Travel

Dyvig Badehotel – a well deserved weekend retreat

Visit one of the Danish seaside hotels, Dyvig Badehotel, you will find no spa nor sauna. Just a visit taking you back to the olden days


By Stine Rosengren

It was the month of May a spring or two ago.

My husband and I dropped off the children at their grandmother’s home and drove towards Als, a relatively large island between South Jutland and Funen.

We were going on a well-deserved weekend away and had been recommended the place where we would visit.

On our way we made a small detour passing Faaborg on Funen, a nice little ferry town known for the church tower chimes, which four times a day send Danish hymns out over the rooftops.

We took the ferry boat Bøjden-Fynshav to Als, a 50 minute journey, and then we were on Als.

Of course, if you have never been to Als, the island has lots to offer, but we just made our journey to relax and rest. Here we found just the right place, far from tempting city shops, cars, and street lamps.

Imagine a ride through the Danish countryside, during a spring month, where the fields are freshly ploughed and you just have to roll down the windows and breathe in the scent of fresh soil.

The sun shone and Dyvig badehotel greeted us as it stood there in red and white, next to the clear blue waters shimmering in the cove. You would think that we had driven north to Sweden and not south in Denmark.

The seaside hotel looks more like a wooden Swedish house, but make no mistake; inside the red house with white windows, it’s Danish from top to toe.

We were upgraded to an even better room than we had booked, and it just felt like more of a special treat to open our patio door and walk straight out on to the terrace.

Here we could sit in the sun right at the edge of the bay and enjoy our coffee and cake. Of course, it was served on beautiful porcelain matching the decor and with coffee served in a Madam Blå.

To have your coffee served in a Madam Blå coffee pot has an immediate effect on your body – you feel your pulse begin to slow down, for even though the coffee is most certainly brewed on a large industrial coffee maker, the image Madam Blå portrays gives us the feeling that here things take time.

Never heard of Madam Blå? You need to read more about this iconic coffee pot – which all Danes young and old either know from their parents or grandparents, or because they play with it today in their kindergarten – you can read more about iconic coffeepot here.

The decor at the seaside hotel is stylish, light, and classical, with upholstered furniture, large paintings, and elegant mirrors. There are high ceilings in the banquet hall, and each room has its own personality.

Here no one has thought of a modern, minimalist look, or of large TV screens. Right now I cannot even remember if there was a TV in the room. I think not and I didn’t miss it, not for a second. The rooms and hotel restaurant have been decorated and furnished only with a romantic decor in mind.

There are candles and light airy flower bouquets.

The food was good in the hotel’s restaurant Skipperstuen. Its decor is more to the heavy side and the light greeting you upon entering seemed like walking into the skipper’s room on board a boat with its green oil lamps and low ceiling.

Skipperstuen, the skipper’s lounge, has of course been named to delight the many visiting summer tourists who arrive at Dyvig Badehotel from the sea, sailing in just to get a meal.

If you are a fan of less traditional Danish “kromad” then the hotel’s second restaurant Vigen is definitely worth a visit. The menu was just as easy, delicious, and elegant as the decor, and the serving was exquisite.

Dyvig Seaside hotel has no spa, massages or special treatments, or any of all the other options offered by most hotels these days. But it has so much more worth experiencing. Dyvig Badehotel, Dyvigvej 31, Holm 6430 Nordborg