Why Copenhagen?
We always do a little trip around Christmas and after having a look at the best Christmas markets, wanting somewhere that is usually colder in Europe and with flights being cheap Copenhagen, it was! (This trip was during December 2021, so my memory of the trip may be not as in-depth).
Quick tips-
It is a really expensive city, so make sure you are aware of this before you go
As our guide put it, 'cycle path means psychopath'- the cyclists will cycle into you if you don't move (they don't stop)
Make sure you look at the city calendar before you go to see if anything is on
It gets cold in the winter, bring layers
Everywhere took card, but cash is good for the tour and tips
Where we stayed in Copenhagen...
Copenhagen is an expensive city, and we took ages trying to find the best place. We ended up booking at 'Steel house Copenhagen' for £277.13 for the two of us. This is a hostel, but we booked a private room and paid a little extra for a balcony. The rooms are tiny but the bathroom is a good size, the bed is comfy and it also includes a TV. The balcony really overlooked just an office block, but it was nice to have that extra room (it was a bit cold and wet to be sitting outside as well!). What made the hostel for us was the social side, it had daily entertainment (that although we didn't join in with,
looked really good) a pool table, shuffleboard, card games and a selection of board games. There is also a heated pool for a little extra cost but we never had the time to go in as well as bike rentals. Drinks here are cheaper than elsewhere and in the evenings we went to the social area, played some games and had a few drinks with another couple we met at the hostel.
Day 1- Flight, a walk around and dinner
Our flight was nice and easy, and we made it to Copenhagen early evening. We took the train to the hostel and checked in. After settling in we decided to head out for dinner. We had a little walk around and saw some of the Christmas lights they had in the city.
We ended up finding a cute little burger restaurant, called 'Hallifax' down one of the side roads and sat inside. These burgers were amazing, one of the best I've ever had... I love they have different burgers for each country and the sides are great too! After our food, we headed back to the hostel for a drink at the hostel bar.
Day 2- Walking tour, Christiania and many beers
We started off the day by grabbing a coffee and hot chocolate from 'social brew'. I really enjoyed my coffee but Adams' hot chocolate was warmed milk with a chocolate stirrer which was nice but could have been more chocolaty. We then headed towards our free walking tour meeting place.
Our guide was great, probably the best we've had! He was funny, knowledgeable and took us around some great spots. He even recommended some food spots for us to try out! We saw Christiansborg Palace, Nyhavn, Kongens Nytorv and many other different parts of Copenhagen. On the tour, he recommend a cheesecake place called 'Bertels Salon' that had many different flavours of cheesecake. It was so filling and the slices are HUGE! (£13.58 for two slices).
After our tour, we headed to look around some Christmas markets, tried some Gløgg (warmed spiced wine) and ended up at McDonald's until our next tour started.
Our next tour was with the same free walking tour company, but this time around Christianshavn. We saw the Old Stock Exchange, Knippelsbro, Our Saviour Church and finish near the Freetown of Christiania. The tour never went inside due to the privacy but the guide told us the direction to go if we wanted to visit it. We went into Christiania, had a walk around and then made our way back to the city centre.
Our next stop was to go beer tasting at the 'taphouse'. They have 61 different beers and it's constantly changing. We both aimed to go through the whole beer list but it was impossible so we ended up picking ones which sounded nice. They had the option to get five of any 10 cl of beer and we did this a few times. I think out of all I tried, I probably only liked 2 or 3, but I don't drink beer. We did end up feeling pretty drunk after this but it was a good experience and would recommend it to anyone wanting to do a bit of beer tasting.
After feeling a little drunk, we headed around the corner for some food at 'Restaurant MAMMA'S København'. We both had a pizza and a drink. It was really good food and soaked a lot of the beer up.
Day 3- Round tower, little mermaid and the Santa Lucia parade in kayaks
In the morning we had the plan to go for breakfast at 'Bowl market'(which was recommended by our hostel), it's just down the road from our hostel and does lots of different styles of porridge. I got the 'classic', which was porridge topped with almonds, apple and caramel sauce. It tasted amazing and the portion sizes are huge, which was great for setting me up nicely for the rest of the day.
Our next stop was the 'round tower', (£9.21 together), it's a bit of a steep climb but the views from the top are great. Unfortunately for us, it was a bad day to go to the top as it was raining and very overcast, but you could still see a lot of Copenhagen. On the walk down, we stopped off at different stops (like an art gallery and a glass platform you can step on to see how high you are) and then made it to the bottom.
By this time, we were starting to get a little hungry and wanted to check out the local food market. I'd seen online that Smørrebrød (open-faced sandwich) was a food which Denmark is famous for and I had to try it! We had a walk around the market and grabbed two of the Smørrebrød at 'Hallernes Smørrebrød'. I went for the one with potatoes, raw onions, mayo, chives and thyme and Adam got a chicken salad one, with bacon and chervil. Honestly, I don't really know what to make of them. I like the rye bread and the toppings are different from what I'd usually put on bread. So, I'd definitely recommend trying them out for yourself!
If this wasn't enough food, we then headed back past the round tower and stopped at 'DØP' (The Organic Hotdog Stand). We both got a classic hotdog with toppings of our choice (£8.52 for two). I got ketchup, mustard & remoulade, fresh and fried onions and pickles. The hotdogs are really yummy and filling but I thought the bread was a little dry but still had great taste.
