🇩🇰 COPENHAGEN - Mlle Wanderlust

In October of 2019 I had the chance to visit beautiful Copenhagen! Denmark is the southernmost of the Scandinavian countries. It consists of a peninsula and of a 443 islands archipelago. This seafaring nation is rich in history and has emerged in the 10th century during the struggle for control of the Baltic Sea. Denmark is considered as one of the most developed countries in the world. København (in Danish) is the capital of Denmark and was originally a Viking fishing village. Interesting fact, in the 18th century, the city survived a plague outbreak and a fire in 1728 which destroyed approximately 28% of the city and left 20% of the population homeless.

Denmark has a constitutional monarchy and Margrethe II is the current Queen of Denmark, she has been ruling since 1972.

Danish is the most common language in Denmark. Close to 90% of the Danes also speak English. The country has its own currency: the Danish Krone (DKK). $1 CAD is approximately worth 5 DKK.

FLIGHT ✈︎

When I went to Copenhagen, I was already in Europe visiting Austria. So I booked a flight from Vienna to Copenhagen with Austrian Airlines for $240 CAD per person. Austrian Airlines is an Aeroplan partner, so I was able to earn some miles. A train ticket is cheaper but can take up to 18 hours of travelling time when our flight took 1h45.

ACCOMODATION

Our hotel was the Imperial Hotel and was very well located in Vesterbro. We had a metro station just across the street (Vesterport). I booked the hotel for 3 nights and it cost a total of $690 CAD ($230 CAD/night). Note that since I regularly book my trips with Expedia, I had accumulated $85 CAD in points so I applied it on my hotel booking. It ended up costing me $605 CAD.

**Tip: For those who are wondering: Expedia has a rewards program where members can earn up to 2 points per dollar on flights, hotels, activities and vacation packages. These points can then be redeemed for travel with no blackout dates. I’ve had an account with them for the past 10 years and it allowed me to save a ton of money on my bookings! By the way, joining is free!

HOW TO GET AROUND Ⓜ️

Ok, let me start off by saying that Copenhagen’s metro system is not the most user friendly as it is quite complicated, but it is by far the cheapest way to get around the city, after the bikes of course!

Bikes

You may not know but Copenhagen is the most bike-friendly city in the world. 62% of residents ride a bike daily to work or school. You can rent bikes and scooters everywhere in the city! The city has numerous large bike lanes and even two-story high bike parkings!

Metro

I’ll try to make it simple for you! There are two different rail systems which use a common system for fare zones and tickets. They are the S-train and the Metro.

The S-trains are a hybrid urban-suburban rail serving the urban area.

The Metro lines are the M1 (green) and the M2 (yellow). The M2 line starts directly at the airport (Lufthavnen). All the other lines that you can see on the map are S-train lines except for the grey line which is the regional train.

You can make connections from the Metro to the S-train at the following stations: Vanløse (M1 & M2), Flintholm (M1 & M2), Nørreport (M1 & M2) and Ørrestad (M2).

I’ll give you an example of what we did to get to our hotel. At the airport, we purchased a CityPass for zones 1-4 for a period of 72h (see map). It was 200 DKK per person ($40 CAD). It takes about 15 minutes to go from the Airport to the city centre. So we took the M2 metro line (yellow) at the Airport located in Terminal 3. When we arrived to Nørreport station we disembarked the metro. We had to go up a set of stairs in the station to grab the S-train A line (blue) towards Hundige and the next station, Vesterport, was were our hotel was located.

Avoid taxis if you can as they are extremely expensive! Our friend took a cab ride from the airport to his hotel in Vesterbro and it ended costing him $70 CAD!

ACTIVITIES

1 – Boat Canal Tour

Doing a boat tour is a must if you plan on visiting Copenhagen! We chose to go with Canal Tours Copenhagen as it was very affordable! It was approximately $20 CAD per person and I had picked up 20% discounts at my hotel’s lobby so it ended up costing us $16 CAD each!

On this 1-hour boat tour, you will navigate along the canals and Harbor waters. You will pass landmarks such as the Amalienborg Palace, the Little Mermaid statue, the Opera House, the Christianshavn neighbourhood with its colourful houses and houseboats. Provided with the tour are headphone sets for you to listen to the tales about the city and its landmarks. This cruise has lots of different start times and in the winter or when it rains, the boats are covered and heated . The departure points are Ved Strand and Nyhavn.

