Must sees and dos in Copenhagen

[sengsational]

The Amsterdam thread made me do a title search for where I'm heading: Copenhagen, but no dice.

I found myself thinking about tapping the awesome that are those here for my upcoming destination: Copenhagen.

No plans between when I land and when I sail, 5 nights later. Taking a red-eye, so the first day is shot, so 4 full days. All I've done so far is look at AirBnb (sooo many choices, and I've never done one, but determined to try it or something like it). As for our travel style/preferences, we've stayed in city center and only did public transport / walking to do the tourist thing (taxi's if we have luggage). We've also rented a car and stayed in a less populous area (aka one where you can park the car!), then driven around to see things. I didn't know what would work in Copenhagen. Car cost is about $30/day, so very reasonable.

I'm not a huge fan of museums and old buildings, but a little of that needs to be there for DW. I wish she was more outdoorsy, but for DW's sake, any outdoor stuff would need to be limited to a few hours at a time, but I'm into nature. I kind of like old civil engineering stuff, like I went out of my way to find aqueducts and the like, in past travels.

As for eating, we often use breweries and exceptional beer places to get us places, then find a nice eatery nearby if the beer place isn't one. We're more interested in finding a smaller place, respected by the locals, but not real fancy. We're not going to gravitate to the 100th floor snobby place with the million dollar view. Not that we wouldn't like the view, but we'd go for just that.

So, ideas for simple, yet memorable activities that say "Copenhagen" (or Denmark...you get the picture). What did you do/see that you have fond memories of?

[cathy63]

We're doing 3 weeks in Scandinavia in August, with 4 nights in Copenhagen, so I'll also be reading answers on this thread with interest.

For planning I've been relying heavily on the e-books "Rick Steves Scandinavia", which I got from the library and "Lonely Planet Scandinavia", which is free to borrow from Amazon Prime Reading. I ended up buying the Rick Steves book, because I decided to take his advice and cut out the sections for each city so I can carry them while we're out. He has good walking tours and maps of the central areas for all the major cities in the region.

[socca]

Some of my favorite memories from the year I spent living/working in Copenhagen are from the many walks I took with Dansk Vandrelaug. The Danes were always very friendly.

[braumeister]

I'm interested too. We're looking seriously at a Baltic cruise next year that will either start or end in Copenhagen.

I've only been there once, and just for a weekend, back in 1977. I was completely charmed by the city (reminded me a lot of Reykjavik). I was surprised to find the national dish seemed to be open-face sandwiches (smørrebrød) and they can be really good. Another surprise was that the Danish beers (mainly Carlsberg) were excellent, and nothing at all like the stale, lifeless stuff we got back home. A third surprise was that I could walk right up to the Little Mermaid statue. Somehow I expected it to be fenced off and inaccessible.

DW has never been there, so she's looking forward to everything.

[Nemo2]

Take the stairs to the top of the Church of Our Savior for the views.....go to Christiania for the hippy remnants (they don't like you taking pics inside).....visit Nyhavn and take a canal cruise.

[Rosie]

I used to work for a company that had a subsidiary just outside of Copenhagen, so I went there occasionally. But my last time there was in the winter of 2006 (I only remember that because I was watching the Torino Olympics in real time, woo woo) so my memory is a bit hazy.

I found this site which helped jog my memory: Top attractions in Copenhagen | VisitCopenhagen

One of my absolute favorite places in downtown Copenhagen was the lovely Botanical Garden. It has a very large glass conservatory which, at least back when I used to go there, you could go inside and climb up a metal spiral staircase to the roof level -- no idea if you can still do that. Once, I arrived after a long flight and made a beeline for the garden. I sat down on a bench under a nice shady tree, and promptly dozed off!

I also used to like to wander around Strøget, the pedestrian street with lots of shops and cafes and small parks. Great people watching.

The Round Tower (Rundetaarn) is near Strøget, good for a visit.

Another thing I used to love to do was go to Nyhavn, sit at an outdoor table at one of the canal-side restaurants, and order a glass of Carlsberg and a bowl of steamed mussels. Yum.

One of my favorite places to go outside of Copenhagen was the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art. Even if you're not much for modern art, the museum and the especially the grounds are spectacular. You can get there by train from the city center, although (iirc) it might be a bit of a hike from the train station to the museum -- you could probably take a taxi from the train station if need be.

[pullmyfinger]

I love Copenhagen! I went there for the first time last September and will be returning this September for 4 nights out of a 15 night trip. A good friend goes there every year and loves it, but when I asked her why she couldn't explain it. After going there I understand. It is just a beautiful city, with friendly people.

On our trip last year we travelled by train and rode across "The Bridge" as in the bridge from Malmo to Copenhagen that is featured in the Swedish mystery series by that name. We thought the bridge would be really exciting and planned to ride over it again by bus for better viewing. It was rather dull viewing so we didn't bother with another trip across.

At first I was a little disappointed by the amount of addicts and sex shops on our walk from the train station to our Airbnb in Vesterbro. I quickly got over that. The city felt very safe with tons of pedestrians including small children walking by themselves to school. I should point out that my favorite thing to do when traveling is to explore everything on foot.

As far as sights - Tivoli. My husband insisted we go, I thought "how exciting can an amusement park be?". Well it was beautiful! We spent several hours walking through the wonderful grounds and gardens. We didn't go on any rides, but I thoroughly enjoyed it and would highly recommend.

Rosenborg Castle and gardens. We didn't even go in to the castle after having visited so many castles/palaces in the last few years. The grounds are beautiful and well worth a visit. The neighborhood surrounding the gardens is also beautiful and made for some great walking.

