I decided to go to Copenhagen on a bit of a whim, I needed to be out of my flat for a certain period, and while in Jersey I got an email from Easy Jet informing me they had a 30% off sale. I plugged in the dates I needed to be out of the flat, intending to keep going until I got to the right price point. Copenhagen was one of the places I wanted to visit, and was the first destination I put in. It was such good value at £43 return, that I went no further. Sometimes I can take ages to make a decision, but equally I can be very decisive when I find a good deal. I am a fan of Air B&B, particularly when I’m travelling on my own, so while I was sitting there I went onto Air B&B and found a room in the centre of Copenhagen within my price range. Before I knew it I had booked both flights and accommodation. Travelling in January like I did means you need to balance the advantages of being a winter tourist – no queues, and cheaper prices, with the disadvantage of shorter hours of daylight (it was light between 8 and 4.30 when I was there) and some tourist attractions being closed (the Tivoli Gardens for example).
Getting Around
As mentioned above you can find cheap flights on Easy Jet, and also Ryan Air. They both fly into Kastrup airport and from there it is an easy journey into town on the metro, at a cost of 30 DK.
I reasearched and nearly bought a Copenhagen card which gives you unlimited travel on the metro and buses, as well as discounted and in some cases free entry into a number of museums. I decided that as I would be arriving at 4 pm, I wouldn’t get my money’s worth on the first day, and that I would hold off and look into getting one the next day. So I just bought a single trip into town. This was easy to do using the ticket machines – there were helpful staff available for the confused. The metro goes directly into town, and it was easy to see where I needed to get off at Kongens Nytorv.
What I discovered the next day was that Copenhagen is a very walkable city, and its also very cycle friendly, so I didn’t ever get round to purchasing a Copenhagen card. There are many bike hire places, and plenty of bike lanes and cycle ways. Because of my injury, I have been advised not to cycle, otherwise I would have combined my walking with some cycling. I also would have loved to have run here – plenty of paths along the canals and harbour. I was really jealous of the runners I spied even though it was really really cold (it never got past two degrees while I was there). Even though I was restricted to walking everywhere I managed to get to everywhere I wanted to visit.
Staying
I thoroughly recommend the Air B&B I stayed in, both for single travellers like me, but also for couples. It was advertised as a single room, but turned out to actually be a mini apartment – it had its own bedroom, bathroom and two living rooms. Annika the host provides basic cutlery and crockery and there is a fridge. This was important because eating out in Copenhagen is very expensive, but there was a supermarket and two Seven Eleven convenience stores nearby so I was able to breakfast in the apartment. It was also very centrally located both to the Kongens Nytorv Metro Station (less than 5 minutes walk), to Nyhavn, the main pedestrian shopping streets, and countless restaurants, cafes and bars.
I would also recommend the Scenic Hotel, which while I haven’t been inside had the most gorgeous views over the harbour to the Opera House and was a short walk along the harbour promenade to Nyhavn.
Views from in front of the Scenic Hotel
Eating and Drinking
As mentioned Copenhagen is expensive, more so than London. On my first night I went to Hot Buns, on Gothersgade and enjoyed a delicious burger and a beer (no fries or sides) and it cost me £19. I knew then, unless I was careful I would totally blow my budget (I wasn’t working at the time so money was tight for me). Supermarket prices were a lot more reasonable and made eating more affordable.
The other option for keeping eating costs reasonable was to do the takeout salad option I found at Grabz across the road from where I was staying. You could buy beer there too, and you could eat in, or as I did take it home to eat. Another great takeout/eatin option is Lagkagehuset a bakery chain with the most delicious looking pastries and filled rolls as well as salads and soups. I also enjoyed eating the cheap tasty food at Wok On, where you can choose a base of rice/noodles and then add your vegetable and/or meat options which are cooked for you on the spot.
I discovered the Caribbean Housewife via Instagram, and was intrigued by their different/cool vibe and by a picture of their Surinaamse Dame soup in particular, it looked healthy and comforting to eat on a cold winter’s day. It is about a ten minute walk from the Tripoli Gardens, at Skydebanegade, and is more of a takeout than an eat in place (although you can sit and eat your purchase there as I did). It’s a unique concept and while the focus is on soups there is a range of other things as well – from noodles to lasagne to chili sin carne (yes it is sin not con!). By the way that Surinaamse Dame was as delicious and filling as it looked in the photo I saw.
From the window of my AirB&B I could see two places that looked worth trying, and I decided it was worth blowing my budget to experience them, as I could see from the number of people going in and out that both were popular wth the locals. First up I had a beer at Palae Bar, this place had an interesting vibe, decorated with jazz posters and it felt cosy, but although it looked very small from the outside, this was deceptive as there was actually more space inside than there looked. The bar staff were friendly and responsive, and it is definitely a place I would recommend.
The other place I could see out the window was Far’s dreng, and again after a bit of research that showed it had good reviews, I decided to have lunch there on my last day. I was really pleased I did because it gave me a chance to try a modern twist on a Smorebrod the traditional Danish sandwich. It was delicious, and I was pleased to find they did good coffee too.
Finally, good coffee is important to me and coffee too is expensive in Copenhagen, so I was really pleased that after a few misses I discovered The Coffee Factory on Gothersgade, just around the corner, and not only did they know what a Flat White was but also knew how to make a good one!
