Sir Nikolai Hotel

You may already know Sir Adam from Amsterdam and Sir Savigny from Berlin. Now the Sir Hotels brand adds Sir Nikolai, named for its location on the Nikolaifleet canal, between Hamburg’s historic Altstadt and its newly redeveloped HafenCity waterfront. There’s no question it’s a luxury boutique hotel, with eclectic, historically informed interiors that suit the brand’s aristocratic theme. But this is an accessible sort of luxury, with none of the elitism that you might expect: the Sir talk is all in fun, and you join this jet set not via bloodline or wealth but simply by having fine taste in hotels.

Sir Nikolai’s 94 rooms range from compact Boutique rooms, which are luxe enough with their Marshall sound systems and Dead Clean bath products, on up through increasingly spacious Supremes and Suites and culminating in the Residence, spanning over 600 square feet. The style is smart throughout, the comforts are on point, and the smallest details feel perfectly measured, betraying the meticulous attention to detail that’s the surefire sign of an excellent hotel. And while Izakaya Asian Kitchen & Bar, a Japanese-Peruvian bistro, might not be the sort of thing you expect from a hotel in Hamburg, that’s entirely to the good. Predictability is just so common.