Copenhagen

---

Over the last year we’ve been making our way around various European cities and Copenhagen was next on the list! Although it is not as well known as Rome or Paris, it often appears on top 10 lists of alternative European cities to visit and it’s only 1 hour 40 minutes away from the UK so we thought we’d head there next.



I booked our flights earlier in the year with Easyjet flying from London Stansted for £68.98 each return departing at 7am on Saturday 28^th June. I used my usual hotels.com to book our hotel. I looked over several days at the different options and gave up each time due to the prices, which are comparable to London. I eventually settled on Cabinn Hotel, which is a couple of streets south of the central train station and Tivoli and is geared towards people who want clean, basic and modern accommodation, which is exactly what we look for. We paid £258.39 for 3 nights.



On Saturday, we woke up at the horrendous time of 2:30am and left the house at 3am. We made good time getting to the airport and arrived at the terminal by 5:15am. We’d taken the perishables from the fridge with us so we ended up eating a whole punnet of strawberries whilst we waited to go through security much to the amusement of the people around us. We arrived on time at Copenhagen airport. It had been raining but it was sunny when we got off the plane and took the train out of the airport towards Copenhagen city centre. It cost 36 DKK each for a one way ticket to the centre. We bought them at one of the ticket machines with my credit card. The train took around 15 minutes to reach Copenhagen city centre (called Kobenhavn H) and then we walked to our hotel.



Our first impressions were great, the reception is bright and modern and the reception staff spoke great English. Check in time is 3pm and we arrived before 11am so we weren’t hopeful but thought we’d try check in early. As luck would have it our room was ready so we headed up to our room. We were in room 460 and as we walked down the corridor I kept saying “Expect it to be teeny tiny!” to Oli. We were pleasantly surprised, we had two twin beds which were pushed together but we each had our own quilt (which is common in Europe). We had a desk, a TV, an en-suite, plenty of floor space and a door which opened on to a small balcony.



I had booked us on for two tours before we came to Copenhagen. We went on a bike tour the first day we arrived in Berlin which was great so we decided to do the same again in Copenhagen. When researching bike tour companies in Copenhagen one name kept coming up again and again, Bike Mike. He had great reviews so I booked us on for the 2pm City Tour. This tour goes to different places to the morning tour, mainly missing out the Little Mermaid and covering more ground. We made our way to Bike Mike’s store stopping off at a 7 Eleven where we got our first taste of the expensiveness of Copenhagen. I perused the Haribo aisle and could not believe they were charging £3 for a small bag of Haribo! I can pay £1 for a big bag in B and M! We bought a hot dog, a slice of pizza, a bottle of water and a spicy chicken skewer for around £8.



We were on the bike tour with around 12 other people. Mike is a great character, very animated and very funny. We grabbed our bikes and headed out. We biked 20km in total, including several kilometres off road, which some of the group struggled with. We really enjoyed our time with Mike and would definitely recommend him to anyone who wants a tour which is slightly different to the norm and actually wants to do some biking, not just pottering around.



Biking in Copenhagen is HUGE, the bike lanes are as wide as the car lanes in places and there are bikes everywhere. From what we saw over the four days, drivers in Copenhagen are really forgiving, they give way to cyclists and pedestrians a lot, never honk, speed or drive aggressively and you can always find a car parking space. In fact the people in general are polite, smiley, helpful and relaxed.



After the bike tour we made our way to Nyhavn, which is a very popular area of Copenhagen on the water with colourful buildings lining either side. There are a few things I always research before we go somewhere, one of which is Thai restaurants. There are lots of overpriced restaurants in this area which we steered well clear of, but one place that was recommended in my research for Thai Asien Take Away which is literally a couple of meters down a side street off of Nyhavn. It’s a small, hot takeaway place with a tiny kitchen but it was fantastic. They offer a Thai box for 54,80 DKK (around £5.50) of either red or green Thai curry with rice or a Pad Thai type dish. We got one red and one green chicken curry and a couple of drinks. As it was a warm evening we took our food and ate it with our legs dangling off the edge of the harbour. I somehow managed to get it all over me, including in my hair.



After we ate we walked back to our hotel and spent an hour or so lounging around watching the football in our room. At 9:30 we headed over to Tivoli, which is an old amusement park right next to our hotel. We paid 100 DKK each to get in (around £10) and then it is more if you want to go on the rides but we were happy just walking about. At night the whole park lights up and it was really pretty. They also had a live swing band playing and lots of people were up dancing. We spent an hour wandering around, watching people on the rides and walking around the lake. At 22:45 there is a light show, which we weren’t very impressed with. On Saturdays they have a fireworks display at 23:45 so we had a drink in one of the bars while we waited. The fireworks display was brilliant, one of the best I’ve seen. They put on loud music while it was on and it really added to the atmosphere. We went straight to bed after the fireworks as it had been a very long day.



