Once you break through the stereotypes of Lego and pastries, Denmark offers travelers rich experiences from its Viking heritage and Renaissance castles to modern design stores and a cutting-edge food scene where you can’t move for Michelin stars.
21.07.2023 - 08:51 / roughguides.com
Once a low-key underrated city, Copenhagen has recently been showered with superlatives, with polls claiming it to have the best quality of life and rating its citizens the happiest people on the planet.
If that wasn't enough, accolades for its cuisine, metro, cycling and design have followed and Danish TV dramas continue to bring its Nordic style, gritty architecture and photogenic inhabitants into millions of living rooms.
Despite its new-found glory, Copenhagen remains a relaxed, homely place where visitors quickly feel at ease; and while all this cool contentment doesn't come cheap (for tourists and locals alike) the «great Dane» has quite definitely arrived as one of Europe's outstanding destinations. Here's how you should spend the perfect weekend in Denmark's capital:
1. Latin Quarter, Inner City
Begin the day strolling about this maze of lively medieval streets and squares around Copenhagen University, perfect for losing yourself in history. Hailing from 1836, the grand neogothic university building across Frue Plads from Vor Frue Kirke serves a primarily administrative purpose today.
2. Rådhus
Climb to the tower of this grandiose, National Romantic city hall, whose fascinating astronomical clock is a destination in itself. The informative tours are the best way to capture this building's full detail, which include access to the 105m-tall tower.
3. Lunch
Stop for lunch at Aamanns. This rustic-urban eatery does modern takes on the traditional Danish smørrebrød.
4. Canal Tour
Join one of the multilingual hourly tours along Copenhagen’s centuries-old canals, which offer fascinating insight into important events and sights tied to Denmark’s tumultuous history.
© JaySi/Shutterstock
5. Rosenborg Slot
Explore your inner royal at this fairy-tale, red-brick Renaissance castle, whose cellar holds the Danish crown jewels and Frederik III’s coronation throne, made of gold and narwhal tusk. Completed in 1634, it’s a grand edifice decorated with spires and towers and ornate Dutch gables.
6. Nyboder
Make your way out to the multi-coloured terraced houses in this relaxed part of town, built in the seventeenth century to house Christian IV’s ever-expanding naval fleet. Most of the current buildings date from the eighteenth century – all except for a single row of houses along Sankt Paulsgade, where the Nyboders Mindestuer (Nyboder Memorial Rooms) has been largely kept intact and functions as a museum.
7. Dinner
Splash out at Toldboden. This spacious, casual restaurant is set opposite the royal yacht’s mooring and is unbeatable for people-watching. With great views of the Inner Harbour, Toldboden has few rivals for the title of the Copenhagen’s most stunningly-located bar.
8. The Little Mermaid
Stroll out to
Once you break through the stereotypes of Lego and pastries, Denmark offers travelers rich experiences from its Viking heritage and Renaissance castles to modern design stores and a cutting-edge food scene where you can’t move for Michelin stars.
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