Christiania - I went, found it boring, and would probably not recommend. I did enjoy walking through other neighborhoods on the way though.

Nyhavn - very cute area with canals and lots of restaurants. We didn't eat there but very much enjoyed walking through the area.

Amalienborg Palace - we just walked around the grounds and found it lovely.

Kastellet Park - wow, this was such a pleasant surprise. We were walking from Amalienborg Palace toward the Little Mermaid and stumbled upon this beautifully preserved old citadel. If you have good weather I would highly recommend this.

Little Mermaid - meh. Surrounded by swarms of tourists taking selfies.

I loved the beautiful pedestrian boulevards like the Stroget. The town hall is lovely. We did not need to use any public transportation while we were there because so much was accessible and it was such a pleasant city for walking. I would recommend bringing with Rick Steves Scandinavia book with you, it was well worth carrying it over there.

[Sunset]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sengsational ..... I found myself thinking about tapping the awesome that are those here for my upcoming destination: Copenhagen. No plans between when I land and when I sail, 5 nights later. Taking a red-eye, so the first day is shot, so 4 full days.....

Did you post somewhere what ship return cruise you were going to take, as I recall you stated the price was still dropping.

As I hate flying, I'm hoping I like TA cruises.

[Zona]

We spent last July in Copenhagen, staying in an airbnb about a block from Kongens Have. It was the perfect area for us, centrally located, lots of restaurants in all price ranges. Many activities and attractions were within walking distance, but we also used the bus system to get around (and even tried the city bikes twice, too).

I agree with others that the Little Mermaid is not worth the trek. Nyhavn is nice to walk around but there are much better restaurants elsewhere. We found Stroget very crowded/commercial and tried to avoid walking that way at all costs. A much more pleasant walking street nearby is Kompagnistraede (sp?) area.

Since you are into nature, I recommend the parks like Kastellet, Frederiksberg Have, and if you're into historical architecture (and a LOT of walking) you can take the bus up to the Frilandsmuseet (an open air museum). We also really enjoyed the "free" walking tours which allow you to "tip" what you like at the end. The ones in Copenhagen were really good -- in one month we did all the ones the main company offered (Grand Tour, Classical Tour, Christiania Tour, and even the Pub Crawl) and learned something new on each of them.

For eating, I recommend the Papiroen/Paper Island -- it's mostly world cuisine stalls rather than Danish cuisine, but if the weather is nice it's a great place to get a bite and sit outside sipping a beer. Also the smorrebrod from the Torvehallerne market/foodhall is excellent, although kind of expensive comparatively. Andersen's bakery near Tivoli has delicious pastries -- one of the best pastries I've ever had was the mandelhorn there. One of our favorite things to do was just to purchase some smorrebrod to go (although this can get messy), grab some beers and have a picnic in one of the lovely parks or on the Ofelia Plads. Very relaxing!

Some of our favorite sites and attractions included: Tivoli (we bought an annual pass and went something like 7 times during the month we were there, sometimes just to walk around and admire the lights at night, or go to a Friday rock concert, other times just for dinner. We only splurged on a wristband for the rides once -- individually the rides are kind of pricey), Carlsberg brewery free friday party, Rundetaarn, the Netto canal tour, the World Clock in the City Hall, Rosenborg Slot, and the guided tour of Christiansborg palace.

If you are there during July, the annual Jazz fest is a week-long event with hundreds of free concerts throughout the city. Definitely worth checking out if your timeline allows, and if you are a fan of jazz.

Feel free to PM me if you have questions, or want more recommendations, or if you would like a link to the blog we kept during our time there. We loved the city and I hope you do, too. Have a wonderful trip!

[Nemo2]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pullmyfinger Christiania - I went, found it boring, and would probably not recommend.

Agreed.....we only went for the curiosity value...didn't stay too long....remembered when it was 'established', close to fifty years ago; visiting was kinda like being an Anthropologist..("Margaret Mead, you can come home now, all is forgiven").

Overall, although we enjoyed Copenhagen, we wouldn't rank it as one of our 'favorite' places.....it's joined the 'been there, done that' listings.

[brett]

Same here. But it was a long time ago and we were in a home made Volkswagen camper. We might feel different now that we are much older and would travel in a more comfortable manner.

[sengsational]

Thanks for all of the ideas! Now I have a list of stuff to start with from wise travelers. I think I'll get the Rick Steve's book too. And that reminded me that I've been DVR-ing all the Rick Steve's shows and never delete them. I need to search for shows that might include Copenhagen.

I plan to ride the old wooden roller coaster at Tivoli. Probably be "too crowded", but I'll just set expectations low. I've ridden "Jack Rabbit" (circa 1921), but this one is even older (circa 1914).

[Zona]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sengsational I plan to ride the old wooden roller coaster at Tivoli. Probably be "too crowded", but I'll just set expectations low. I've ridden "Jack Rabbit" (circa 1921), but this one is even older (circa 1914).

That was our favorite ride at Tivoli. The operators ride along with you -- they stand in the middle of the train and operate the handbrake. Very memorable. Have a great time!

[DougViages]

We had three days in Copenhagen, three in Stockholm, and an 11 night cruise on RCCL Serenade. For Copenhagen we stayed at Scandic Palace near Tivoli and Stroget walking street entrance. My best suggestion is to spend some time on Trip Advisor and get a feel for the sights and activities. We ate at some of the better reviewed Danish food restaurants and were not disappointed.