Planning a trip to Copenhagen? This gorgeous and interesting city has lots to discover including picturesque architecture, castles and museums.

When planning your trip you may find that lodgings are quite expensive. Many travelers consider accommodations like hostels to try to save some money. Here is my review of the Steel House Hostel in Copenhagen where I stayed for about a week.

Steel House Hostel Copenhagen Review

The Steel House is a cool modern hostel in Copenhagen with both private rooms and shared bunks. Some rooms have their own private bathrooms while others share with roommates. Steel House is one of the biggest hostels I have ever stayed in with 235 rooms over six floors.

The Steel House is a popular place for families and groups as you can reserve a room with 4 to 6 beds. You’ll see small kids and people of all ages in the hostel’s shared spaces.

The entire building is modern and chic with lots of exposed concrete, glass and steel. The building used to house the Danish Union of Metalworkers.

There is a large shared lounge with comfy chairs and sofas in the bar area as well as lots of tables for dining in the cafe. But you cannot bring your own food and drinks into this area, only what you purchase in the cafe. Friday and Saturday nights you’ll find 2 for 1 happy hour beers which is a nice touch and a good way to bond with your roommates. Unfortunately I found the coffee quite awful, and I’m not really too snobby. But try it yourself and see!

There is also a shared kitchen area that at the time of this writing was 20 kroner extra per person per stay. If you are staying a few days and plan to prepare at least some of your own meals I think it is more than worth it. The kitchen is large and has multiple burners and sinks, ovens, and three refrigerators.

The gym and small indoor swimming pool are downstairs and have an additional fee as well. When I was at Steel House there were a lot of families with small children who took over the swimming pool much of the time, so it didn’t look very appealing to me. The gym is small but modern.

The private rooms are quite small but you have your own toilet and shower. The shared rooms have 4 or 6 beds and are well designed but also small. Other than the pod like bunk beds there is not a lot of space in the room. The beds are partly enclosed at the head and foot, giving a little additional privacy. The upper bunks are also quite high and accessed by slim metal shelf-like steps. Each bed has its own lamp and plug, plus a handy little wall pocket to hold your cell phone or snacks. The bathrooms are not outside the shared rooms but are in the same space. Which can be both positive and negative. Read more about the negatives below.

The shared rooms have luggage lockers but they are not very large. Bring your own lock to keep your items secure. You can also use the lockers downstairs to store your things during your stay. There are both coin operated lockers and ones you access via an app with credit card. The coin operated lockers are only available until 3AM so if you plan to leave your things overnight you will need to use the ones accessed by app. The app can be a bit tricky. There is a tablet on the wall near the lockers where you can access the app, but I found it kept resetting as soon as I entered by credit card info. I logged into the website on my phone and it worked instantly, so I’d recommend trying that if you have trouble.

A really nice amenity in any hotel is an elevator and the Steel House has several, making it easier to get your luggage from the bottom to the upper floors.

The Steel House is located near public transit and it is easy to get around in Copenhagen on foot, by bike and public transit. There is also a hop on hop off bus stop nearby. Behind the Steel House hostel there is a nice lake which makes a nice place to stroll.

Negatives of the Steel House Hostel

Unfortunately a hostel is only as good as the other guests. And as with most hostels the Steel House guests varied widely in their respect for the shared spaces. Although the staff cleaned the kitchen several times a day, it was still often filthy and messy because of guests who didn’t clean up after themselves leaving dirty dishes and splatters of grease and food all over the countertops. Cleverly the Steel House asks guests to put their food in a provided plastic container and label it with your room number and check out date. The three huge refrigerators were absolutely packed with food, making it hard to find a spot. Guests might wash their dishes but didn’t bother to put them away as requested, leaving stacks of wet plates, bowls and cutlery all over the counters. This made the large and lovely kitchen often a nasty place unfortunately.

In the same vein, the shared rooms were well designed but only as good as your roommates. If you get lucky and have respectful roommates you can hope for a good sleep and that the shared bathroom stays clean. The shower room can get very wet when several people are using it one after the other.

The toilet and shower room both have sliding frosted glass doors which are fine when you are in your own room or with an intimate partner but which are not completely private when sharing a space with strangers. The other negative about the bathroom is that the lights turn on automatically with motion sensors. That means any time someone walks by the rooms the lights come on for a few minutes. My bed happened to be next to the toilet and shower so not only did I get light shining in my eyes but I could hear all the activity in the toilet. If you plan to stay in a shared room I suggest you bring an eye mask if you are sensitive to light.

Overall I would recommend staying at Steel House in Copenhagen. The city is quite expensive for lodging and Steel House offers a great rate on rooms and beds. The building is cool and modern and the staff is friendly and helpful.

Book the Steel House Hostel here. You can reserve a bed in a co-ed room, a female-only dorm or your own private room.

Booking.com

Steel House Copenhagen
Herholdtsgade 6
DK-1605 København V

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