Michael and I visited Copenhagen in April 2017, which was a beautiful time of year to visit, even though it was a little colder than our hometown in California. The city was not very crowded with tourists and the hotels were reasonably priced.
Day 1
After a 10 hour flight from Oakland to Copenhagen, we landed in the evening, checked into our AirBnb and went on a search for some dinner. We decided to look for a restaurant located in the picturesque Nyhavn, New Harbor. After browsing many of the menus we decided to eat at Skipperkroen which had outside heaters, blankets and many dinner options to choose from. The food was great, but it was not until we received the check that we realized how much the dinner cost. We ended up spending $80 on our first dinner in Copenhagen. The views are worth it so I would suggest getting drinks in Nyhavn and not dinner. Also, there are no laws prohibiting open containers in Copenhagen so you can go to a grocery store to buy some drinks and enjoy them on the harbor. After dinner we went back to our cozy AirBnb to rest up for the next big day!
Nyhavn
Day 2
Our AirBnb was located along Stroget (the shopping mile) which made it easy to get around the city on foot. We walked along the Stroget to the Copenhagen Canal Boat Tours located in Nyhavn. We took the first tour of the day at 9:30 A.M. and were the only ones on the boat, which made for a nice private tour. The tour only cost about $12.00 and we saw the Copenhagen Opera House, Amalienborg Palace, Christiansborg Palace, the Black Diamond Library and the infamous Little Mermaid. Our tour guide told us how the Little Mermaid is one of the most overrated travel attractions out there. I’m not surprised!
12:00 P.M. We visited the Torvehallerne for lunch where we explored the 60 food stalls. They sell everything from fresh fish and meat to gourmet chocolates and exotic spices. We tried the Smorrebrod, open face sandwich, and porrage from a popular food stall. We also met a local who suggested a microbrewery, Mikkellar, that we ended up visiting later on in our trip.
After a quick lunch, we walked to the Carlsberg Brewery, which is located Southwest of the city center (about a 50 minute walk) in the Vesterbro neighborhood. I would definitely recommend visiting the Brewery for an authentic brewery experience with a lot of history. The admission ticket is about $14.50 and includes a self guided tour through the old brewery and two beers at the end of the tour. You can have a guided tour but I would recommend just walking through on your own because throughout the brewery there are many plaques to read about the history of the brewery and Denmark.
One of our favorite things to do in a new city is take a walking tour, this gives you a good feel of the city from a locals perspective. Copenhagen Free Walking Tours offers different tours throughout the city at many times during the day. The guides are paid on a tips-only basis so it’s always nice to be a little generous. The first tour we took was The Tour of Christianshavn, which is located to the East of Copenhagen. On this tour we saw the alternative side of Copenhagen, down the cobblestone streets and Christiania, known as Freetown Christiania. Christiania is a self-proclaimed autonomous neighborhood located in former military barracks where there are people from all walks of life. The people of Christiania ask visitors to come in small groups and refrain from taking pictures.
After a long day of site seeing we went to the restaurant Skindbuksen (Leather Pants), which was established in 1728 and was originally a gift shop for Grand Cafe. This is a great place if you want something that reveals the history of Copenhagen and is full of character, with photographs and paintings.
Day 3
We started our second day in Copenhagen with another walking tour and this time we did the Grand Tour of Copenhagen. On this 3 hour walking tour we covered about 2.5 miles and saw The City Hall, Christiansborg Palace, The Old City Center, Nyhavn Harbour, The Royal Opera and The Royal Palace of Amalienborg. On the tour we were able to see the changing of the guards at the Royal Palace of Amalienborg and we saw the queen leave in her Rolls Royce with her body guards in tow.
After our walking tour we had worked up an appetite and went to the Street Food Market on Papiroen (Paper Island), which is a 10 minute walk from Nyhavn. This place was an absolute blast and I highly recommend going if you like food, music, beer and a good time. The Street Food Market is a huge warehouse filled with small food trucks serving delicious sustainable street food from all corners of the world. They have Korean, Mexican, Italian, Danish, Turkish and many more cuisines from around the world. I had Brazilian BBQ with Chicken, salad and chimichurri and Michael had a “burrito” made with an egg wrap. They also have plenty of local beers on tap to try.
After lunch at the Copenhagen Street Food Market, we decided to go to the top of the tower of Christiansborg Palace, The Tarnet. It is free to take the elevator up to the top of the Tarnet and is open every day except for Mondays. From the tower you can see rooftops, parks and parts of the city that you cannot get from the street view. There is also a restaurant at the Tower that is supposed to be very good, but we did not get a chance to go there.
After spending some time enjoying the views, we decided to visit a microbrewery that a local suggested to us, Mikkeller. The brewery started in 2006 and now exports beer to 40 different countries. We both had one of their IPAs and it was delicious and refreshing! The brewery has tasting rooms all around the world, even in our own backyard of San Francisco and Oakland.
By this time it was about 3:00 PM and we decided to visit the Rosenborg castle. We arrive at 3:15 PM to find out the castle closed at 4:00 PM, so we had a quick visit. The castle was built in the early 17th century by one of the famous Scandinavian kings, Christian IV. We walked through the Knights Hall with the coronation thrones and tapestries on the walls. We also saw the crown jewels of past Danish kings and queens. We did not need the full hour to visit the castle that they recommend.
From the Rosenborg Castle we went back to our AirBnb for a quick break and then headed to Tivoli Gardens. Tivoli Gardens is a famous amusement park that opened in August 1843 and is the second-oldest operating amusement park in the world. The park has shows, restaurants, rides, amusement park games and shops. We got there a little later in the evening so we did not go to any shows, but we did get a chance to ride a roller coaster called The Demonen. Since it was the off season the lines were very short, but during the summer the park gets very busy. For dinner we went to an Italian restaurant, Mazzoli’s, which was delicious. The prices were reasonable and the food came out fast.
Finally after a long day, we headed back to our AirBnb and got our version of a nightcap; Sweet Waffle and Nutella Crepe.
Day 4
Like every other morning in Copenhagen we stopped at the grocery store for a quick breakfast and then took a train from the Central Station to Helsingor, Denmark (About 50 minutes north of Copenhagen). Once in Helsingor, we had to find a place to store our luggage because the train station did not have lockers for luggage (I thought they did, oops.) We found that the Kulturværftet (Culture yard), a 5 minute walk from the train station, had lockers but our luggage did not fit in them. A small carry on could fit in the lockers. The women working at the Kulturværftet were nice enough to let us store our luggage behind the counter at their cafe for the day. After a nice stroll through downtown and a snack from the local bakery we were off to Kronborg Castle.
Kronborg Castle served as home to the royal family until the late 1600’s and was also the setting for Hamlet. They offer tours in different languages throughout the day. On the tour they guide you through many rooms of the castle and inform you on some quirks of the castle. My favorite fact was that the castle was only supposed to have three sections to make a U shape, but King Christina IV built a forth section to connect the castle to make a square so his queen would not have to walk outside when she was going to attend their parties that were held in the large ballroom. Due to its long history filled with royalty, myths and drama, Kronborg Castle has become a UNESCO World Heritage Site that is definitely worth a visit.
After our tour of the castle, we took a ferry from Helsingor to Helsingborg, Sweden (about 15 minutes) and began our journey in Sweden. The ferry ride offered great views of both Denmark and Sweden. Our trip continued on to Sweden which I will write about in my next blog post.
Journeys of a Foodie 