Copenhagen

Understand

History

Beginnings as a merchant harbour If you had dropped by Copenhagen in the 11th century CE, you would have found yourself looking over a small fishing hamlet, with some lazy cattle gazing back at you while chewing fresh green grass from the meadows around the village. Looking east you would see a host of small islets protecting the small fishing harbour from harsh weather — not the worst place to found a city. If you would rather trust the written word than the archaeologists, the earliest accounts date from the 12th century, when a bearded clerk (or a renowned historian if you will) called Saxo Grammaticus scribbled down a few lines about the place; Portus Mercatorum, he called it, which was really just a fancy Latin version of Købmannahavn. This has since been mangled into København in modern Danish, and even further mangled into Copenhagen in English, but all it really means is "merchant harbour."

Archbishop Absalon Around 1160 CE, King Valdemar handed over control of the city to the bishop of Roskilde. Absalon, archbishop of Lund 1178–1201, one of the most colourful characters of the Middle Ages — a curious mix of great churchman, statesman, and warrior. As the country's only city not under the king's control, Absalon saw it thrive and erected a castle on what is today Slotsholmen (the remains are still visible in the catacombs under the present day parliament). As a man of religion Absalon also built a great church, and with those necessities taken care of, Copenhagen quickly gained importance as a natural stop between the two most important Danish cities, the old royal capital Roskilde and Lund in present-day Sweden. Endowed with an enviable location on the banks of the important Øresund Strait, it slowly but steadily surpassed the old urban centres. Copenhagen's rise was greatly aided by entrepreneurial trading with friends and foes alike and by prosperous fishing which provided much of Roman Catholic Europe with salted herring for Lent. But with prosperity comes envy and in the years to follow Copenhagen was laid waste and pillaged time and time again, mainly by the members of the German Hanseatic League, which at one point completely destroyed the city.

Becoming the capital of Denmark Like the phoenix, however, Copenhagen repeatedly rose from its ashes. When the Danes kicked out the Pope during the 16th century Protestant Reformation, Roskilde lost its importance as a Roman bishopric and, having taken control of the city 20 years earlier, the Danish king moved his residence to Copenhagen. Not terribly keen on seeing their new ca

Getting there

By plane

Copenhagen Airport

1 Copenhagen Airport (CPH IATA) on the nearby island of Amager is the central hub for Scandinavia's largest international air carrier SAS — Scandinavian Airlines. Copenhagen Airport consistently gets high marks for both design and function — this is a much more pleasant place for transit than, say, London Heathrow or Frankfurt and several carriers have direct intercontinental routes to Copenhagen, including: Air Canada, Delta Air Lines, Egyptair, Qatar Airways, Thai Airways, Singapore Airlines, etc. Check-in lines can get long during peak hours however, so make sure to allocate extra time in the summer. Self-service check-in counters are available, which can cut down on wait times. Low-cost carriers also fly to the airport. EasyJet serves Copenhagen from London Gatwick, Manchester, Milan, Geneva, Paris CDG and Berlin. Norwegian offers budget flights to (among others) Liverpool, Oslo, Stockholm, Amsterdam, Budapest, Paris, Geneva, Vienna and Warsaw. While CPH is one of Europe's busiest airports, with a flight taking off every 2 minutes on average well into the night, many facilities have limited opening hours. Little in the way of gastronomy or retail remains open after 20:00, even the CPH Apartment Lounge closes at 20:00 and the frequent fliers and business/first class passengers are required to wait in the empty terminal halls. If your flight is in the early hours, you can take advantage of the facilities (snacks, drinks, free Wi-Fi, relaxation and work facilities) of the CPH Apartment 05:00–20:00 for DKK239 (as of August 2022), unless your frequent-flyer plan or ticket tariff covers that already.

Transport to/from Copenhagen Airport It takes 12 minutes by train to travel from Copenhagen Airport to the Central Station (Hovedbanegården) in Copenhagen city centre. You need a ticket for 3 zones (30kr) which can be purchased from one of the machines in the arrivals hall. The Copenhagen Metro also connects the airport with central Copenhagen, with trains leaving every 4 minutes during the day and every 15 minutes at night, taking 14 minutes to the city centre (for the same ticket and same price of 30 kr). Consider buying a City Pass or Copenhagen Card instead if you plan on visiting attractions the same day. The airport has different stations for mainline trains (underneath the arrivals hall) and for the metro (upstairs from the arrivals hall), both are in Terminal 3. The next metro station is named Kastrup — the historic name for the airport — but has nothing to do with the airport.

