Copenhagen Attractions
I live in Copenhagen. The Copenhagen attractions are numerous like Tivoli, the Little Mermaid, art museums, grand palaces, and castles. Don’t miss the New Nordic Cuisine. The Parks in Central Copenhagen are also beautiful.
Capital of Denmark
Copenhagen is the capital and most populated city of Denmark. It is situated on Zealand and Amager islands and is separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the strait of Øresund.
Founded as a fishing village in the 10th century, Copenhagen became the capital of Denmark-Norway in the early 15th century.
Beginning in the 17th century Copenhagen developed into an important European regional center, consolidating its position as the capital of Denmark and Norway with resources from both kingdoms being used to build institutions, even palaces and the famous fortifications which shape the city still.
Grand Architecture
Magnificent architectural expressions of prestige in Denmark-Norway include some of Copenhagen’s most important tourist attractions, such as Børsen (Stock Exchange), the Rundetårn (Round Tower), and Rosenborg Castle.
After suffering from the effects of plague and fire in the 18th century, the city underwent a period of redevelopment.
This included the construction of the prestigious district of Frederiksstaden and the founding of such cultural institutions as the Royal Theatre and the Royal Academy of Fine Arts.
After further disasters in the early 19th century when Nelson attacked the Dano-Norwegian fleet and bombarded the city, rebuilding during the Danish Golden Age brought a Neoclassical look to Copenhagen’s architecture.
Later, following the Second World War, the Finger Plan fostered the development of housing and businesses along the five urban railway routes stretching out from the city center.
Since the turn of the 21st century, Copenhagen has seen strong urban and cultural development, facilitated by investment in its institutions and infrastructure.
The city is the governmental center of Denmark; it is one of the major financial centers of Northern Europe with the Copenhagen Stock Exchange.
Video on Copenhagen
Bridge to Sweden
Since the completion of the Øresund Bridge, a road, railway, and tunnel project, the Copenhagen metropolitan area has become increasingly integrated with the Swedish province of Scania and its largest city, Malmö, known as the Øresund Region. Here is a fine link with tips for a Malmö visit.
With a number of bridges connecting the various districts, the cityscape is characterized by parks, promenades, and waterfronts.
Copenhagen Landmarks
Copenhagen’s landmarks such as Tivoli Gardens, the Little Mermaid Statue, the Amalienborg and Christiansborg palaces, Rosenborg Castle, Frederik’s Church, and many museums, restaurants, and nightclubs are significant tourist attractions.
In addition to recent developments in the city service sector and the pharmaceutical industry, there have been a number of initiatives in clean technology, supporting the city’s goal to be carbon-neutral by 2025.
Copenhagen is home to the University of Copenhagen, the Technical University of Denmark, and Copenhagen Business School.
The University of Copenhagen, founded in 1479, is the oldest university in Denmark. Copenhagen is home to the FC København and Brøndby football clubs.
The annual Copenhagen Marathon and Half Maraton are regular events. Copenhagen is one of the most bicycle-friendly cities in the world.
Below is a video from Copenhagen produced in 1964 presented by British Pathé.
Transport
The Copenhagen Metro serves central Copenhagen together with the S-train network connecting the outlying boroughs.
Serving roughly 2 million passengers a month, Copenhagen Airport, Kastrup, is the largest airport in the Nordic countries.
Environmental planning
Copenhagen is recognized as one of the most environmentally friendly cities in the world.
As a result of its commitment to high environmental standards, Copenhagen has been praised for its green economy, ranked as the top green city for many years Global Green Economy Index (GGEI).
In 2001 a large offshore wind farm was built just off the coast of Copenhagen at Middelgrunden. It produces about 4% of the city’s energy.
Years of substantial investment in sewage treatment have improved water quality in the harbor to the extent that the inner harbor can be used for swimming with facilities at a number of locations.
Copenhagen aims to be carbon-neutral by 2025. Commercial and residential buildings are to reduce electricity consumption by 20 percent and 10 percent respectively, and total heat consumption is to fall by 20 percent by 2025.
Renewable energy features such as solar panels are becoming increasingly common in the newest buildings in Copenhagen. District heating will be carbon-neutral by 2025, through waste incineration and biomass.
New buildings must now be constructed according to Low Energy Class ratings and in 2020 near net-zero energy buildings. By 2025, 75% of trips should be made on foot, by bike, or by using public transit.
The city plans that 20–30% of cars will run on electricity or biofuel by 2025. The investment is estimated at $472 million in public funds and $4.78 billion in private funds.
The city’s urban planning authorities continue to take full account of these priorities. Special attention is given both to climate issues and efforts to ensure maximum application of low-energy standards.
Priorities include sustainable drainage systems, recycling rainwater, green roofs, and efficient waste management solutions.
In city planning, streets and squares are to be designed to encourage cycling and walking rather than driving.
