I recently had a last minute opportunity to travel to Denmark. My favorite part of travel is the planning, and I only had a few weeks of notice for this trip. Fortunately, I discovered 6 awesome activities you cannot miss in Copenhagen!
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Ride a Bicycle
Copenhagen is the best bike city in the world. Bikes outnumber cars, and almost 50% of the locals ride a bike everywhere they go. There are more than 200 miles of bike paths throughout the city, so it’s easy to safely ride a bike anywhere you want to go.
My bicycle days ended once I could drive a car, so it’s been a solid 35 years since I spent much time on a bike. The old adage is true, though. You never forget how to ride a bike! One of my favorite activities in Copenhagen was renting a bicycle and riding about 9 miles to Dragør, a little village on the coast.
Dragør features streets of charming thatched cottages and a bustling marina. We visited on a Sunday and enjoyed browsing through the booths at a tiny art festival. We also spent a few hours hanging out in a lovely sidewalk café and ate delicious open-faced sandwiches.
Another option is to take a bicycle city tour. This is a great way to get an overview of the city and see most of the main sites. But this was a far less enjoyable experience for me than our Dragør excursion. My bike skills are extremely rusty and the bike I was issued was a bit large for me. So I found it difficult to stop and start as much as the tour required. Plus riding a bike over cobblestones hurt my nether-regions. Still, I enjoyed the tour a lot, and we covered more ground than a walking tour would have.
Take a Canal Cruise
Another great way to experience the city of Copenhagen is to take a canal cruise. Honestly, I usually don’t enjoy these types of cruises as I find them boring and often uncomfortable due to weather conditions. So I was pleasantly surprised that this ended up being one of my favorite activities in Copenhagen!
Copenhagen is truly best seen while floating on the many canals surrounding the city. We had unobstructed views of the colorful buildings lining the canals, as well as of the many bridges and boats that make the city so iconic. The canal cruise featured a guide who told us all about what we were seeing and a bit of history, and he even sang to us under one of the bridges. The acoustics were amazing!
If bicycling is not for you, I highly recommend doing a canal cruise. Better yet, do both like I did. You will see some of the same things but from different vantage points. I also recommend doing these activities at the beginning of your trip so that you have an idea of where things are and what you might want to go back to see.
Visit Tivoli Gardens
I honestly knew very little about Copenhagen when I first discovered I was going there. But I quickly discovered that Copenhagen was the home to a charming theme park named Tivoli Gardens that inspired Walt Disney to build Disneyland. Tivoli Gardens was founded in 1843, so it is one of the oldest theme parks in the world. As a huge theme park fan, I knew I had to put this on my list of must-do activities in Copenhagen!
I did not have a lot of time there, but I enjoyed every moment. Unlike many theme parks, Tivoli Gardens charges an admission fee (about $25). Then you can pay separately for the rides (about $8 each) or buy an all-access voucher. Since we didn’t have a lot of time, we just paid for admission and paid separately for the two rides I wanted to do.
We spent most of our time wandering around and enjoying the theming. It was definitely reminiscent of Disney theme parks with whimsical structures, highly themed areas, and cute gift shops. But it was obvious that Tivoli Gardens is a place where locals would want to return again and again. There are beautiful garden areas, delicious restaurants, and entertainment routinely occurring on the Peacock stage.
As a fan of Disney dark rides, I found two attractions I wanted to experience. The first was The Mine. A ride vehicle takes you through a water channel to the land of creatures called Grotes. There’s a dragon and glittering diamonds. We had flashlights to shine on targets but couldn’t figure out if there was scoring. It was a bit perplexing but fun nevertheless.
The next ride was far more fulfilling! The Flying Trunk tells the story of 32 of Hans Christian Anderson’s fairy tales using charming animatronics. Passing through the scenes, I was reminded of my childhood and reading the stories of The Little Mermaid, Princess and the Pea, The Emperor’s New Clothes, Thumbelina, and The Little Match Girl.
I think Tivoli Gardens has something to offer everyone. Theme park fans shouldn’t miss it! And families with all ages of kids should also put it on their list of activities to do in Copenhagen. There are great rides for the smaller tykes. And teenagers will be excited to experience some of the great coasters and other thrill rides featured there.
Dine in Style
I did not give the food I would experience in Denmark much thought prior to the trip. Or if I did, it was in passing because I didn’t think it would be particularly noteworthy. I was so wrong! I found that I enjoyed Danish cuisine at all levels.
