Coffee in Copenhagen. Who doesn't have this point on his bucket list? I got to cross it off mine during our 9-days cityhopping trip through Denmark and Sweden.

First stop was a three night stay in Copenhagen, giving us two whole days to discover town plus two half days for arrival and heading on to Malmö. 

The train ride was just about four and a half hours, including 45 minutes on a ferry, which is a pretty cool way to start you trip, right? We got to Copenhagen around noon. Having some time prior to the check-in in our airbnb we used it to discover the city center before. 

Places to See

City Center

The City Center is a nice place to start out. Just walk through the streets and along the shops to get the first feeling of this calm city. Nobody is really in a hurry around here, everything just takes the time it needs. Plus Copenhagen ist a save city. The highest crime around is bike theft. It is also fairly common for mothers to leave their little ones inside their strolers parked in front of a café while they are inside.

In here everything can be easily accessed by foot. But if you want to save some time you can always hop onto the Metro.

If you are into shopping I advise you to check out the pedestrian zone Strøget. It runs from Radhuspladsen all the way up Kongens Nytorv over at Nyhavn. Many stores of all different kind can be foun here, no matter if you are looking for a souvenir, some fashion or anything else.

City Hall

During its history Copenhagen happened to have four city halls. The first two both burned down during big fires destroying most of the city. The third one is still used as a couthouse today.

The city hall is located right on a big square called Radhuspladsen, right next to Tivoli in the city center. You can enter it as you please during the opening hours. The architecture is simply amazing. 

Many people from around the world come here to get married. Especially since Denmark was one of the first countries in the world to allow same sex marriage.

Christiansborg

Located on the island Slotsholmen in the center of Copenhagen stands Christiansborg. It is home to all the supreme powers of Denmark. 

The entire complex is sort of U-shaped with a big and a small coutyard. On some occasions even the royals can be met here, for example on the day a new parliament gets instated. Many parts can be visited for some fee. We didn't do it, but if you are into the royals it is probably worth checking it out.

What is worth to mention is that you can actually walk up on the big tower. Luckily you don't have to walk up the entire way, elevators will take you up for the most part. The view on top is just great, definatelly worth checking out. You don't have to pay any entrance fee, but since it is a federal building you will need to undergo a security check and the number of people visiting is limited, so you might need to wait for a few minutes.

Thorvaldsens Museum

Bertel Thorvaldsen was a danish skulptor who live in the 18th and 19th century. The museum is dedicated only to him and features a whole variety of sculpturs made by him. Many of them show known historical persons as well as characters from both the roaman and greek mythology.

The museum is located right next to Christiansborg. Each Wednesday it is free of admission, pretty cool huh?

The collection is showing his work over two floors plus a basement with a frequently changing exhibition about his living. So if it is rainy day and you don't know how to spend it just pay a visit.

     

Amalienborg

Do you feel the royal flair already? Amalienborg is the home of the royal family of denmark. Amalienborg consist of a plaza surronded by four papalces. In its middle stand a statue of Frederick V.

The palace is aligned symetrically with Fredericks Church, Amaliehaven and the street Amaliegade. Many tourists and guided tours will come here everyday so be aware of that.

Everyday at 12 o'clock the guards will change duties.This is celebrated with a little parade and music, a nice spectacle to watch. In case you miss it, the guards will walk on patrol across the plaza including a group salute in the beginning, also worth to watch.

Little Mermaid

Perhaps the most famous sight in Copenhagen is the little mermaids. Thousands of tourists gather here all year long to take a picture of themsevles in front of it. With its size of just a little over 120cm it isn't actually that big.

Even though it is already over a hundred years old and has suffered numerous acts of vandalism over the years it still looks really good.

If you choose to ge here bring some time as this place will most likely be crowded, depending on the time of the year. When we got there is was okay, but then a busload of asian students arrived so we got out of there quickly.

Christiania

Who hasn't heard of the Freetown Christiania? A small autonoum district in Copenhagen for people who favor the alternativ lifestyle. Though its autonomy is not officialy recognized it is still tolerated. Since danish law has its limits around here you should play by the local rules. No worry, they are written down for you when you enter the district.

