Nordic Adventures Part 4: Copenhagen

Over the summer of 2024 I took a trip through Finland, Estonia, Sweden and Denmark - 4 countries in 12 days. Using plane, boat, car and train to move around, I had a great time exploring places that I hadn't been to before. This is the fourth blog of 4, each focussed on one of the places I visited. My final stop took me to Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark.

The above map covers most the spots I visited during my trip, to give you an idea of where everything is located relative to one another.

The Journey to Copenhagen via Rail

This was the first time we were using rail to move between places on my Nordic Adventure - from Stockholm to Copenhagen railway stations. Tickets for journeys like this are available from a range of websites - our choice being Omio. Overall the journey was easy to navigate and follow - with reserved seats for the first (longer) leg of the journey. The trains were clean and comfortable. However, we did experience a delay at the transit platform waiting for our second train - leading to it terminate early in the city of Malmö. As a result, we ended up getting one extra train to reach Copenhagen, but the original ticket we bought covered us for this (no extra cost or admin required).

Both Copenhagen and Stockholm Central Stations are easy to navigate and find your correct platform. Particularly if you're travelling light, the train can be an affordable and comfortable way to travel around the Nordic countries.

Things to do in Copenhagen

Copenhagen Walking Tour

Once again, GuruWalk was the app we used to find a free walking tour that was taking place on a day that suited us. Copenhagen feels similar in size to Stockholm (and definitely bigger than Helsinki and Tallinn). The meeting point was at Copenhagen City Hall, easy to identify and hard to miss. Some walking tour trivia I picked up includes:

• Copenhagen City Hall is one of the easiest places to get married in Europe, due to the very quick civil ceremonies that are held here.
• Copenhagen is the gateway to the Baltic Sea, so back in the day anything that passed through the city was taxed.
• By area, Denmark is one of the biggest (the rank depends what source you look at!) countries in Europe, due to control over Greenland and the Faroe islands.
• Denmark and Sweden have had the most wars between any 2 countries.
• Christiansborg Palace used to be a royal residence. It is now a parliamentary building.
• The Queen of Denmark is Australian.
• The royal family/prime minister/members of parliament are very much part of regular society in Denmark - carrying out daily activities in public with everyone else.

National Museum of Denmark

The day we arrived in Copenhagen was a grey and rainy one, so the National Museum of Denmark was an ideal way to spend an afternoon indoors. We booked ourselves onto a tour of the Viking Exhibition, which covered aspects of Viking life including: raids, beliefs, weapons & jewellery craft and societal structure. Following this, the museum has a range of other exhibitions that are worth having a look at should you have spare time.

Reffen Street Food Market

A visit to the largest street food market in the Nordics is a must when in Copenhagen. Reffen is located by the waterfront and is a hub for food, art, music, drinks in an outdoor and vibrant location, towards the fringes of the city. The area in which Reffen was established was previously a run-down harbourside lot, still evident as you look around at the buildings that surround the market. However it has been transformed into an area which attracts huge numbers over the summer months. And it's not just for the food - events are hosted all season long. I highly recommend popping down one evening when in Copenhagen to check it out. The food was also delicious, more on that below!

Rundetaarn

Completed in 1642, the 34.8m tall Rundetaarn (Round Tower) is one of Denmark's most visited structures. Built by King Christian IV, it was built a a platform for the university observatory and for centuries it was the centre of Danish astronomy. As you walk up the tower, pop into the Library Hall, step into the glass floor in the hollow core looking 25m down, and have a look at the observatory before moving to the viewing platform. The platform on top of the tower gives you 360 views of the city. A must-do attraction in my opinion.

Tivoli Gardens

Tivoli Gardens, also known as Tivoli, is an amusement park and garden in Copenhagen. The park opened on 15th August 1843 and is the 3rd oldest amusement park in the world. It is also the most visited amusement park in Scandinavia, and the 5th most in Europe. Despite being an amusement park in nature, I visited Tivoli to explore the gardens and have a walk around. The rides are mixed in with landscaped greenery, meaning you can go from hearing the screams on a roller coaster to peace and quiet in a few steps. Tivoli also has that retro amusement park aesthetic which was quite nice. Being located in the centre of the city makes it super easy to get to. One thing to note: if you do plan on going I would buy your tickets online in advance as the queue can get quite long!

The Lakes

The Lakes consist of three lakes: Sankt Jørgens Sø, Peblinge Sø and Sortedams Sø. Not exactly a tourist attraction, but a lovely place for a walk/run. A walk around all the lakes stretches 6.35km - with plenty of cafes along the way should you need to take a break at any point.

Kastellet

Kastellet is a citadel located in Copenhagen, and one of the best preserved fortresses in Northern Europe. It was founded by King Christian IV in 1626, and today the buildings inside are used as military barracks and offices. The area is free to enter and open to the public, with a nice walk around the perimeter of the citadel possible.

Christiania

Also known as Freetown, Christiania is an interesting place to visit as it is an area of contention and debate in Copenhagen. It was founded in 1971 when a group of people cut a hole in the fence to the military barracks in Bådmandsgade. The area was known for Pusher Street, where you could buy soft drugs such as pot and hash. At present, Christiania is still collectively controlled by those who live in the area. It feels as if the government have little control about what happens in Freetown, and walking around it looks very different to the rest of Copenhagen. Safety has been noted as a cause for concern there due to the presence of organised crime - however when we went we experienced no issues.

Plant based in Copenhagen

Copenhagen did not disappoint when it came to plant based eats. Here are a few of my top spots.

V'Italien

A fully plant based Italian restaurant serving delicious dishes that are presented with care. I went for the 'gnocchi al pesto' - mixed herb pesto, chive oil and crispy potato strings which was really nice.

Vital Foods

Vital Foods are a fully plant-based restaurant serving up some tasty meals. I went with a burrito for lunch and an iced coffee.

Reffen Street Food Market

As I mentioned above in earlier sections, Reffen has some amazing places to eat with dishes from all over the world. I paid a visit to Baobab, a joint that served West African dishes, with plenty of plant-based options. I went for:

• The Classic Domodar - the national dish of Gambia. A peanut better stew with carrots, cabbage and sweet potato served with rice and homemade chilli.
• Friend plantain - served with mango jam.

It was yum!

Bistro Verde

Another plant-based restaurant that we went to for dinner AND to get our hands on some vegan Danish pastries! Bistro Verde do a range of cuisines - and I opted for a middle eastern buddha bowl for dinner.

The following day, we felt like a mid morning snack so found ourselves back at Bistro Verde to try some of their pastries. The traditional Danish pastry is the Spandauer (pastry with vanilla custard and roasted almonds), and we also got the cinnamon roll.

And with that, my time Nordic Adventure comes to a close. It was a short metro journey to Copenhagen Airport, then a couple hours later we were back in London. The 12 days through these 4 countries had flown by, but I feel I managed to see a lot of what each city had to offer. It has been really interesting exploring this part of the world, which has it's own way of life and routine compared to other places I've visited. Perhaps requires some further exploration in the future? Who knows! But for now, I hope you've enjoyed this 4-part series, and would love to hear about your experiences in the Nordic Countries!

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