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Copenhagen

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This weekend, I headed to Copenhagen with my sister to celebrate her 30th birthday. I booked the trip for her back in January, and after a five month wait we were understandably excited to head over and experience the city we’d heard so much about.
Copenhagen is fortunate enough to be one of the greenest capital cities in the world. It’s surrounded by beautiful scenery, and with home ware that looks like art, it wasn’t a surprise to discover that the Danes are officially the happiest people on Earth. Having spent just under 3 days there, it was clear to see why – the people are incredibly friendly, relaxed and clearly live a very good life.

We arrived in the city late on Saturday afternoon after a delayed flight, so we headed to our apartment in the Norrebro region, dropped our bags off and went back out into the city to have a look around before grabbing some dinner. Out first stop was the Rundetaarn (or Round Tower), which is the oldest functioning observatory in Europe, which hosts beautiful 360 views out across the city and is well worth a visit.

 

After soaking up some views, we headed to Vesterbo – the Hackney equivalent of London (an area that was once renowned for being a bit dodgy, but is now one of the trendiest areas in the city). We’d been recommended a no-nonsense Italian restaurant called Mother by some friends, so headed over there for an utterly delicious sourdough pizza and cocktails in the sun.

 

 
After stuffing ourselves with pizza, we headed across the street for some dessert, choosing a small frozen yoghurt stand with a variety of tasty toppings.

On Sunday morning, we woke up and headed out to breakfast in the area we were staying. Much like the area we had visited the night before, Norrebro is a cool and trendy area filled with boutiques, restaurants and cosy cafes. We chose a cute cafe called Mokkariet, where we had a traditional breakfast of boiled eggs and rye bread with a selection of jams and cheeses.

 

After breakfast, we hunted down a shop to rent bikes (easier said than done on a Sunday) and got given a couple of rusty bikes that weren’t the most glamorous around, but fitted our purpose perfectly. Cycling is a big deal in Copenhagen, with cycle lanes bigger than pavements in the UK, it’s a perfectly safe and incredibly pleasant way to get around, and as a result half of the people in Copenhagen commute to work by bike.

 

My sister and I cycled around 13 miles for the rest of the day, visiting various famous tourist attractions in the area, and our first stop was Christiania – a self proclaimed autonomous neighbourhood of about 850 residents in the borough of Christianshavn. It’s a hotch-potch area of warehouses, huts and houses, colourful murals and outdoor sculptures. Visitors are welcome to stroll around Christiania and eat and drink in their cafes, however it’s worth noting that the area is big on drugs and Hash is openly traded there (they have buying booths and everything). As a result, they have a strict no camera policy, so it wasn’t an area I was able to document but worth visiting regardless.
 

 

 

After Christiania, we headed to Nyhavn – a 17th century waterfront, canal and entertainment district for a tour of the canals. During the summer months, Nyhavn is notorious for being the perfect place to end a long day, as it’s full of cosy restaurants and bars which are perfect to relax in whilst resting your feet at the quayside. The houses along the waterfront are beautiful, and you can find the house that Hans Christian Anderson lived in amongst them.

 

Our canal tour took an hour and was a great way to see the harbour, idyllic canals and some of Copenhagen’s most famous landmarks (namely the Little Mermaid statue), although as it was an overcast day it was a little chilly so we warmed up with some hot chocolate and a crepe afterwards. Later that evening we headed home on our bikes and went for dinner in a spot that looked out over the canals.

On our final day, we headed to Stroget, a car-free shopping area in Copenhagen which is also one of the longest pedestrian shopping streets in Europe. I nipped into Sephora (and came out empty handed) but my favourite shop was called HAY, a Danish design store full to the brim of gorgeous furniture and accessories, definitely worth a visit if you’re in the city.
 

Our trip to Copenhagen was simply brilliant. I loved cycling around the city so easily, it saved us a fortune on public transport costs and was a great way to see everything. People warned us about how expensive Copenhagen was before we went over, but we didn’t end up spending much at all (we were resourceful), but if you’re looking in the right areas it’s very reasonable. Our bikes cost us 100DKK each to rent for 24 hours (around £10) and the canal tour was around £4 per person. I will definitely be heading back there one day, as I feel theres so much still left to see.

Have you been to Copenhagen?

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  2. Copenhagen looks like the perfect mix of cool and cultural. It is such a shame when people are put off by places being expensive, as long as you are willing to be resourceful you can travel on the cheap without having to sacrifice fun as you proved!

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  5. Spectacularly lovely photos, they have convinced me I need to revisit this city. I was there as a child, so really don't remember much at all, except the Mermaid and the ice cream :), but, also the horrid brown rye bread I had to eat lol x

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