Zander K Hotel

Sister hotel to the stately and luxurious Bergen Børs, the 249-room Zander K Hotel is rather more youth-oriented — modernist, minimalist, and with a more utilitarian approach to its comforts. This isn’t meant as a criticism, though; while its luxe sister is decidedly high-end, Zander K’s got everything a design-focused boutique hotel needs, and nothing a low-maintenance modern traveler would find excessive.

Bergen is Norway’s famously rainy second city, and Zander K’s artwork acknowledges the weather, with cartoonish depictions of storm clouds and umbrellas. The design, by the Swedish firm Claesson Koivisto Rune, is crisp and utilitarian, the rooms making liberal use of blond wood and a whole monochrome rainbow of gray tones.

The public spaces are considerably less sparse; the lobby is a classic multi-use all-day space, serving everything from breakfast and espresso to cocktails and organic beers and wines, and features a menu of locally sourced dishes for lunch and dinner. It’s a fine place to work, to socialize, or simply to lounge — and right outside the hotel is the central rail station and, a few blocks beyond, the heart of what might be Norway’s most scenic, livable, and unique cities.