern rooms or natty old ones in this fine hotel set in a quiet neighbourhood where the only noise you're likely to hear is that of squirrels sleeping. Elegantly renovated, this place combines two old hotels: a former guesthouse from 1912 and a more modern complex next door.

The result is a large L-shaped affair whose long arms stretch around several grassy courtyards and quiet residential buildings. Rooms on the older side express their age with inlaid wooden furniture, oil paintings and oriental rugs. Ultimately, however, renovations have left them feeling more ordinary than old. Next door, the rooms in the 'British-style' building use oak floors and a colour palette of solid greys, whites and blues to create subtly constructed spaces with design finesse. From hardwood benches with stainless steel legs and leather pillows to the discreet glass panes that connect bed and bath, rooms use many of the devices found elsewhere in modern Scandinavian hotels but with a real sense of balance. A spa opened on site in summer, 2006.