My boyfriend is Danish and after living in Portugal for two years, he decided to move back to Denmark. He stayed with me in London for a week before we both headed to Copenhagen (aka København) to spend the weekend, whereafter I would leave him in Denmark and return to London.
I'd been to Copenhagen previously with my family, however I was a child and the only thing I really remembered was seeing the Changing of the Guard, so I was excited to revisit as an adult. We were only there from Friday morning until Sunday night so we had a very busy but amazing weekend.
Day 1
After a delayed flight, we arrived in rainy Denmark. We were quite hungry by this point so treated ourselves to a local fast-food chain called Sunset Destination. We used public transport to get to our Airbnb, which was very easy and convenient, and settled in before heading out to explore the city slightly. Unbeknownst to us, the Tour de France was actually departing from Copenhagen that day so the main streets were blocked and pedestrians had to wait for the cyclists to pass in order to cross the roads (in single file). Despite the rain, the city was packed with tourists and cyclists alike and there was a great atmosphere.
We saw a few of the main sights, including Tivoli theme park, which looked very cool and lively, City Hall Square, where screens showing the Tour de France were set up, and the Round Tower, which I learnt has an equestrian staircase to go up instead of regular stairs as the King Christian IV wanted his horses to be able to ascend as well.
From here, we went to Studenterhuset, which is a space catered to students but where anyone is welcome, and we enjoyed a pint of Danish beer (Tuborg) for only £3 each! We had a dinner reservation at a nearby Italian restaurant, La Vecchia Signora, on the recommendation of a friend which was delicious and I'd highly recommend (to quote my boyfriend: 'the pizza was even better than in Italy'). I learnt two things over the course of dinner: the first was that in Denmark restaurants will put a small Danish flag on the table if someone is celebrating a birthday, the second was that I had left my phone in the Studenterhuset. I ran back and luckily for me, my phone was still face-down on the table, exactly where I'd left it (despite the sudden crowdedness of the place).
As it was a Friday night, we went on a mini bar crawl along Gothersgade street, which offered a variety of atmospheres and music but was enjoyable.
Day 2
Saturday was our only full day in Copenhagen so we were on a mission to see as much of the city as possible on this day. My boyfriend had made a rough itinerary, which he'd termed 'Tour de Hans' (Hans being his name) and we were extremely lucky with the weather, as it was very sunny with a slight breeze at about 23°C (my optimal weather for exploring).
The first stop on our tour was brunch at Mig & Venner (which I later learned translates to 'me and friends',) and en route to the café we spotted a party-truck (baring in mind that it was about 10am at this point) with various students celebrating and drinking, as this 'studenterkørsel' represents graduation and is a trip the students take between their houses in order to pick up more food and drink to keep the celebrations going. For brunch, I opted for waffles, which were much better than any I'd had in the UK, although I would've preferred a less sweet topping.
We then headed towards the City Hall, excited that the streets would be unblocked as the Tour de France had finished in the city, but to our dismay it was now the 'Tour de København', so many streets were still closed. On our way to buy pastries from the oldest bakery in Denmark (Skt. Peders Bageri), we saw a jazz band walking down the street with an entourage, which was one of my favourite memories of the trip (a small snippet can be found at the bottom of this post). Over the weekend we heard numerous bands performing across the city, presumably to celebrate the annual Jazz Festival, and it was hugely enjoyable. We headed to Kongens Have (the King's Garden) to enjoy our pastries with a backdrop of Rosenborg Castle, which was perfect.
With our tummies full of delicious chocolate swirls and cinnamon rolls, we passed the classic orange houses of Nyboder, which were formerly naval accommodation, en route to the famous citadel (Kastellet). This military area is still active and features a fort, a windmill, and a moat. It was cool to see and reminded me greatly of a childhood memory in Oslo, Norway, which was trippy. On the way to see the Little Mermaid, we passed a church called Svenska Gustafskyrkan, which looked pretty, and then we saw the eye-catching Opera House, followed by the gorgeous Amalienborg Palace and Amaliehaven. The palace is stunning, however my favourite monument in this part of the city was definitely Frederik's Church (aka the Marble Church), as it was beautiful both in the interior and on the exterior - I'd highly recommend seeing this landmark.