That's right, when you enter through an open gate it even says on top "You are now entering the freetown of Christiania". On the other side it reads "You are now entering the EU" as you leave. Kinda catchy, don't you think? One important thing to mention is that unless oral consent has been given you are not allowed to take pictures around here.

Walking through the district you will soon find yourself on a market. Here you can find everything you need for the local lifestyle, from hippie clothing and waterpipes as well as weed. Yes, smoking weed is actually allowed in Christiania. It is the only drug however. But make sure you smoke up all your weed in here, because danish law does not allow it. It is just here where it is tolerated.

Broens Gadekøkken

Feeling hungry on your way back to the city center? Then you should pay a visit to Broens Gadekøkken. It is a nice little food court located on the pedestrians bridge connecting Christianshaven and Nyhavn. From Christiania it is about a 10-15 minute walk.

It features many different food stands offering all different kinds of food for a fair price, however it is not open during the winter season.

Don't confuse it with the food court Reffen. This one is a little bit more north and best accessible by car. Since we were discovering Copenhagen by foot we didn't get there.

Nyhavn

Have you seen images of the colorful houses before? Yea, them right here. One next to each other they form a beautiful promenade along many sailing boats sitting in the water. Many restaurants are located here. But be careful, they can be really expensive. You can easily get the same quality of food for a cheaper price if you just decide to move around to corners.

Make sure to take nice pictures of the houses, as they are just beautiful, especially when the sun comes out. This place is also a great point to start a little boat tour through the canels of Copenhagen.

Accomendation

Our place was located just 15 minutes by bus outside the city center. We had a nice little room in the appartment we shared with the couple living there. You don't walker longer than 5 minutes to the bus station. From here the buses are leaving all 5-10 minutes and take you directly to the city hall plaza or even central station.

You can find the appartment right here
New to airbnb? Sign up through this link and save up to 34€ on your first trip
Find other accomendations on booking.com

Transportation

As said before we booked our train ticket to Copenhagen beforehand via Omio. When we left for Malmö we simply booked out ticket on the go via their app. Read here how you can set up your account with Omio and save 10€ on your first booking.

Copenhagen has many buses and four metro lines. With these you can easily get from A to B. Copenhagen is divided into several tarif zones, the main zones in the center being zones 1-4. We got a 72 hour ticket for 200DKK each. Luckily our accomendation was in zone 2 so we didn't need an upgrade. Tickets can also be bought via an app. It can be a little bit confusing though. 

Copenhagen is most likely the capital of bikes. There are more bikes than cars moving across the city. So pay attention, in bike lanes bikers do have the right of way and they will make sure you learn that. The infrastructure is well build for bikers, something many cities should be inspired of.

If you are looking into renting a bike I would recommend you try Donkey. They have bike stations all over the city so you can easily return your bike. All you need is an account and their app. They charge you by time and the hourly rate decreases the longer you rent.

Tips

Food and drinks

It is all about Coffee in Copenhagen, right? Many cafés are located in town, way too many to try them all, but here are two we were quiet happy with, though we rather stick to hot chocolate in general.

Espresso House
A Coffee House chain from Sweden with many places around town. We visited with them often, as they have great cinnamon buns and a good variety of coffee, hot chocolate and other drinks

Cafe Højbro Plads
A little café located on Højbro Plads just north of Christiansborg. We grabbed hot chocolate here during our free walking tour, which gave us a small discount.

Døp Hot Dogs
A food wagon located next to the Church of Holy Ghost at Strøget right in teh city center. Whole variety of Hot Dogs to go for a good price.

Payment

In Scandinavia it is already very common to pay with card, So it is not really neccessary to bring ony cash. We didn't find any place that wouldn't accept our credit cards. If you prefer paying cash though that isn't much of a problem either. But if you don't care for it you don't need to visit a currency exchange.

Guided Tours

Discovering a new city all on your own can be thrilling. But sometimes it is nice to know a little bit of the history and get some local tips. There are many guided tours around here, but they all have their price. What we found was a so called Free Walking Tour. A volunteer took us on a three hour tour through the city at no charge and did a tremendous job. All they ask for is a little tip in the end, so you can decide afterwards what it was worth for you.They offer them on a daily basis, it can be booked directly through their webside.

 

Disclaimer: This article contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase or booking through this link it will grant me a provision withouth raising your price. Thank you for supporting this page.