We had a lie in on the Sunday. It was looking a bit overcast so we donned our waterproof jackets and headed out around 11am. Oli suggested we go to the National Museum of Denmark first as it is rated really highly on Tripadvisor (number 3) and it was free. Unfortunately we are not museum people and blazed round it in under 10 minutes. We left there and got a cookie and ice cream for me and a coffee for Oli then went up the Round Tower. We walked over to Rosenborg Castle to look round the gardens but it started to pour it down so we went for lunch instead. We went for a lunch buffet at Dalle Valle near the castle which was great. We were still wet and it was still raining so we went back to the hotel at 3pm and had a sleep.



After the rain had stopped and we’d woken up from our afternoon nap we went back out. We walked through Nyhavn again and up to Amalienborg Palace then walked along the water front up to the Little Mermaid then around the gardens nearby. We walked almost 10km then went back to the hotel and went to bed.



I’d spent some time researching the Copenhagen card before coming to Copenhagen but couldn’t decide if it was a good deal or not. It costs 339 DKK (approximately £34) for 24 hours and allows you to use the metro, buses and trains as much as you want as well as gives you entry to lots of attractions. We decided to purchase a card on the Monday as we wanted to head up to Fredricksborg Castle and we could use it for entry. As we wanted to make the most of the card I then planned a super packed day to make as much use of it as possible.



So off we went to the train station at 9:30 to purchase our Copenhagen cards. We tried to buy them on the normal ticket machines but the option wasn’t there. We tried to find an information desk but it was ridiculously busy. We eventually found a little counter tucked away which had a Copenhagen card poster on it. We purchased two 24 hour tickets here then caught the train to Hillerod. We walked through the town to Fredricksborg Castle. It’s a very impressive looking castle on one side of a large lake. We used the cards to tour the building. I was pleased to walk through another place the American show The Amazing Race had been to. Then we had a little walk through the gardens then caught the ferry round the lake (also using the cards). We took the train back to Copenhagen and got off at Norrport. We walked back to Nyhavn through Rosenborg Castle gardens and the botanical gardens. We purchased a thai red curry from Thai Asien Take Away and then used our cards to go on the canal tour with Netto. As you get on the boat I would recommend sitting on the left as this is where most of the views were. After the canal tour we took the tube over the Fredricksberg and walked down through the park to Oli’s second trip idea, the Carlsberg museum. We used our cards to go in (otherwise it’s 90 DKK). We were not overly impressed with the museum/brewery and walked through it in under ten minutes. There are stables at the end with some horses which was the highlight. You also get two free drink tokens to use on beer or soft drinks. I had a Fanta and gave my other drink token to Oli who had three beers. The weather was still sunny so we sat in the sun with our drinks.



Then we walked back up through the park to Copenhagen Zoo. We used our cards again to get in, (otherwise it’s 160 DKK). We spent an hour or so here, they have two polar bears who looked exhausted in the heat. I like seeing the big animals but I’d rather they were in their natural habitat. We also saw a brown bear, penguins, seals, monkeys etc.



We took a bus back to the tube station and took the tube over the Christianshavn. We used our passes to go up the Church of Our Saviour, which is a church with 400 steps up to the top of the tower, with the last 100 steps on the outside of the spire. Both Oli and I found this quite scary and we never quite got used to it but it did get slightly easier.



After we came back down we headed back over to Nyhavn and went to Thai Asien Take Away for a third and final time. This time we got chicken skewers and the Thai box that was like a Pad Thai. We caught a bus back to the hotel as my feet were too tired to walk anymore and we had the cards to use. We got back at 9pm and went to bed not long after.



On our last day we had great weather again and decided to head down to Amager Strand Park, a strip of beach with a lagoon 5km from the centre of Copenhagen. We had one hour left on our Copenhagen cards so we took the Metro down to the Femoren Metro station which is at the bottom end of the beach. We sat and watched the planes flying in over the bridge to Malmo to the airport scoffing the end of the Pringles. We then spent a couple of hours walking up the beach and back to Copenhagen.



We had a 1pm tour scheduled for the Danish Parliament. We were there slightly earlier so we climbed up the tower in the parliament building for a different view over Copenhagen. Then we had the tour. The building is not as impressive as some others we have been in the world but it was still nice to have a wander. They are as chilled out in parliament as they are in life and they have 10 weeks paid holiday a year and only work 34 hours a week.



After the tour we had a lie down in the gardens and then went for an Indian lunch buffet at India Palace which was 65 DKK each. We enjoyed the meal although we both took too much food then struggled to eat it all. We went back to our hotel, picked up our bags and made our way back to the airport for our 6:25pm flight.

---

Comments

[Phyllis Farrand]

Great Trip!!!
Thanks so much for your blog Lisa. You wrote it so well, I was right there with you. Had no idea you two had taken off for Copenhagen but that was a nice adventure. When Jack and I were there years ago Marie and Derek met us. I believe they had been to a meeting and we had just come from Sweden. Please tell everyone "hello" for me. Love from Phyllis