2 – Superkilen Park in the Nørrebro district

Opened in 2012, Superkilen is a public park made up of three main areas: a red square, a black market and a green park. The red square focuses on recreation and modern living, the black market is the classic square with a fountain, barbecue grills and palm trees. The green park has rolling hills, trees and plants.

3 – Rosenborg Castle

The Rosenborg Castle is a renaissance castle located in the Frederiksstaden District. It was originally built as a country summerhouse in 1606. The Rosenborg Castle Garden is the country’s oldest royal garden. West of the castle, you will find Copenhagen’s botanical garden. The botanical garden is closed on mondays.

4 – Tivoli Gardens Amusement Park

Tivoli is an amusement park and garden in Copenhagen which opened in 1843. It is the second-oldest operating amusement park in the world. The tickets are quite expensive to access the park. But if you book online three days in advance, you will get a 10% discount. The entrance tickets start at 130 DKK ($25 CAD) for adults and don’t include the rides. For a one-day entrance with unlimited rides you will have to pay around 383 DKK ($75 CAD).

5 – Nyhavn

Nyhavn is a 17th-century waterfront, canal and entertainment district. It is famous for its brightly coloured townhouses. In Nyhavn you will find many bars, cafes, restaurants and souvenir shops.

6 – Shop on Strøget

Located in Indre By, Strøget (pronounced Streuyet) is one of the longest pedestrian shopping streets in Europe at 1.1 km. You will find high end stores and souvenir boutiques as well as Christmas shops. I really fell in love with Strøget and it was located at a walking distance from our hotel! It is also close to the City Hall, Amagertorv Square and Tivoli.

7 – Amalienborg Palace

Amalienborg Palace (Amalienborg Slotsplads) is the monarch’s principal residence. It consists of four identical classical palace facades with rococo interiors around an octagonal courtyard. Amalienborg is guarded day and night by the Royal Life Guard, you can see them guarding the palaces. The Amaliehaven Park located by the water is also very beautiful.

8 – Walk and explore the city

There are many beautiful things to see in the city! Here are the highlights I recommend.

→ Little Mermaid: the statue was unveiled in 1913 and has since been displayed on a rock by the waterside at the Langelinie promenade. The sculpture is based on the fairy tale of the same name by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen.

→ Church of our Saviour: it’s a baroque church most famous for its helix spire with an external winding staircase that can be climbed to the top. The church was inaugurated in 1695. It’s located in Christianshavn.

→ Magstræde & Snaregade: they are two of the oldest streets in the Old Town. The streets are among the few streets which still feature their original cobbling since most of them burned in 1728. If you want to see colourful original townhouses, that’s where you want to go!

→ I Am Queen Mary Statue: Mary Thomas was one of the leaders of the 1878 uprising in the Danish West Indies. Because of her role as a leader she came to be known as Queen Mary. The statue is located in front of the Danish West Indian warehouse in Frederiksstaden.

9 – Christiansborg Palace

Christiansborg Palace (Christiansborg Slot) is a palace and a government building that was erected in 1167. It is situated on the islet of Slotsholmen in central Copenhagen. That is where the Danish Parliament and the Supreme Court of Denmark are located. Several parts of the palace are also still used by the Danish monarch.

Interesting fact, it’s the only building in the world that houses all three of a country’s branches of government: executive, legislative and judicial.

WHERE TO EAT

→ Puk

Traditional Danish restaurant serving food in a 18th-century basement venue. It’s one of the oldest restaurants in Copenhagen with a history dating back to 1750. Puk was my favorite! I got to try typical dishes and it was delicious! We had four different types of smørrebrøds (traditional Scandinavian rye bread topped with meat or fish and garnishes):

· Fried breaded filet of plaice served with homemade remoulade, lemon and dill.

· Meatballs served on rye bread with homemade pickled red cabbage and pickled cucumbers.

· Herrings served with boiled egg, red onion, capers and sour cream double.

· Classic roast beef served with horseradish, homemade remoulade, pickled cucumbers and fried onions.

→ Boltens Foodcourt

We found this place by chance and we loved the atmosphere. It’s a new food market located in the Old Baron Bolten’s Yard. It’s a cozy outdoor and indoor food court with 19 different cuisines. It also has a bar where you can get alcoholic beverages. I highly recommend it!

→ Kosmos K raw and vegan food

Located in Indre By, this tiny cafe is a gem! I am not a vegan, as you may have noticed in my previous posts, but the food was delicious at Kosmos K! The owner is also welcoming and entertaining! Loved it! I personally had the breakfast plater and it started my day on a good note.