By this point, my feet were hurting slightly and I was keen to see the infamous Freetown Christiania, a commune where weed runs rife, rent is free, and no cars are allowed. It was at the top of my list of things to see in Copenhagen, and after passing Christiansborg Palace and Our Saviour's Church (Vor Frelsers Kirke), which I was surprisingly fascinated by, we finally arrived at Christiania. Here we finished our pastries and tried Christiania's local beer and I loved exploring this commune as it was full of art and community; unfortunately, there were also police raiding the place and arresting locals, which was a shame and defeated the purpose of the Freetown. Of everywhere to visit in Copenhagen. this is by far my strongest recommendation as it is unlike anything else I've seen in Europe thus far and was fascinating.
One thing that I loved about Copenhagen was that everyone was out in the sun, whether that be exploring the food markets, jumping off boats into the rivers, or drinking on the riverbanks, and the atmosphere was great and reminiscent of London in Summer, where everyone's keen to socialise and have fun. After exploring Christiania, we walked through Refshaleøen, which features rivers with kayaks and young people swimming, headed for Reffen - an international street food market. Here, I tried a classic Danish hot dog, which was difficult to eat but delicious, and we soaked up the sun as we watched people bungee jumping off a nearby crane. This market was lively and the options were limitless; again, it was very artsy and I managed to get a picture in the photo booth with my boyfriend as a reminder of that day.
It was approaching 6pm and not only did my feet hurt, but I was also very sunburnt as I hadn't anticipated the weather to be so good that morning and so had forgone the suncream. That said, there was one final destination on the 'Tour de Hans': Nyhavn. When most people think of Copenhagen, they picture coloured houses along a river with bars and restaurants out front, and this was where my boyfriend wanted to end the tour (if you've been to Copenhagen, you might have realised that the route we did was very rogue but it was specifically designed that way in order to ensure that Nyhavn was our last stop). After passing through another food market (Broens Gadekøkken), we arrived at our last stop and it was exactly how I'd pictured it. We enjoyed a gin Hass (a tasty Danish cocktail) by the river and relaxed after a gruelling 26km walk. Over dinner, I tried another Danish drink called søbogaard, which tasted like Ribena, and although we'd aimed to head to some typical Danish pubs, we were exhausted and instead headed home to take it easy for the rest of the night and recuperate.
Day 3
Although we only had to check out of our Airbnb at 12pm, we wanted to make the most of our last morning in Copenhagen so left a couple of hours earlier. This ended up being a lapse in judgement however, as we later learnt that our Airbnb host had in fact gone out to get us breakfast as a surprise, which was very wholesome. Instead, we'd gone to Denmark's equivalent of Starbucks: Espresso House (which can be found in abundance in Copenhagen) for a coffee and 'chocolate ball' (havregyrnskugle), followed by lunch at a market place called Torvehallerne. Here, we tried the classic smørrebrød, which is essentially an open sandwich, often on rye bread. After visiting the Baltics, I quickly realised that I dislike rye bread, so I chose one of the few options without it, which consisted of prawns and mayo on sourdough and was delicious (but expensive). We also tried to search for a popular cake called 'Kaj', which is shaped like a frog, but to no avail. I'd strongly recommend visiting Torvehallerne as there were endless options and it had a great atmosphere.
After parting ways, I got my flight at Copenhagen Airport, where I heard that a shooting had just occurred in a mall in Copenhagen, which was heartbreaking and scary.
Final Thoughts
Copenhagen is a beautiful city, especially in the summertime, and there's so much to see and do so I'd recommend going for at least 4 days to truly enjoy it all without rushing around. There are an abundance of bicycles, many of which feature a cart in front to transport children (or friends) across the city, and music can be heard from every direction (at least in July). I had a wonderful time and look back fondly on my memories there.
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