Further, the city administration is working with smart city initiatives to improve how data and technology can be used to implement new solutions that support the transition toward a carbon-neutral economy.
These solutions support operations covered by the city administration to improve e.g. public health, district heating, urban mobility, and waste management systems.
Smart city operations in Copenhagen are maintained by Copenhagen Solutions Lab, the city’s official smart-city development unit under the Technical and Environmental Administration.
Quality of living
For a number of years, Copenhagen has ranked high in international surveys for its quality of life.
Its stable economy together with its education services and level of social safety make it attractive for locals and visitors alike.
Although it is one of the world’s most expensive cities, it is also one of the most liveable with its public transport, facilities for cyclists, and its environmental policies.
In elevating Copenhagen to “The most liveable city” in 2013, Monocle (with video) pointed to its open spaces, increasing activity on the streets, city planning in favor of cyclists and pedestrians, and features to encourage inhabitants to enjoy city life with an emphasis on community, culture, and cuisine.
Other sources have ranked Copenhagen high for its business environment, accessibility, restaurants, and environmental planning.
Culture
Apart from being the national capital, Copenhagen also serves as the cultural hub of Denmark and wider Scandinavia.
Since the late 1990s, it has undergone a transformation from a modest Scandinavian capital into a metropolitan city of international appeal in the same league as Barcelona and Amsterdam.
This is a result of huge investments in infrastructure and culture as well as the work of successful new Danish architects, designers, and chefs.
Copenhagen Fashion Week, the largest fashion event in Northern Europe, takes place every year in February and August.
Copenhagen has a wide array of museums of international standing.
The National Museum, Nationalmuseet, is Denmark’s largest museum of archaeology and cultural history, comprising the histories of Danish and foreign cultures alike.
Denmark’s National Gallery (Statens Museum for Kunst) is a national art museum with collections dating from the 12th century to the present.
In addition to Danish painters, artists represented in the collections include Rubens, Rembrandt, Picasso, Braque, Léger, Matisse, Emil Nolde, Olafur Eliasson, Elmgreen, and Dragset, Superflex, and Jens Haaning.
Another important Copenhagen art museum is the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek founded by second-generation Carlsberg philanthropist Carl Jacobsen and built around his personal collections.
Its main focus is classical Egyptian, Roman, and Greek sculptures and antiquities and a collection of Rodin sculptures, the largest outside France.
Besides its sculpture collections, the museum also holds a comprehensive collection of paintings by Impressionist and Post-Impressionist painters such as Monet, Renoir, Cézanne, van Gogh and Toulouse-Lautrec as well as works by the Danish Golden Age painters.
Other museums include the Thorvaldsens Museum, dedicated to the oeuvre of romantic Danish sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen who lived and worked in Rome; the Cisternerne museum, an exhibition space for contemporary art, located in former cisterns that come complete with stalactites formed by the changing water levels; and the Ordrupgaard Museum, located just north of Copenhagen, which features 19th-century French and Danish art and is noted for its works by Paul Gauguin.
Entertainment and performing arts
The new Copenhagen Concert Hall opened in January 2009. Designed by Jean Nouvel, it has four halls with the main auditorium seating 1,800 people.
It serves as the home of the Danish National Symphony Orchestra and along with the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles is the most expensive concert hall ever built.
Another important venue for classical music is the Tivoli Concert Hall located in the Tivoli Gardens.
Designed by Henning Larsen, the Copenhagen Opera House (Operaen) opened in 2005. It is among the most modern opera houses in the world.
The Royal Danish Theatre also stages opera in addition to its drama productions. It is also home to the Royal Danish Ballet. Founded in 1748 along with the theatre, it is one of the oldest ballet troupes in Europe and is noted for its Bournonville style of ballet.
Copenhagen has a significant jazz scene that has existed for many years.
It developed when a number of American jazz musicians such as Ben Webster, Thad Jones, Richard Boone, Ernie Wilkins, Kenny Drew, Ed Thigpen, Bob Rockwell, Dexter Gordon, and others such as rock guitarist Link Wray came to live in Copenhagen during the 1960s.
Every year in early July, Copenhagen’s streets, squares, parks as well as cafés and concert halls fill up with big and small jazz concerts during the Copenhagen Jazz Festival.
One of Europe’s top jazz festivals, the annual event features around 900 concerts at 100 venues with over 200,000 guests from Denmark and around the world.
The largest venue for popular music in Copenhagen is Vega in the Vesterbro district. It was chosen as “the best concert venue in Europe” by the international music magazine Live. The venue has three concert halls: the Great Hall, Store Vega, accommodates audiences of 1,550, the middle hall, Lille Vega, has space for 500, and Ideal Bar Live has a capacity of 250.
For free entertainment, one can stroll along Strøget, especially between Nytorv and Højbro Plads, which in the late afternoon and evening is a bit like an impromptu three-ring circus with musicians, magicians, jugglers, and other street performers.
