One of the happiest countries in the world with a high standard of living (that comes with high cost of living), it's been on our list of to go countries in Europe. A lot of people we have spoke to have said good things about Copenhagen and so we had to discover the country ourselves!
We were very lucky to visit Copenhagen during a beautiful long weekend with exceptionally good warm weather (it was in the low 20C) and the sun was shining whole day! We've decided that we want an active holiday and being in the best cycling country in the world, the first thing we did was rent bicycles for our stay. Check out Baisikeli - they use the proceeds to develop the bicycle industry in Africa! And they have pretty decent bicycles.
Having lived in Netherlands for 2 years and counting and praising its good bicycle infrastructure, I must say that Copenhagen has got it even better. World class bicycle infrastructure and network, with wide bicycle lanes that are properly segregated from the roads and great respect between cyclists, pedestrians and drivers. There are also some really cool bicycle bridges connecting the islands.
We got ourselves the cheapest accommodation you could find in Copenhagen not so far from the city center (6km which in bicycle terms means 10mins). Everything is expensive in Copenhagen and we were lucky to find a nice, clean and spacious apartment for EUR50 a night.
First night we decided to go Thai and that was an excellent choice! Ranees is a must visit! The food is amazing and pretty authentic. A Danish couple sat next to us and when we asked what Danish food we should try, their replies were "Don't try Danish food"!
A nice way to visit Copenhagen is to walk around the city center. We parked our bicycles near the market and started our walking tour. A walk up the Church of Our Saviour is recommended. The open air spiral stairway leads you up to almost the top - there is no viewing platform at the top but just walking up gives you a "walking on the edge" feeling and you get the complete view of the whole city. Get there early to avoid the crowd as you can get stuck in the stairway as people go up and come down the same way.
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| Last of the Sakura |
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| @Nyhavn |
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| View from the top |
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| Walking up the spiral staircase |
Christiana Town is also a must visit. It's a hippie town that is so different in character from the rest of Copenhagen! People set their own rules there (selling stuff that would be otherwise illegal outside) and full of interesting colourful graffiti.
Our 2nd day was spent really actively. We rode approximately 32KM towards Roskilde for our SUP afternoon! Along the way, we visited the Forgotten Giants of Copenhagen. There are 6 in total scattered around forests sculpted by Thomas Dambo using recycled wood. We only visited 2 which were on our way - Teddy Friendly and Sleeping Louis. It is quite an interesting activity if you have at least half a day to go hunt for all 6! They can be found on Google Maps.
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| Teddy Friendly |
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| Sleeping Louis |
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| Had to Acroyoga by the lake |
And then we got to Roskilde ready for our SUP around the Fjords of Copenhagen with Kite Surf and SUP Jonas. The Copenhagen Fjords are not what you think Fjords are - remember that Copenhagen is flat and therefore don't expect dramatic mountains surrounding the waters like Norway. But it was nonetheless really great way to spend a sunny afternoon. Jonas is very knowledgeable about his country and shared a lot of his experiences with us. He also teaches kite surf which would have been cool if there was wind when we visited. If you ever want to try something different in Copenhagen, contact him! He also does SUP in the city center so you don't have to travel as far. There's a pretty cool museum where they showcase how to make ships the viking way.
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| Took a lot of effort to pump those boards |
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| All ready to paddle |
If you don't want to bike out there, you can easily take the train to Roskilde.
Our last day was spent just cycling in the city center, trying out Smorrebrod - which is an open faced sandwich. But instead of huge, they are delicate and small. Apparently, in Copenhagen you have to be certified in order to sell them! And we thought they would be so easy to find on the streets! They were nice, but wasn't really that special unfortunately. We cycled along the waterway and across the orange bridge which was pretty cool!
All in all, we enjoyed our time in Copenhagen. It does feel like a really good city to live in (albeit the extreme high cost) - it's clean, nice vibe, good public infrastructure. But of course really expensive. Imagine double the price (at least) of almost anything you can get in Netherlands. Do visit!
