The main purpose of my trip to Copenhagen was to see the pandas – I always keep an eye on good deals for trips to places on my list, and so this time travelling meant I would have a whole day to visit the zoo and two half days to see anything else. This is definitely not enough time for all of the must-sees in Copenhagen, but there were really just a few things on my list to see in the time. With only a short amount of time, it doesn’t really give much option for going into many museums or galleries – so a lot of things were very much me looking from the outside!
The Little Mermaid + Kastellet
The Little Mermaid is likely the most well-known attraction and the one that everyone wants to see on their trip. It’s a little outside of the centre of Copenhagen, but is connected on both the public transport and the tourist hop-on-hop-off buses. We walked there via the Kongens Have and the Rosenborg Slot, which took around an hour from our hostel (the Steel House Copenhagen) with a stroll through the garden on the way, and we came across the Kastellet first – this is a military fortress with ramparts which are accessible to the public. There is a church and a memorial monument inside the ramparts which you can view.
The fortess is very uniquely shaped like a star, which really made it stand out! The ramparts are raised with a walkway around the edges of the fortress – which is surrounded by water, and on the eastern side you can get good views of both The Little Mermaid and across the water. We enjoyed the walk along the ramparts, despite it being very windy – there were a couple of other people walking, and quite a few dog walkers too. From the ramparts you can also get a nice view of the St. Albans Church (above left) and the Kastellet Windmill (above right). There were also a selection of historic canons around the ramparts, which I would have liked some more information on to understand more about the history.
The Little Mermaid is only 5-10 minutes walk from the Kastellet. The statue is based on The Little Mermaid fairytale by Hans Christian Andersen and has been in place for over 100 years. I had been well prepared by friends and colleagues that she really is little, so I was surprised by how big she was! Haha! She’s perched on a rock a couple of meters into the sea, with plenty of rocks around for people to step out and get photos close up if they want. It was a Thursday afternoon when we were there and actually not too busy. There were no more than 20 other tourists here at the same time, so there wasn’t any rush or squeeze to get in and get pictures etc. I found it easy to take pictures without having other tourists in them. It’s an interesting area, and what I definitely didn’t see in pictures before visiting was the industrial area across the body of water which was quite extensive. You could also see the statue by taking a boat tour, however you would need to bear in mind that it would be the back of the statue that you would see from the boat.
Nyhavn, Amalienborg + Frederiks Kirke
If The Little Mermaid is the most well known attraction, then Nyhavn is the most well-known area to visit in Copenhagen. This is the area where Hans Christian Andersen lived, and is a popular waterfront area for tourists. There are colourful buildings lining both sides of the water and a number of boats in the water – it looks pretty cool, and the buildings really make it memorable. But for me this area was really geared towards tourists, there were a lot of teenagers and school groups around, so it was a little busy, much more so than at The Little Mermaid, opposite to what I was expecting. It was still nice to walk around the area, but I had expected to spend quite some time here. One quirky thing to comment on is the public toilet here – in my research online I had seen that it’s a very nice one, located just at the end of the canal, with an old classic design. So we made a visit, from the outside it looks somewhere I would call ‘potentially dodgy’, there was graffiti, and you had to walk down a narrow staircase (there is also an elevator for access) to get there, but it really was a very nice public toilet!
From Nyhavn we walked to the Amalienborg Palace Square where the Amalienborg Palace and Museum is located – where the Danish Royal Family live. The square and palace building were a very nice area, there are guards around the square, and you can watch a changing of the guards daily. We didn’t have time to visit the Museum, but it’s definitely on my ‘to see’ list for a future trip. From the Palace Square we made the short walk to see the Frederiks Kirke (below left) which really is a stunning church, the detail all over it really is beautiful. It is normally open to the public but on the day we were there it was closed for a private event – I have seen that you can visit the dome which would definitely be of interest for me. Also just down the street is the St. Alexander Nevsky Church (below right) which we just stumbled upon on our walk around the neighbourhood – it has amazing golden domes on the top, the whole building has such a great design, and it really stands out against the other buildings. Overall I liked this neighbourhood a lot, but will be back for the palace museum and the church rather than the Nyhavn area.
The Round Tower
Visiting the Roundtower was my favourite thing (besides the pandas at the zoo) to see in Copenhagen. It’s centrally located in Copenhagen and is in an area with a lot of shops – on our first evening we happened to walk right past it without even on the lookout for it. It’s not a typical tower, instead of walking up a few hundred stairs, the tower is sloped on the inside so it’s like walking up a ramp instead of stairs, it was pretty great! It really makes it stand out, and definitely makes it more appealing that having to climb up (and down) a lot of stairs. There are windows all along the route up, so you can take a break and look out to see where you are in relation to the surrounding buildings. When we were there there was a kids activity sheet – which was a picture of the tower and on the way up you had to find different animals and poems at the windows and make a stamp on the sheet which I thought was a fun touch for kids (and also me, I took part too!).
Along the route up there were a number of different things to see – at one point there is a small passageway through the middle wall, and you can get to a glass floor which looks all the way 25 meters down to the ground. There was also a library hall and even a traditional privy (toilet). On top of the tower there is even a working observatory, which is pretty cool – they are open on some evenings where you can go and have a look too. The views from the top over Copenhagen really are great – even on an overcast day like we had, there was still plenty that could be seen.
For only costing 25DKK (around £3), it really was a great way to spend some time. We arrived at the opening time of 10AM, and there was already a bit of a queue forming, so it’s a popular attraction. However it was never too busy on our walk up or down, and the viewing platform at the top is pretty wide so there is enough space for everyone to get the view.
Christiansborg Palace
The final main attraction to see would definitely be the Christiansborg Palace, which is both a palace and the Danish Parliament building. The palace has several different parts that you can go in and see (each for a separate cost), such as the Ruins, Royal Kitchen and Royal Stables – we hadn’t planned ahead with our trip, so we didn’t end up going inside anywhere. I mostly as the Stables weren’t yet open for the public at the time we were there – there were a couple of horses out in the yard behind the main palace building though which was enjoyable to watch.
The Palace is covered with the Copenhagen Card, so given the costs for the separate galleries here, I think the card could be worth it if you have enough time to see everything – next time this is what I would definitely do!
What Else To See
Copenhagen is really filled with both history and culture – there is so much that I didn’t see, or didn’t even know about before going, I think this really is a place with something for everyone. Next time I would definitely need a little longer to go inside some museums and palaces, and I think I would consider buying the Copenhagen Card once seeing how many included attractions I would be able to fit it.
We got around Copenhagen only by foot – this is such a great way to see more, even just walking along streets and seeing where you end up. The architecture in Copenhagen is really nice, I love the style of the buildings!
There are also a lot of parks and gardens in Copenhagen, it’s great to walk through them as we found we would still end up in the right direction when walking through rather than around them. We found the Kongens Have and the impressive Rosenborg Slot this way, the gardens were so peaceful – this castle is where the Crown Jewels are, so I think this would be an interesting stop if there was time.