The Royal Library, belonging to the University of Copenhagen, is the largest library in the Nordic countries with an almost complete collection of all printed Danish books since 1482.
Founded in 1648, the Royal Library is located at four sites in the city, the main one being on the Slotsholmen waterfront near the beautiful Royal Library Garden.
Copenhagen’s public library network has over 20 outlets, the largest being the Central Library (Københavns Hovedbibliotek) on Krystalgade in the inner city.
Art
Copenhagen has a wide selection of art museums and galleries displaying both historic works and more modern contributions.
They include Statens Museum for Kunst, i.e. the Danish national art gallery, in the Østre Anlæg (Eastern Park), and the adjacent Hirschsprung Collection specializing in the 19th and early 20th century.
Kunsthal Charlottenborg in the city center exhibits national and international contemporary art.
Den Frie Udstilling near the Østerport Station exhibits paintings created and selected by contemporary artists themselves rather than by the official authorities.
Among artists who have painted scenes of Copenhagen are Martinus Rørbye (1803–1848), Christen Købke (1810–1848), and the prolific Paul Gustav Fischer (1860–1934).
A number of notable sculptures can be seen in the city. In addition to The Little Mermaid on the waterfront, there are two historic equestrian statues in the city center: Jacques Saly’s King Frederik V on Horseback (1771) in Amalienborg Square and the statue of King Christian V on Kongens Nytorv created by Abraham-César Lamoureux in 1688 who was inspired by the statue of Louis XIII in Paris.
The King’s Garden contains several sculptures and monuments including August Saabye’s Hans Christian Andersen, Aksel Hansen’s Echo, and Vilhelm Bissen’s Dowager Queen Caroline Amalie.
New Nordic Cuisine
As of 2021, Copenhagen has the most Michelin-starred restaurants in any Scandinavian city:
3 stars: Geranium, Noma
2 stars: AOC, Kadeau, Alchemist, Jordnær, Kong Hans
1 star: The Samuel, Marchal, Kokkeriet, Formel B, Kiin Kiin, Søllerød Kro, Alouette
The Best Restaurant in the World in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, and 2021 is Noma.
The best restaurant in the world in 2022 is also in Copenhagen: Geranium.
One of the most coveted restaurants on the planet, Noma and its founder, René Redzepi, are known for creating New Nordic Cuisine and inspiring an entire generation of chefs the world over. Noma was voted The World’s Best Restaurant in 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2014, before it closed in 2016 and moved to a new location in 2018. Now back on top form with a seasonal dining structure, Noma 2.0 is wowing diners again with its endlessly innovative tasting menus.
Many restaurants align their menu to the changing seasons, but Geranium takes it to the next level. The latest Autumn Universe selection is a case in point, beginning with rich pickings such as Jerusalem artichoke leaves and pickled walnut, and following through into a series of fish and seafood courses, which speak to Chef Rasmus Kofoed’s love for sea-foraging. Squid, melted smoked lard, the essence of yeast, and potatoes are a true taste of the brackish waters that encapsulate Denmark, while quail with thyme seeds, berries, and pickled pine is the only point where meat comes into the 16-course menu.
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Open Sandwiches (Smørrebrød) and Danish Pastry
Apart from the selection of upmarket restaurants, Copenhagen offers a great variety of Danish, ethnic, and experimental restaurants. It is possible to find modest eateries serving open sandwiches (smørrebrød) – a traditional, Danish lunch dish; however, most restaurants serve international dishes.
Danish pastry can be sampled from any of the numerous bakeries found in all parts of the city. The Copenhagen Baker’s Association dates back to the 1290s and Denmark’s oldest confectioner’s shop still operating, Conditori La Glace, was founded in 1870 in Skoubogade by Nicolaus Henningsen, a trained master baker from Flensburg.
Copenhagen has long been associated with beer. Carlsberg beer has been brewed at the brewery’s premises on the border between the Vesterbro and Valby districts since 1847 and has long been almost synonymous with Danish beer production.
However, recent years have seen explosive growth in the number of microbreweries so Denmark today has more than 100 breweries, many of which are located in Copenhagen. Some like Nørrebro Bryghus also act as brewpubs where it is also possible to eat on the premises.
Amusement parks
Copenhagen has the two oldest amusement parks in the world.
The Tivoli Gardens is an amusement park and pleasure garden located in central Copenhagen between the City Hall Square and the Central Station.
It opened in 1843, making it the second oldest amusement park in the world. Among its rides are the oldest still operating rollercoaster Rutschebanen from 1915 and the oldest ferris wheel still in use, which opened in 1943.
Tivoli Gardens also serves as a venue for various performing arts and as an active part of the cultural scene in Copenhagen.
