At the end of May, we spent a few days in Copenhagen. As it was our second visit to the Danish capital we had already seen some of the must-sees and were eager to explore a bit more of the city this time. Luckily the weather was fine and we could stroll through the parks and city quarters and take in some highlights in Copenhagen.
Back in Berlin we both made a list with our five highlights and gave points according to rank. The best experience got 5 points, the second 4 points and so on. Interestingly enough, we chose the same sights and experiences albeit in a different order. And we had two second ranks with 7 points each! It was fun to rank our Copenhagen experiences and we might do more posts like this in the future.
And these are our personal highlights in Copenhagen!
# 1: The Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde
On our travels we always try to visit UNESCO sites, and from Copenhagen there are several sites you can reach in a day trip. This time we visited Kronborg Castle and Roskilde Cathedral. While both of these places were interesting enough, none of them made it into this list. As we had a whole day in Roskilde and the cathedral only required around two hours, we also visited the fantastic Viking Ship Museum. Arheologists discovered five almost 1000 year old Viking ships in a sound near Roskilde, and retrieved and restored them.
# 2 and 3: Kayaking in Copenhagen’s channels and a Gin Tonic at „The Bird and the Church Key“
Over the last two years we have developed a certain interest in Gin & Tonic and wherever we go we research the G&T bars. On our last day in Copenhagen we made it to „The Bird and the Church Key,“ a relaxed cellar venue, where Isa had a fantastic Northern Gin & Tonic, with Finnish Kuro Gin, rosemary and fresh cranberries. Definitely a highlight to our visit in Copenhagen.
Copenhagen is a city at the water and beckons to be explored by boat. There are several ferries (including one public ferry officially classified as a “bus”) and bigger and smaller excursion boats. And then, there is also the possibility to go kayaking in the middle of the city! We did a two-hour sightseeing tour with „Kayak Republic“. While the weather was not perfect on our booked day we enjoyed it so much that it became Nr 2 of the “Highlights in Copenhagen” list.
# 4: Papirøen Streetfood market
Food markets are always a great possibility to sample different food and some nice beer in a relaxed atmosphere. Copenhagen’s popular street food market is situated on Paper Island in the harbour area of the city. The old industrial halls on Paper Island served as a paper storage for the Procurement Association of the Danish Press for many decades. But they are now used by art projects and other creative start-up companies. The street food market is a large hall filled with all kinds of food trucks. There is some seating inside, but as it was a beautiful sunny day we sat at the tables outside.
Unfortunately, as we have heard, the contract for use of the industrial hall terminates at the end of 2017 and so the food market is going to close down.
# 5: The Design Museum – another highligt in Copenhagen
It´s all about Danish design and they have a stylish café on site. Particularly interesting to us was the special exhibition about the Japanese influence on Danish design and handicrafts. The exhibition of Danish chairs was fascinating and we got a lot of new ideas for architectural sightseeing in and around Copenhagen. Indeed, we also went to see a designer petrol station! The Skovshoved petrol station in Klampenborg near Copenhagen is by Arne Jacobsen – one of those famous designers!
Have you been to Copenhagen? What were your highlights in Copenhagen? What did we miss? – Looking forward to your comments!
NB: Our trip to Copenhagen was not sponsored in any way – all expenses were paid by ourselves.
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Copenhagen has long been on my list but we won’t make it on this trip. There’s always so many places to visit, isn’t there. When/if we get there, I know know who to ask for recommendations. 🙂
Curious as to how long you’ve lived in Berlin if you don’t mind my asking. As you know we were there last week and found it to be an interesting city.
We have lived in Berlin since 2011. Natascha studied in Berlin as well in the 1990s. It is a great city – multicultural and very affordable!