Next on our itinerary was to see
'The little mermaid'. We walked back past Nyhavn and grabbed two of the lime bikes there (we wanted to try out cycling like a local, at least once this holiday) and cycled along the riverfront. I'd really recommend this if you want to try out cycling but are worried about going into the city as it has cycle paths and lots of room for people to overtake. The little mermaid was a lot smaller than we thought and there was a big group around it, but still, we took our pictures and continued cycling to the end of the path.
We then made our way back to Nyhavn and put the bikes back. Found a spot to sit down and waited to watch the Santa Lucia parade. This is an event where kayaks and paddle boarders sail through the canals dressed in lights and Christmas decorations. There is music being sung and big crowds came to see them in Nyhavn (also, in other areas). I'd really recommend if you are coming to Copenhagen in December; you check if you can see this!
After the parade left the canal, we decided to head for some dinner. After a quick look on google maps at Burger places, 'Sporvejen Byens Burger Bar' won because of the decor of the restaurant. You are basically sitting in the setting of an old-time tram, with booths on either side and all decorated in Christmas decorations. They have lots of burgers here and we really enjoyed our meal.
The last stop was to go to a 'Mikkeller bar'. I had read a few things about these beers and had to try them out. We each tried a few of what they had on tap, but personally, I didn't really like the taste, but yet again, I'm not a beer drinker. The bar was really cosy however and the staff really nice!
Day 4- Breakfast and Tivoli Gardens
Our first stop of the day was breakfast and from looking online, 'Mad & Kaffe' was a popular option. Generally, if I was to recommend anything from this blog, I'd say go here as it does not disappoint. There was a little wait to get in, but it was worth it! The staff are really friendly and give you a card to fill out with what you want for breakfast- you can choose between 3, 5 or 7 items from a list of different items. I went for sourdough and rye bread, smoothie bowl, banana bread, scrambled egg, sausages, bacon and avocado. I love that you get little bowls of each and the quality of the food is outstanding!
After breakfast, we made our way to the entrance of 'Tivoli gardens'. We already bought tickets online for entrance (£25.94 for two of us, entry between 11 am-1 pm and a free drink) and so we basically just walked straight in. It feels like you've just walked into a parallel universe of your childhood dreams. There are lights everywhere, cute old-fashioned fairground games and themed restaurants/ food stalls- you forget you are in the city completely.
We took a stroll around the gardens and then decided we wanted to go on a few rides (I really recommend not buying the ride ticket beforehand and having a look to see if you want to go on any of the rides and buy the ticket inside the park). We opted for the unlimited ride wristband (£56.32 for two). It seems like a lot of money, but it means you can go on all the rides as many times as you want and there are many there. All the rides had little queues until it reached the evening, and so we went on everything multiple times. These rides may look like kids' rides as well, but generally, I've never felt the adrenaline rush I had before on any ride. The scariest was the 'golden tower' (a free-fall ride) but we did go on this about 4 times and Adam once by himself!!
In the evenings, the park does get incredibly busy and the lines for rides get longer, so I'd recommend getting there early if you want to get the most out of the unlimited wristband. For a snack, we headed to 'Cakehagen' and tried the most chocolaty cake I've ever had and then went on a few more rides and watched the fountain show at 16:30.
We finished off the day by grabbing some food from Tivoli food hall. They have loads of different options, but we went for pizza and some Chinese food!
Day 5- Cinnamon buns, Vikings and home
We planned on our last day to head to Roskilde to go to the Viking ship museum. Adam loves everything Viking and so we made sure to go here before we left for Brighton. We started off the day by going to the Latin Quarter. 'Sankt Peder's Bakery' is a famous bakery in Copenhagen, opened in 1652. On Wednesdays, they are famous for their "Onsdagssneglen" or Wednesday cinnamon buns. So, we had to pop by and try them out. Generally, the best cinnamon bun I've had, fresh and packed full of flavour! There was a little queue, but we still managed a spot outside.
After eating, we headed for the station. We bought our tickets (£19.33 one way together) and took the train to Roskilde. Roskilde station is a little walk from the Viking Ship museum but you walk through the town centre, past the cathedral and through some nice parks (it was nice to get out of the city). When reaching the museum, we wanted to grab some lunch and ended up at 'Snekken Trattoria' a nice pizza restaurant.
The museum (entry was £21.86 for two) is set less than 5 minutes away from the restaurant and is built around five original Viking ships from Skuldelev (which you can see in the centre). When you first enter the museum, you can watch a video that talks about the history of the Vikings and the boats. You then take a walk around looking at different artefacts and can even make your own Viking ship out of paper (good for kids). I liked the museum, but it felt like a long trip for the little time we spent there, so maybe if we had more time to walk around Roskilde it would have been worth it.
After we finished walking around the museum, we headed back to Copenhagen and to the airport. The airport is huge, and we did get a little lost, but still made our flight back to Gatwick.
Overall, I'd say Copenhagen is one of my favourite places and would recommend it to everyone. The people are friendly, it's clean, the food is the best, and it's just a really nice vibe. Definitely go to Tivoli because I've never experienced something like that before! It is expensive, but we were aware of this before we went and were ready for a high price after the trip. I think I did everything I wanted to do in Copenhagen and so I probably won't be returning soon as I'd rather check out more of the Nordic capitals. But maybe another trip in the future!
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