After a day in Berlin, I flew to Copenhagen where I spent the night before continuing on to Reykjavík the next day. That gave me plenty of time to check out the beautifully refurbished SAS Gold Lounge.
One way to my heart is through good coffee and this lounge does not disappoint. When SAS updated this lounge last year, one of the centerpieces was a new coffee bar with freshly ground and brewed coffee drinks. My first stop in the lounge was for some coffee and the cappuccino was simply perfect. The lounge is currently using Lavaza beans.
In fact, the coffee was so tasty I may have a second…and later third cup.
The meal area now resembles a kitchen, with pots and pans hanging and cups, glasses, plates, and bowls stacked against the wall in a well-organized fashion. As for the food itself, it is the same as before and as in the business lounge downstairs.
For breakfast, I had some fruit with yogurt and flax seeds, hot porridge, and coffee.
Copenhagen can become dark and dreary during the winter months. To compensate, the lounge offers a “Daylight Booster Zone” (which probably merits a post of its own).
The picture doesn’t do it justice…
Finally, I took a shower in the lounge. In addition to plush towels, warm water, and decent pressure (that’s a given, I’d say), each shower suite has Bluetooth connectivity so you can listen to your choice of music during your shower. However, the showers lack toilets, which is annoying.
CONCLUSION
I took a lot of pictures and will post a full review of this lounge at a later point, since I have not published one in over nine years!
Have you been to this latest SAS lounge? Did you enjoy the coffee?
Can’t wait to visit and have flax* seeds in my yogurt 😛
I find the food and beverage offering at this lounge quite subpar.
Not much for hot bfast options like scrambled eggs, bacon or some sausages, not a big variety of cold cuts or cereal either. Even worse later in the day.
Also gets quite busy, so you often end up dining with strangers which might be offputting to some.
Decor is nice though.
It’s not a Scandinavian thing for breakfast.
Exactly. Both breakfast and lunch options were pretty horendous, and with such a small choice. I enjoy Scandinavian food, but not this.
Next time, check out the day rooms with bed and private bath. They’re a tad bit outdated, but serve the purpose well. There are only a few of them though… like two or three.
I did not see these anywhere.
They have to be requested. AFAIK, since there are only 2, they’re almost always taken. Only those with access to the Gold Lounge can use them. As @Oliver G mentioned, they’re quite dated but serve their purpose.
The coffee bar is very hit and miss. I’ve often been served by someone who clearly doesn’t know how to make coffee
I got lucky then, because the coffee was great.
When I was there, an Oriential girl made horrible coffee at the bar.
Oriental? It’s 2019.
This lounge is subpar to the Stockholm SAS lounge in most ways. Boring decor, not a lot for comfortable seating, and terrible food and beverage options! Also inconvenient that there’s no SAS lounge after security, only a Priority Pass one.
Btw, what’s interesting is one of the shower suites (#5) does have a toilet, but not the others.
Uh, both the ARN lounge and the CPH lounge are located after security. Perhaps you meant passport control? They’re both in the Schengen area, so you do have to go through passport control for extra-Schengen flights.
In any case, neither lounge is particularly nice, IMHO. They’re always overcrowded and lack comfortable seating with power outlets. F&B is also so-so.
Good to know about shower suite 5! Is it an accessible bathroom? I recall that pre-renovations, the shower suites all had toilets (but were very cramped). Either they all had them back then or I luckily got #5 every time.
I agree the food is better in ARN and OSL (and it’s nice to have some hot food), but I’d choose the CPH lounge for the coffee alone. I appreciate that very much.
In Oslo the new domestic lounge also has the same coffee bar. I know many who travel internationally first go there and then to the other lounge.
Good to know!
LavaZZa