Malmö Airport Malmö Airport (MMX I

Getting around

Copenhagen has an extensive, yet sometimes complicated and hard to crack, public transport network. Once you get your bearings, however, you will find it a very comfortable way to get around and explore the city. Copenhagen Central Station (Københavns Hovedbanegård in Danish) is a primary interchange for intercity trains, regional trains, local trains, metro and buses Nørreport Station is a secondary interchange for regional trains, local trains, metro and buses. Train, metro and bus schedules are available via Rejseplanen.

Fares There are several ways to pay for a public transport journey in Copenhagen. The Rejsekort app enables you to digitally "check in" before your journey and digitally "check out" after your journey. Simply swipe the arrow across the screen to check in at your origin and again to check out at your destination. The app will automatically calculate your fare and give you any available discounts. It accommodates adult, child, pensioner and youth fares as well as additional travellers, bicycles and pets. The app requires you to register your personal details including email address and phone number. It also requires you to link a payment card and maintain an active internet connection whilst in transit. Ensure you check in before boarding and check out after alighting. You don't need to do this whilst transferring between services. The Basiskort card enables you to physically "check in" before your journey and physically "check out" after your journey. Simply swipe the card across the validator to check in at your origin and again to check out at your destination. The card will automatically calculate your fare and give you any available discounts. It accommodates adult and child fares as well as additional travellers, bicycles and pets. The card costs kr 80 and is non-refundable. It can be purchased and topped up at station kiosks and DSB 7-Eleven stores. Ensure you check in before boarding and check out after alighting. You also need to do this whilst transferring between services. The default setting is adult and local travel. The default setting can be changed to child, national travel, or both at station kiosks or DSB 7-Elevens. The Rejsebillet app enables you to purchase the following tickets and passes:

Single Ticket 2-8 Zones — gives you unlimited rides on trains, metro and buses in your chosen zones for a fixed time period. For example, a two-zone ticket costs kr 24 and allows you to travel around central Copenhagen for one hour and 15 minutes. Children under 12 are included in an adult ticket. Single Ticket 9+ Zones — give

See

Individual listings can be found in Copenhagen's district articles Entrance to many museums is free once a week, mainly on Wednesdays. You can always count on the principal attractions to be well signed in English (often German also) and for these places to be generally geared towards tourists. A good tip to see whether a smaller museum caters to non-Danish speakers is to check whether the website has an English section. If it does, this usually means the museum has at least some English information throughout its exhibitions. Of course, if you have some interest in a particular subject, such museums can be interesting even if you don't understand the sign-postings. As Danes are usually fairly fluent in English, you can always try to ask staff if they could give you a brief tour.

History A visit to the Nationalmuseet in Indre By is a must-do for the many well-arranged exhibits relating to the Danish past and modern culture. In practice, this means everything from Danish prehistory (amazing Bronze Age weapons and burials), through to the Viking Age (runestones, precious hoards, swords and jewellery) and into the modern period (a vast section is devoted to the Story of the Danes from 1660-2000). If you want something more localised, the Museum of Copenhagen in Vesterbro has exhibitions on the city's development since the Middle Ages. Another option is Frilandsmuseet in the northern suburbs — a huge and attractive open air museum with old buildings collected from all over the country. Or for a live version of old Denmark, you can visit the old town of the tiny fishing hamlet of Dragør on the southern tip of Amager with its fantastic old yellow buildings and cobblestone streets. For something more off the beaten path, paddle up the small Mølleå river in the northern suburbs through charming old 18th- and 19th-century mills.