Places to visit/things to do
Nyhavn and a canal trip
As I was so close to Nyhavn, and knew this canal had a lot of history and atmosphere, as well as being the departure point for the canal trips, so this was where I headed first. It was fair to say I was blown away. It is simply gorgeous and I can see how in the summer it would be great to spend a few hours sitting outside one of the many cafes that line this stretch of water, people watching and soaking up the sun’s rays. Despite the provision of blankets and outdoor heaters, somehow this didn’t appeal to me on a cold January day! It’s easy to walk the length of this canal, and so that’s what I did before purchasing a ticket for a one hour canal trip.
The canal trip takes you out from the canal and follows the harbour out to the Little Mermaid Statue, where you got to see it from behind, with all the tourists taking pictures in front of you. At the time I thought I wouldn’t bother to go see it from the shore, but hey some sites are so iconic that you just have to visit, and to me the Little Mermaid Statue is one of these, so I did make the effort to get there.
From here the canal trip then heads upstream and takes you through Christianhaven and some of the other canals, sometimes taking you under very low and narrow bridges. I found this trip was a great way to get my bearings, and to get an idea of where the places I might like to visit were – such as the Danish National Library which is housed in a stunning modern building known as the Black Diamond, as well as the Vor Frelsers Kirke.
Rosenborg Castle
This dreamy castle sits in the wonderful botanical gardens, which looked pretty good even though in the midst of winter. I wanted to visit this castle because I had so enjoyed Rose Tremain’s novel Music and Silence which was set there in the time of Christian IV, and tells the story of how Christian devised a system so he could hear his musicians play music in the basement below, so they couldn’t hear or see what he was doing/who he was entertaining. As part of the Castle visit you get to visit the room where the music was piped to, as well as seeing many other aspects of Christian’s and his descendents lives. You get to visit the basement too, as that is where two of the most important and bejewelled crowns are kept. I happily spent a couple of hours exploring here.
Roundtower/Rundetam
I didn’t plan On visiting Rundetam, but was pretty pleased with myself when I stumbled upon it when prowling the pedestrian shopping area and found myself on Kobmagergrade heading to the Latin Quarter. I initially thought it was a church tower (there is actually a church attached to it), but then I noticed that while the tower was almost part of the church it in fact wasn’t. The tower is quite fascinating and like Rosenborg Castle was built by Christian IV. He built it as an observatory in 1642. It’s 34.8 metres high, and instead of a staircase to the top it has an internal brick ramp. It remained an observatory until 1861. It now offers panoramas over the ciy, as well as art gallery and other exhibition spaces and all in all is pretty cool.
Amalienborg
If you are an Antipodean and want to know where Princess Mary lives then you need to visit Amalienborg, which is a series of Rococo palaces set around an octagon with a magnificent equestrian statue of Frederick V. This in fact is where the entire Danish Royal Family lives, and when the Queen is in residence, as she was when I visited, her palace is guarded by the Danish Royal Life Guards. I also got to see these guards marching through the streets to change places with the guards from Rosenborg Castle. There is an interesting museum in one of the palaces that tells the history of the Danish Royal Family. From Amalienborg you walk through to Marmorkirken the beautiful marble church, with its beautiful dome modelled on the one at St Paul’s in Rome.
Christiana and Vor Frelsers Kirke
This unique area is across the canal from central Copenhagen and is only a 10-15 minute walk across the new foot/cycle bridge at the end of Nyhavn. The baroque Vor Frelsers Church with its unusual twisted golden tower and it’s external staircase had intrigued me from when I first spotted it on the canal tour, and I was pretty keen to climb it. My visit didn’t disappoint because the church was just as magnificent close up, and the sublime interior with its alter depicting the garden at Gethsemane and the huge organ held up by two elephants even though I wasn’t able to climb the tower (because it is closed in January and doesn’t reopen until March).
From the church it was a very short stroll to Christiana. In the 1970s this area of ex-military barracks was taken over by squatters who declared it a separate state, complete with its own laws, including legal drug usage and no taxation. Over the years this has become a unique hippy enclave (that today pays taxes) and the original vibe is still present today. It is an interesting area to wander through, and the markets still support the legal drug usage of the seventies.
Other places worth visiting include The Danish National Library, which as well as being impressive from the outside is pretty amazing from the inside too, with its views over the canals. Then there is Christiensborg Slot, the Danish parliament building complex, which I found out too late is not open on Mondays but even so was still fascinating to wander around.
Shopping
The Danes are known for their style and design and even though I didn’t have the money to spend or the room to fit anything in my bag, yet alone my London flat, I really enjoyed browsing the decor and homewares stores that abound here. I especially recommend visiting Bolia. It was freezing cold the day I visited, and I initially ventured into the store to get some respite from the bitter cold. I was absolutely delighted to find that not only was it warm, but there was a coffee machine where you could make free coffee in beautiful ceramic mugs and then there were free chocolates to go with it! I spent a very contented half hour wandering round the store, drinking my complimentary coffee and admiring all the lovely things they had on display.
I loved my time in Copenhagen – the people are friendly, and quickly change to English when they realise that is what you speak. It has an intriguing mix of charming, beautiful old buildings and very cool modern ones. It’s a great city for walking and or cycling – its compact and you can easily get from one place to another, and I felt like I got to know it. It is a perfect weekend city break destination.
LIVING LIFE ON MY OWN TERMS 