How the 17 of us got to see most of Copenhagen’s City Center in only 7 hours.

 

Nyhavn/Copenhagen just got served

 

We arrived today at around noon into Copenhagen’s Kastrup Airport, south of the city’s center, about 30 minutes earlier than scheduled. Good job Norwegian Air Shuttle.

 

 

There are 2 options you can take from the airport to the city using public transportation:

  1. The DSB train takes you to the Central Station (Kobenhavn H) a little to the west of the city center in 14 minutes for 36 DKK
  2. The Metro takes you a little to the east of the city center (Kongens Nytorv by Nyhavn) in 14 minutes for the same price of 36 DKK.

Make sure you get on the right train before boarding because they both leave from the airport from the same place/terminal, both leaving to what’s marked as “city center”, but then diverging into 2 different directions.

We made that mistake, intending to get on the DSB train as Central Station/Kobenhavn H was only 5 blocks away from our stay at Danhostel, but ended up on the Metro instead.

I even had a funny feeling about it before boarding, to the point where I asked a metro attendant. He was also confused, however, directing us to the wrong train.

 

The Metro

 

Knowing this we got off the metro at Christianshawn, from which we walked to Danhostel for 15 minutes, passing by the “Black Diamond”, aka the Royal Library.

 

 

Also passed by this geodome of a bar:

 

 

…before finally settling in the government-run (hence why it’s so much cheaper) Danhostel and getting the group ready.

 

Orientation

 

We started off day one with a group of 17 instead of 20, as 2 people missed their flight here and 1 had his flight cancelled prior to boarding. We would expect them later tonight/tomorrow.

After 30 minutes freshening up, we left to explore Copenhagen:

 

The garden south of Christiansborg Slot

 

From Danhostel we walked around 15 minutes through Soren Kierkegaards Plads, Prinsensbro, and Christiansborg Slot to Nyhavn, aka “New Harbor”, where we did the obligatory one hour canal tour (40DKK/pp) to acclimatize us to the city and its history.

 

Getting on the canal tour

 

The views of Copenhagen from the canal:

 

Vor Frelsers Kirke

Amalienborg Slot, one of the largest dome structures in Europe

Photo Credit: Kel Sage

 

After disembarking from the canal tour, we walked down Nyhavn:

 

 

 

From Nyhavn we walked northwest towards Kongens Havn, the largest park in Copenhagen. Within the park is Rosenborg Slot, a royal summer home built by King Christian IV complete with its own moat, turrets, and royal gardens.

 

Rosenborg Slot
Photo Credit: Kelvin Sage

 

We exited through Kongens Havn from it’s southwest entrance, leading us directly to one of the entrances of Stroget, the largest pedestrian mall in the world.

Not too far in is Rundentarn, where for 25DKK you can climb its spiral ramps up to the top for the 360º views of Copenhagen from the literal center.

 

 

Near the top of Rundentarn, you can enter the center of the structure for a peek down the “core” of Copenhagen. This is the literal “center” of the city.

 

 

The views from the top:

 

 

After running down Rundentaarn (which might roll an ankle or two if you’re not careful), we strolled along Stroget some more.

 

Grabrodretorv Street, one of the oldest streets in Copenhagen

 

We meandered southwest eventually to the entrance city’s arguably top attraction: Tivoli Gardens, one of the oldest amusement parks in the world and actually one of 2 amusement parks in Copenhagen (the other being in its outskirts and also one of the world’s oldest).

We recalled during our trip planning how so many references suggested Tivoli as the place to be during a summer sunset (around 8:30pm in Copenhagen), as the park comes alive with its lights, shows, and fireworks display (11:45pm on Saturday evenings).

The park costs around 99DKK per person, 90DKK if you go in a group of at least 15 people, and a whopping 120DKK if on Friday nights after 8pm. It’s then an additional 30-75DKK to go on the optional (and not free) rides, unless you buy the ~200DKK admission ticket for unlimited rides.

 

 

After another stroll through and casual dinner in Tivoli, we headed back 2 blocks towards our hostel where we changed and hit the bar scene in the Meatpacking District.

Although we went to two places, Jolene and Bakken, they both were bar/club hybrids playing mashups of mostly 90s era electronica and techno, and occasionally attempted Danish covers of American hits.

 

 

We returned to our hostel about 3 hours later, smelling like cigarettes and cheap booze, crashing at around 3am.

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- At time of posting in Copenhagen, it was 22 °C - Humidity: 68% | Wind Speed: 6km/hr | Cloud Cover: cloudy

 

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