Art

If you are into the arts, Copenhagen has a lot to offer. A natural starting point is a visit to the Danish National Gallery (Statens Museum for Kunst, entry between 95 and 120 kr) where you can feast your eyes on blockbusters from the likes of Rembrandt, Picasso, and Matisse. There are also a number of paintings by Danish artists from the "Golden Age". Across the Royal Gardens lies Scandinavia's biggest collection of Islamic art, the David Collection (Davids Samling) which has free entrance. It also has a smaller collection of Danish paintings including some by Hammershøi and Willumsen. It's a ten-minute walk through the Royal Gardens but you might have to know the address beforehand, since the museum is a bit of a hidden treas

Do

Beach life In the inner harbour, water quality has improved so much that it is possible to go for a swim from early June to late August in one of the two harbour baths: Copencabana on Vesterbro or Havnebadet at Island Brygge on Amager. When it is sunny these are packed with people from all walks of life enjoying the sunshine and taking a dip. The municipal administration has put a lot of money and effort into the facilities and this is an excellent opportunity for blending with the locals at their best. If you fancy a proper beach, the closest are those at Svanemøllen Strand, Charlottenlund Fort in Charlottenlund and Amager Strandpark (The Lagoon), on Amager near the Lergravsparken metro station. If the weather is not going your way, you can opt for DGI Byen which is a leisure centre and excellent swimming pool near the central railway station or the Østerbro swimming pool, modeled after a Roman bath (on Østerbro).

Amusement parks

Amazingly, the two oldest functioning amusement parks in the world, with the two oldest roller coasters, are in Copenhagen and they are distinctively different. Bakken or Dyrehavsbakken is the older of the two, set in a beautiful beech forest near Klampenborg north of Copenhagen. This gives it a special atmosphere and it is a lot less touristy than its counterpart — Tivoli — which is in the city centre in a beautiful park surrounding a lake.

Sports Football: FC Copenhagen play soccer in Superliga, the top tier in Denmark. Their home ground Parken Stadium (38,000) also hosts the Danish national team. Three other top-tier clubs play close to the city, notably their rivals Brøndby IF. Cycling: and see Cycling in Denmark. In 2022 the Tour de France started in Copenhagen and toured Denmark for three days before departing for France. Lifting weights: a popular gym with day and week passes while travelling is Pure Gym which has many branches. A week pass costs kr 100 and would allow you to visit any of the branches of this gym in Copenhagen.

Annual events Crafts Fair. Held every year in August — Thursday-Saturday — outdoors at Frue Plads in central Copenhagen. The Crafts Fair has more than 130 exhibitors, all members of the Danish Arts and Crafts Association, exhibiting unique and small series of handmade Arts and Crafts in all categories: ceramic, glass, jewelery, textile, mixed media. Copenhagen Fashion Week (8-12 August 2017). Held in February and August. Copenhagen is fast emerging as a global fashion centre, with a host of both up-and-coming and already well established names. For two weeks each year more than 1,00

Buy

Strøget is one of the largest pedestrian malls in the world which links City Hall, Kongens Nytorv, and Nørreport station. Impeccably dressed Copenhageners breeze through high-end fashion and design stores when not zig-zagging through the hordes of tourists during the summer and Christmas seasons. Your fellow visitors can make it all feel rather touristy at times but if nothing else, it is great for people watching. If all this strange outdoor shopping takes you too far from your usual habitat, head for Magasin du Nord (on Kongens Nytorv) or Illums (on Amagertorv) for more familiar surroundings. There is even a real American style mall complete with a gargantuan parking lot out on Amager. Appropriately, it is called Fields. If you would rather sample smaller and more personal stores, the quarter of narrow streets surrounding Strøget in the old city (colloquially known as Pisserenden and The Latin Quarter), has a fantastic, eclectic mix of shopping. This ranges from quirky century-old businesses to the ultra hip in a wide range of fields. It is also much less crowded than Strøget, though unfortunately no less expensive. You can also try Vesterbrogade and Istedgade on Vesterbro, due west of the central station, although you'll need to go a few blocks before hotels/sex shops/Thai restaurants turn into more interesting territory. Right at the border of this area, Værnedamsvej and Tullinsgade are also good bets. In Nørrebro, Ravnsborggade is well known for its huge number of antique stores that are excellent for bargain hunting and the next street to north, while more modest Elmegade has some small independent fashion boutiques.

