If you wondering where to go for a quick weekend away during the bank holiday you should give Copenhagen a shot. We only spent 2 full days in Copenhagen but that was enough time to see everything. The city is so small and easy to walk around, or hire a bike as the city is mostly flat. Getting from the airport to the central city is easy just hop on the metro (there is only one line there and one line back, it takes about 30-40 minutes from the airport).DAY ONE
Copenhagen is a very relaxed city compared to the rest of Scandinavia, this was the first trip we had taken in a long time where we could sleep in till 9am (nothing is open till 10am). Once we were ready we headed out the door and grabbed a pastry to eat on the way for breakfast. We decided to start of the morning by getting the only thing we booked out of the way, the Carlsberg brewery tour. If you love beer, or are interested in how beer is made you will enjoy this place.
To start off with the brewery is slightly outside of Copenhagen but don’t worry every hour there is a free bus that picks you up and drop you off, it also goes past the zoo if you fancy visiting. I’m not a huge beer drinker but I find it interesting when trying beer where they are originally come from they taste better, sometimes a lot sweeter. The Carlsberg brewery is a smaller brewery but it had all the relevant information. What stood out the most was that you collect your first beer at the start and you can walk around the brewery while drinking it. They also had a bottle collection which they had over sixteen thousand bottles from all over the world stored in this glass room.
Once we finished the Tour we got the bus back to the central city where we grab lunch at a lovely restaurant called Renes Restaurant and Bar where I got a traditional chicken salad sandwich. It was light and beautiful. I do have to say the food was much nicer over the service, I found the waiters very rude.
Next we were off to Tivoli for a bit of fun and laughter. This was the most expensive thing we did but considering you can go on all the rides and spend all day there for £30 was fine for us. This place was something out of Willy Wonker or Alice in Wonderland. It is the second oldest amusement park in world. Not only do they have rides for all ages but they have musical theatres and music performances and classy restaurants if you fancy and night out. There are so many different rides, I went in not expecting much but it turned out to be amazing!
TIP: Arrive before 7pm, as the park entry price rises by 50krona.
After falling sick by all the spinney rides we decided to call it a day. We spent the rest of the afternoon chilling at our Airbnb with takeaways.
DAY TWO
After another lazy sleep in we got up and hit the bakery again to pick up breakfast and off we walked to the Nyhavn port. This place would have been great to stop and have a crepe, gelato or a seaside harbour lunch. Nyhavn is famous for their colourful buildings, it’s where the old fishermen used to fish and where they handled cargo. We only stopped here for a quick snap then moved on to the next place Christiania.
Christiania was an interesting stop, a very unusual experience. I had an idea of what it was going to
be like, everyone I knew said go there, so we did. My interpretation of the place was like a mini hippy version of central Amsterdam… (And we all know what happens in Amsterdam). What I loved about this place is that it’s kind of like a vamped up junk yard of homemade houses, workshops, art galleries, music venues, cheap and organic eateries, and beautiful nature.
TIP: You have to be careful when entering as visitors are advised not to film nor photograph in Christiania, especially not in the area in and around Pusher Street, mainly due to the hash dealing, which is illegal in Denmark. At the entrance you will find signs indicating 'do's and don'ts' in the area.
By the time we finished walking we were starving so we nipped in to the chain Joe the Juice, the guys there were so lovely and helped us order as the menu was in Danish. The food was lovely but rather expensive for what you got. Once we were filled up we decided it was time to climb the stairs of the Church of Our Saviour - The Spire. Each year more than 60.000 people climb the many flights of stairs to the top, 90 metres above street level. Its 400 steps to get to the top! Look at that View!
TIP: Trust me you’ll need a rest on the grass when you get to the bottom, talk about jelly legs.
We started to head back to the apartment when we came across Christiansborg Palace. Christiansborg Palace is where the queen welcomes official guests, hosts royal banquets and the magnificent venue for lush events. We only decided to do the tour of the ruins because we like seeing castle ruins and it was nice to get out of the sun for a bit. It was really interesting to see all the old piping work that they used, it was made out of hollowed out tree trunks.
We spent the rest of the afternoon chilling in the park eating ice cream, the parks in Copenhagen are great but very packed if it’s a nice hot day everyone is there with their picnics. When the sun started to set we decided to go find some dinner before calling it a night. We stop by this burger place called The Bronx Burger Bar, (can I say OMG this place is the best burger place in Copenhagen). It is a bit out of the way from the central Copenhagen but it is so worth it. The burgers are so cheap and delicious, you have to order chips and drinks separately, but the burgers a so big we didn’t need chips. I had the Jack Daniels BBQ Burger and my partner had the classic chicken. It was hands down the best burger I have had in a while.
TIP: The chips are a large portion you can share them with two people.
We had a few drinks at Bronx Burger before walking back to our apartment and spending the night chilling and packing up our stuff for our early flight in the morning. Thanks Copenhagen for a great short trip. I would highly recommend Copenhagen as a stop for the Scandinavian countries.