Dyrehavsbakken, a fair-ground, and pleasure park established in 1583, is located in Klampenborg just north of Copenhagen in a forested area known as Dyrehaven.
Created as an amusement park complete with rides, games, and restaurants by King Christian IV, it is the oldest surviving amusement park in the world. Pierrot (Danish: Pjerrot), a nitwit dressed in white with a scarlet grin wearing a boat-like hat while entertaining children, remains one of the park’s key attractions.
In Danish, Dyrehavsbakken is often abbreviated as Bakken. There is no entrance fee to pay and Klampenborg Station on the C-line is situated nearby.
Cycling
The Danish capital is known as one of the most bicycle-friendly cities in the world, with bicycles actually outnumbering its inhabitants.
In 2012 some 36% of all working or studying city-dwellers cycled to work, school, or university.
With 1.27 million km covered every working day by Copenhagen’s cyclists (including both residents and commuters), and 75% of Copenhageners cycle throughout the year.
The city’s bicycle paths are extensive and well used, boasting 400 kilometers (250 miles) of cycle lanes not shared with cars or pedestrians, and sometimes have their own signal systems – giving the cyclists a lead of a couple of seconds to accelerate.
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Healthcare
Promoting health is a very important issue for Copenhagen’s municipal authorities.
Central to its sustainability mission is its “Long Live Copenhagen” (Længe Leve København) scheme in which it has the goal of increasing the life expectancy of citizens, improving quality of life through better standards of health, and encouraging more productive lives and equal opportunities.
The city has targets to encourage people to exercise regularly and to reduce the number who smoke and consume alcohol.
Articles about Copenhagen written by foreigners
National Geographic Traveller: How To Design a Happy City: Copenhagen Might Have the Answer
CNN Travel: The fairytale capital of the world
CNN Travel: Visiting Copenhagen? 10 things to know about Denmark
Lonely Planet Reviews:
Lonely Planet’s page on Copenhagen.
Lonely Planet’s video (shown below): “Effortlessly cool Copenhagen is known for its striking spires, cutting-edge design, and cycle-friendly streets. Here’s why it’s Lonely Planet’s top city to travel to in 2019.”
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Nyhavn: the Picturesque Canalside
The famous postcard of the Danish capital is without a doubt the canalside of Nyhavn. This charming neighborhood is famous for its colorful houses, reflecting the water of Copenhagen’s spectacular harbor. Here is everything you need to know for your Nyhavn visit.
Nyhavn location
This 17th-century waterfront joins Kongens Nytorv in Copenhagen, Denmark, to its harbor, at the south of the Royal Danish Theater. The pedestrian street is Strøget and the nearest metro station is Kongens Nytorv. It is not far from other main attractions so you can easily fit it into a Copenhagen itinerary.
Nyhavn history
Nyhavn harbor’s construction was ordered by King Christian V in 1670, during the Dano-Swedish War. It used to be a commercial area where worldwide ships would come, drop their merchandise, and go. The canalside was quite busy because the sailors, who just spent months at sea, wanted to reinvigorate themselves with good food and entertainment before returning to their boats.
The Nyhavn bars and restaurants have increased significantly since then and it became the place to be. Locals adore this long promenade alongside the sea and tourists are dazzled by the colorful soul of this place. The canal is as pretty during the summer and the winter, at any time of the day!
Nyhavn canal is known for its shady and sunny quays. Great mansions, like the Charlottenborg Palace, were built on the “shady side” for the wealthy locals, while the “sunny side” houses were made of wood and brick and rented by the poor and working-class community. However, the colorful houses are the ones on the sunny side and have now become the most vibrant and visited place in all of Copenhagen.
What to do in Nyhavn?
I highly recommend strolling around on both sides to see the picturesque houses from different angles. Because obviously, the first thing to see in Nyhavn is the townhouses. The oldest house is the number 9. It was built in 1681 and remains in very good condition. If you like the fairy tales “The Princess and the Pea” or “The Tinderbox” by Hans Christian Andersen, know that he was living at the number 20 when he wrote them!
Next, you can enjoy a drink or meal in one of the many charming Nyhavn restaurants. What better way to soak up the atmosphere of Nyhavn than to sit on a sunny terrace, relax and eat?
Well, you don’t have to only stroll around on foot, you could also do a Nyhavn boat tour! Many boat companies offer cruises one hour or more from the harbor of Nyhavn.
After walking for around 20 minutes, you will run into the Little Mermaid. The statue comes straight out of Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale character. It quickly became the most visited statue of the city and you should definitely go say hi to her at some point!
As you can tell, there are many things to see in this iconic place, as rich culturally and historically. During your travel to Copenhagen, do not ignore other incredible areas such as Freetown Christiania, the Danish Royal Library, or Nørrebro.
Here you can read Timeout’s review of Nørrebro: How to properly do Nørrebro, the world’s coolest neighborhood
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