Flea markets Nørrebro Flea Market is Denmark's longest and narrowest. It stretches for 333 m on one half of the sidewalk by the wall of the Assistens Cemetery on Nørrebrogade. Here you may find a Royal Porcelain Christmas Plate, a Chesterfield chair or plain or downright rubbish. Open from 4 April until 31 October on Saturdays 06:00 — 15:00. The oldest flea market in Copenhagen is on Israels Plads, close to the Nørreport S-Train Station. Here private individuals as well as professional dealers sell all kinds of old stuff, antique furniture, His Masters Voice gramophones and objets d'art. Open from 18 April until 10 October on Saturdays 08:00 — 14:00.

Eat

Individual listings can be found in Copenhagen's district articles

On a budget

If your budget doesn't allow for regular dining at expensive Michelin restaurants, don't despair — there are plenty of other options. The cheapest are the many shawarma and pizza joints that you find on almost every street in the city. You can get a shawarma for as little as kr 15-20 and pizzas start at around DKK 40. You can opt for take away or sit at the one or two tables that are usually available. The cheapest places can be found around Istedgade on Vesterbro and Nørrebrogade on Nørrebro. For affordable and delicious pita kebab, try Ahaaa on Blågårds Plads, or Boys Shawarma & Is for dürüm kebab on Nørrebrogade 216. For the best kebab in the city go to Shawarma Grill House Frederiksberggade 36. If shawarma gets a little tiring, there are several Mediterranean-style all-you-can eat buffet restaurants dotted around the inner city. Riz Raz is popular, with three locations and a huge vegetarian buffet for kr 145 (lunch) or kr 185 (dinner). The branch on St. Kannikestræde has an infallible ability to seat and feed groups of all sizes. Nearby, Ankara on Krystalgade offers a Turkish-inspired buffet that includes meat as well as salads. Nyhavns Faergekro at Nyhavn has an original herring buffet where you can eat as much herring as you like prepared in twelve different ways (grilled and many different marinades). For breakfast and lunch try one of Copenhagen's bakeries (Bager — look for a pretzel-like contraption out front). They are numerous and the quality is excellent. Many offer ready-made sandwiches (~kr 35) such as Denmark's famous open-faced rye bread sandwiches called smørrebrød. These sandwiches are small enough to take away and eat either with your hands or with a fork and knife and a wide range of ingredients are available including some elaborate combinations for the more adventurous. Most bakeries also offer coffee, bread rolls and cakes (expect to pay kr 8-10 for Danish pastry, here known as wienerbrød) and many bakeries offer at least some form of counter seating.

For something quintessentially Danish, no visit to Copenhagen is complete without trying out a pølsevogn (see image on the right), literally "sausage wagon", where you can get your hands on several different forms of tasty hot dogs with a free selection of various toppings for next-to-nothing by local standards. It is also one of the few places where you are expected to socialize with the other guests. To blend in, remember to order a bottle of Cocio cocoa drink to wash down your hot dog. At night,

Drink & nightlife

A large beer costs kr 40-50 or so at most places in central Copenhagen, but some charge only kr 20–30, especially on weekdays or at happy hour. Unless you come from elsewhere in Scandinavia do not frighten yourself by trying to work out what this costs in your home currency. At most places the beer on tap is either Carlsberg or Tuborg. In either case there will be a choice of the normal pilsner and then a slightly redder special or classic. Some might also offer wheat or dark beer. If you are on a budget you could follow the example of local teenagers and get primed with bottled beer from a supermarket or kiosk (kr 3-7 for a 330 ml bottle). It is legal and very popular to drink beer in public (not on public transport, although it will be accepted if you are not showing drunk behavior), so buy a beer, sit on a park bench or at Nyhavn and enjoy Danish life. As for where to drink, most tourists head straight for Nyhavn but while indeed pretty, the high prices here make it a bit of a tourist trap. In good weather imitate the locals by buying beer from a kiosk and dangling your legs over the water or head elsewhere to get your drinking on. The many side streets north and south of the Strøget pedestrian street are a good starting point. Other good areas are Vesterbro west of the central station, along Vesterbrogade and Istedgade and in the meatpacking district. On Nørrebro, the cluster of bars and clubs around Sankt Hans Torv and Blågårds Plads, just after the lakes, is another hotspot. For a coastal city Copenhagen has surprisingly few places where you can enjoy a water view with your beer or coffee.