Sidewalk Cafés
One of my favorite things to do in Copenhagen was to linger over a meal at a sidewalk café for hours. We would find a café that looked nice, sit down, and enjoy conversation and people watching. The cafés encouraged lingering. Chairs are draped with blankets to ward off chills. We welcomed this even in July! The waitstaff is prompt and courteous, but they will not bring you the bill until you ask for it.
Our favorite thing to order at these cafés are Smørrebrød, an open sandwich filled with your choice of meat or fish. I also enjoyed other simple seafood dishes as well as a delicious charcuterie board throughout my visit. The food was always good and never too heavy.
Michelin Recommended Restaurants
On the other end of the spectrum, Copenhagen is home to a whopping 74 Michelin recommended restaurants! A Michelin recommended restaurant is an eatery judged by a panel of experts to be of particularly high quality. Reservations can be difficult to get at these restaurants, but we were able to score one at the last minute.
We ate at Marv & Ben, a cozy restaurant focused sourcing local food and preparing it in a Nordic style. I chose the four course option with wine pairing for 800 DKK, about $110. This is probably the most money I’ve ever spent on a dinner in my life! You can see the four courses served in the photo above. The food was good, it was interesting how the various wines paired with it. Fortunately, the pours are not big and the meal is spread out over three or more hours, so I was able to walk back to my hotel! It was definitely an experience that I would not have at home.
Experience Royal Life
The Danish monarchy was established around the year 900 making it one of the oldest in the world. Yet we hear very little about today’s Danish royalty, probably because they appear to be very down-to-earth people. Their kids go to regular public school, and members of the family shop, ride bikes, and eat in sidewalk cafés just like normal people!
To experience a bit of the royal life, one of your activities in Copenhagen should be to visit one or two castles. Amalienborg Castle is the current monarchy’s primary residence. You can visit a museum that is part of the palace, watch the changing of the guard daily at 11:30 a.m., or just enjoy the castle grounds.
Rosenborg Castle is a 17th century castle that once served as King Christian IV’s “pleasure” castle. It is relatively small by castle standards, and thus very easy to explore in a short period of time. It is full of dark portraits of Danish royalty, beautiful furnishings, and intricate floors and ceilings. Rosenborg Castle also features the Danish royal family’s crown jewels, marvelous displays of ivory and amber, and very unique armor, swords and guns.
If you are up for an excursion outside the city, you can also visit Frederiksborg Castle in Hillerød. The trek will take about 45 minutes on the train and another 20ish minutes of walking from the town of Hillerød. Or you can book a private tour and enjoy the journey from a car providing beautiful views of the coastline. Built in the early 17th century, Frederiksborg Castle is the largest Renaissance castle in Scandinavia. It is a beautiful complex and is full of art and antiques and amazing ceilings. In contract to Rosenborg Castle, Frederiksborg Castle is massive and will take several hours to explore. Allow a half day for the excursion for a cursory view and a full day if you truly want to admire the art and gardens. The onsite restaurant is delicious as well, so make sure to treat yourself to lunch!
Cross the Border
My final recommendation for this list of must-do activities in Copenhagen is to cross the border into Sweden. The Swedish city of Malmö is a charming place to visit for an afternoon. It’s super easy to get there using public transportation. It’s only a 35 minute train ride from Copenhagen! Just don’t forget to bring your passport as you may need it to cross the border. You could also book a day trip with a guide to show you how to get there and tell you about all the sites. Malmö is easily walkable with all of the main sites very close together.
There is plenty to do in Malmö to keep you busy on your day trip. Malmö Castle is now home to a variety of museums featuring art, natural history, and city history. There’s even an aquarium and zoo on the grounds of the Renaissance castle!
Make your way to Stortorget, Malmö’s largest square. Here you will see the gorgeous City Hall building dating from the 16th century. There’s a statue of King Karl X Gustav from the 17th century as well as many other beautiful buildings. You will find plenty of restaurants, cafés, and shops to enjoy as well.
Nearby you will find Sankt Petri Church. This is the site I enjoyed most on our excursion. Built in the 14th century in the Brick Gothic style, it’s the oldest building in Malmö. Usually I find churches and cathedrals to all look somewhat alike. But this one was interesting – there was some unusual furniture, crypts with cool imagery all over the floor, a few stained glass windows, a chapel with a painted ceiling, and a very unique alter covered in carved faces.
What’s on your must-do list of activities for Copenhagen?
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