What To Do In Copenhagen – Part 1

I’ve not updated the blog in a while and this Copenhagen post is well overdue….so today I’m sharing the places we visited in Copenhagen. We decided to book a last minute trip for a long weekend in the city, so I’ve put together a list of the places we stumbled across/ visited during our stay that are worth a visit.

Day 1: Round Tower, DØP, Rosenborg Garden, Lo Jo’s Social

We arrived at the airport early afternoon and after a short 15 min train journey from the airport into the city centre, we’d managed to reach our hotel within 20 mins as it was conveniently situated on the train station’s doorstep. Win! I’d recommend skipping the expensive transfers/ taxi if you’re staying centrally as it was around just £3 each to get to our hotel from the airport.

After dropping our bags, we headed straight out into central Copenhagen to make the most of the rest of our day. So, first we headed straight for the iconic Rundetaarn/ Round Tower to take in the city views & get our bearings.

Then we grabbed an incredible hot dog from the truck right next to it’s entrance. DØP has earned a name for itself as the ‘go to’ for the luxury version of the traditional hot dog. Hot-dog trucks are dotted everywhere in the city but this one has gained popularity as ‘the one to find’ during your trip. I second that…it was delicious!

We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the surrounding area, grabbing a coffee from a cute, nearby bookstore & wandering around the Rosenborg Gardens. It was pretty chilly so it was more of a whistle-stop tour around the area as it started raining, so we took shelter in nearby bar, Lo Jo’s Social.

Lo Jo’s was a great, little find on our first chilly afternoon/eve and we ended up spending our whole eve in there listening to jazz & sampling their mini, slider burgers & some of their finest gin cocktails!

Day 2: Amalienborg Palace, Frederik’s Church, Kastellet & The Little Mermaid, The Tower – Christiansborg Palace & Nyhavn

On our first full day in Copenhagen, we started with pastries from the famous Andersen Bakery which was conveniently situated opposite our hotel! These were really good, especially the custard filled ones! I’d definitely recommend paying Andersen’s a visit at least once during your stay.

Then we set off to visit some of the wonderful sights and museums across the city, the Tower – Christianborg Palace was our first stop to take in the view of the city, followed by a short walk to Frederik’s Church & Amalienborg Palace in the middle of the elegant area of Frederiksstaden.

The whole city is filled with such beautiful architecture, so it was nice just mooching along the streets and getting to take it all in on foot, instead of speeding past on a bike! Especially when on the street just before & after Frederik’s Church, I found lots of amazing interior stores to look in whilst James found the Tesla store to geek out in!

It’s quite easy to make your way around Copenhagen by foot or by bike…I’m not the greatest cyclist (I was nicknamed Bridget Jones due to my previous attempts on a bike) so I was relieved to spend the morning getting around on foot.

But James forced me to brave the bike during the afternoon (queue unflattering bike pic above) so we could get a bit further a field! You can find rent-able ones in racks all around the city and it’s super easy to register as a new user & rent a bike by the hour via the handy tablet/ GPS attached.

So once the power assist kicked in….yep, I was literally hurtling along the waterfront shakily & erratically guiding us to Kastellet – The Star Fortress by bike! It was such a pretty place to wander round (but cobbles/ winding paths meant I spent most of the time walking my bike around the pretty surroundings) but I would definitely visit here with a picnic in sunnier months.

Once we’d ditched the bikes…. after a whole hour of me crashing into people, falling off and generally riding like I was drunk, we carried on along to visit the iconic Little Mermaid statue to take some pictures & fight our way through the endless crowds before it was time to get some lunch.

So we headed back along to Nyhavn to grab some food and soak up our picturesque surroundings. We both opted for the traditional, Danish open-sandwiches (smørrebrød) of course & a beer… which was a bit more expensive along the harbour front but it was very tasty!

I loved it here, surrounded by the ‘postcard’ scenes you associate with Copenhagen. Although we’d originally planned to take a boat tour from the harbour, it ended up being a bit too chilly. So instead we spent the rest of the afternoon listening to some live music nearby & wandering around the city’s Strøget area.

The sun made a brief appearance, so armed with more beers we basked in the sunshine in sheepskin lined deck chairs (hell yeahh… I’m definitely stealing this idea for our garden.)

At the edge of the Strøget area/ top of Nyhavn, there is a tiny bar that opens up here each day which was really quirky! We spent a good hour or so here after spotting it on our travels, but as the sun faded away and the weather turned – we headed back to the hotel. I’d definitely recommend finding this little gem on your visit!

Like typical tourists, we then had a nap in our hotel….venturing out at 9pm, staving and in search of food! A tip, book somewhere to eat. When it’s a busy weekend & it’s already late, finding somewhere to eat in Copenhagen is hard! We roamed around in circles for a good 40 mins (literally… our phones gave up & kept leading up back the way we’d just come repeatedly with lots of places having no availability for walk-in’s.)

But we did eventually find somewhere and I’m actually glad we got lost, as this place ended up serving the BEST steak I’ve ever eaten..served with truffle shavings, fries, salad & melt in your mouth Bearnaise sauce. We both agreed, hunger aside that this was hands down the best steak we’ve had and it was a great end to the evening.

We washed our steaks down with some pretty epic Espresso Martinis & sadly I was so hungry a) I didn’t get a picture of my meal before I devoured it & b) neither of us can remember which restaurant it was! (We have a receipt from there somewhere though, so I will definitely update the post with the place’s name asap when I find it.) Then it was time to head back to our hotel – full, happy & sleepy.

Thanks for reading part 1 of what to do in Copenhagen, stay tuned for part 2… featuring my new, favourite interior store + lots of interior pics to drool over!