Clubbing You can check for club listings in the various districts The club scene is vibrant in Copenhagen, but most clubs are only open Th-Sa. Most locals have a party at home with friends or frequent their favourite bars, before they head out for the clubs, so they rarely get going until after midnight and close around 05:00. Most clubs have a kr 40-80 cover charge and the ones that don't are rubbish more often than not. Also expect an additional kr 10-20 for cloakrooms. Most clubs maintain a minimum age of 20 or 21, although they are not required to do this by law. Expect a draft beer, or basic drinks, to set you back kr 40-50 — a bit more than bars usually charge.

Gay and lesbian For its size, Copenhagen has a rather large gay scene with a good handful of bars and dance clubs in the centre of the city within walking distance of each other. One of the better ones is Club Christopher in Indre By. Vela, the only bar/lounge in town that is targeted at lesbia

Sleep

Individual listings can be found in Copenhagen's district articles Copenhagen offers all kinds of accommodation but like the rest of Denmark, prices are high. Most hotels are in Indre By and Vesterbro. Special rates are often available on the internet or from travel agencies, so look around well ahead of time, rather than spending your holiday budget on sleeping because you booked at the last minute. Many international hotel chains only maintain token presence in Denmark with a singular high-end business hotel in Copenhagen, or are not present at all. For example, large French hotel groups Accor and Group du Louvre eschew Denmark completely, which means the popular inexpensive Ibis and Campanile hotels are nowhere to be found in Copenhagen. On the other hand, local Scandinavian chains such as Scandic, Radisson BLU, First Hotels and Nordic Choice Hotels are very well represented throughout the Copenhagen region. The hospitality industry is on the one hand squeezed by the high labour costs, being one of the most labour-intensive business, and on the other spoiled by relatively low competition (there are not many hotels in Copenhagen compared to other cities of a similar size). There generally is a dearth of mid-range hotels, as hotels either position themselves as low-priced (by Copenhagen standards) and limit service and facilities to the minimum, or as luxurious, and charge you every bit they need to recover the increased costs of running a fully-staffed hotel in Denmark. As competition is low and labour costs consume most of the hotels' revenues, even many high-end properties show signs of age and may not be up to the standards found in other European countries. For more accommodation options, you may head across the Øresund bridge to Malmö and other localities in Scania. You will find a wider variety of options there, often at lower prices and comparable quality to counterparts in the capital, but will need to factor in the costs (though in most cases the cost of a return fare can still be much lower than the rate differences between comparable hotels across both sides) and travel time across the border (see Get In section).

Unique accommodation If you are looking for something unique, Copenhagen has a few surprisingly little known options. Fancy sleeping in an old fort? Then look no further than Flakfortet on its very own island out in the sound. Stylish rooms, classic and rather tastefully integrated into the environs of the old fort. Staying here does though exclude spending your evenings in the city, as the last ferry leaves in the late afternoo

Go next

Malmö — Sweden's third largest city, with a lovely historic city centre and cosy squares. Just a short, convenient train ride away. Helsingør — Also called Elsinore. The old city centre with well preserved houses is one of the biggest in Denmark, and famous Kronborg castle, home of Shakespeare's Hamlet. Take the train from Copenhagen Central or Østerport. If you go by car the motorway is the fastest, driving along Strandvejen is the scenic route. Hillerød — A small town dominated by the huge Frederiksborg palace, but also offers baroque gardens and a laid back city centre. Take the S-train: end of the E-line. Roskilde — Denmark's ancient capital and a World Heritage site, with a famous cathedral full of the tombs of ancient kings, and the fantastic Viking museum. Home to one of the Big Four European music festivals, Roskilde Festival, which attracts up to 110,000 visitors each year in July. There are many trains from Copenhagen Central, Nørreport and Østerport. Øresund Coast — For the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, which is the outstanding museum of modern art in Denmark, in the small town of Humlebæk 35 km north of Copenhagen. Via motorway E47/E5 or 35 minutes with DSB rail from the Central Station. When you use the train, special combination tickets for the rail fare and museum entry fee are available. Ven — Visit the Swedish island Ven. Rent a bicycle and tour the island. The ferry departs from Havnegade 29 at 9:15, returns at 17:30 and costs 210 kr for the daytrip.