Copenhagen

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What Copenhagen is:

1. A beer lover’s paradise, seriously – I mean, really, really, it truly is!
2. A city full of creative and interesting architecture
3. A very expensive city

What Copenhagen is not:

1. A city without bikes
2. A metropolis that lacks parks
3. Lacking in activities

As part of our honeymoon in September 2019, Emily and I were finally able to visit Copenhagen, which had been at the top of our list of cities to visit for several years – and wow, it did not disappoint. The people were beyond friendly (we’d bump into them on a packed bus and they’d be smiling), the beer scene was probably the best we’ve encountered, public art and parks were everywhere, and there were an astronomical amount of vegan pastries and baked goods. The city was jam packed with things to do and just walking (or better yet, biking) around the City was an experience all on its own with all of the beautiful architecture, parks, and plazas.

We really lived it up drinking all the beer, eating all the vegan baked goods, and again, drinking all of the beer. All of that gives us a lot to write about for Copenhagen, so let’s get into it.

We built this trip on our own, but big kudos go to Scott’s Cheap Flights. Through that email list we were able to get a roundtrip flight from San Francisco to Stockholm and returning from Denmark to San Francisco for $384 round trip!! This was about about half the price of our holiday roundtrip tickets from San Francisco to Tampa. It was an insane flight deal. Maybe next time we should meet family for the holidays in Scandinavia, not Florida!

Anyway, for this trip, we first visited Stockholm in Sweden, Copenhagen in Denmark, and Amsterdam in The Netherlands. When planning the trip, two big decisions were:

1. Should we fly or take rail from Stockholm to Copenhagen?
   • Answer: Fly
2. Which of the three cities should we spend the most time in?
   • Answer: We chose Copenhagen and Amsterdam, but your answer will depend on what activities you enjoy the most.

We ended up really happy with our choices: flying from Stockholm to Copenhagen was almost the same price as taking a train and saved us about 4-5 hours. There are plenty of beautiful train rides in Europe that make a lot more logistical sense than this one, so feel free to skip it and fly instead.

We chose to spend more time in Copenhagen and Amsterdam because we prioritized attractions & denser cities. Stockholm was beautiful, but after our second day there we had seen most of what we wanted to see. Here’s a closer look at our time in Copenhagen, and here are the links to our time in Stockholm and Amsterdam.

Copenhagen

Copenhagen was phenomenal, it seems like a medium-sized city, but there is so much going on there in terms of excellent beer bars, public art and parks, and interesting architecture. When you go, 100% rent a bike, we didn’t do this and regretted it sorely, the city is so accessible via bike, much more so than by train/bus.

Transit

Copenhagen has some sleek trains and modern buses, and you’ll definitely need to take advantage of them to get certain places (don’t miss Reffen), but ultimately, the City was made for a bike. Dive-in, rent a bike, and don’t look back. We really messed this up by getting the transit pass and we kept finding that the positioning of the local train stations left us walking quite a bit to our final destinations. If we had a bike, we would have been much better off and we wouldn’t have needed to try an ultra-expensive Lime scooter (although it was fun!).

NOTE: If you buy public transit, the passes cover zones…don’t overthink it, just buy the small City pass with the main zones if you only plan to see Copenhagen.

EXTRA SPECIAL NOTE: The DOT Tickets app that you use to buy the City Pass is beyond frustrating. When we went to show our passes to the bus driver, they would not show up with cell signal, only with Wifi – and how the hell would you have wifi while boarding a bus!? Take a screenshot of your passes so you can show the drivers.

Lodging

We stayed at two spots in Copenhagen:

1. An Airbnb that reminded us of our old 1918 studio in San Francisco, with a great location right next to Christiania. It was a great area to stay in and still have instant access to the greater City (one or two train stops away), plus we had a great overlook of a canal!
2. The Moxy Copenhagen Sydhavnen. This area was a little removed from the City, but still on a main train line. We’ve stayed at a Moxy in Japan and now Copenhagen, and if you ever have the chance, stay at a Moxy. You can find some good deals, they’re modern (chromecasts in their rooms), and the customer service is excellent (a fancy welcome drink!? Yes, please!).

Food/Drinks

Copenhagen was wildly expensive, when we visited in September 2019, a vegan burger (without fries) cost about $18 and one spot even had us pay $2-$3 for water for the table! That said, there were SO many great vegan options, and Copenhagen’s beer scene is AMAZING! See below for some food recommendations and A LOT of beer recommendations. We loved a lot about Copenhagen, but their beer scene was probably our favorite part!

FOOD!

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1. Reffen – Oh buddy, THIS is the spot to go! It’s a food truck mall situated at an old shipping port. Up and coming vendors are able to experiment with their ideas, they receive rent reductions for making their businesses more eco-friendly, the food “trucks” are re-purposed shipping containers, they have live music and entertainment, fire pits, outdoor dining galore, it’s across the canal from the famous Copenhagen Mermaid, and it’s right next to the best Mikkeller in Copenhagen (Mikkeller Baghavn – see our beer list below). There are tons of vegan options throughout. The views are great too! Seriously, put this at the top of your list of things to do, we had an absolutely great experience at Reffen and would go back over and over again.

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2. Lagkagehuset – Great bakery, went here multiple times to start the day with a coffee and a DELICIOUS vegan hummus-avocado-bagel. They even had VEGAN CINNAMON ROLLS– this is unheard of anywhere else and Emily was absolutely ecstatic!

BONUS: Lagkagehuset has multiple airport locations…we fell in love with that bagel.

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3. Ramen to Bíiru – There are tons of Mikkellers all over Copenhagen, many of which have a different theme. This location has Ramen, including 3 vegan Ramens (Spicy Veggie Miso, Miso Veggie Ramen, No Meat Ramen). It’s a lovely spot to eat outside next to the park and the Spicy Veggie Miso is delicious (more flavorful than spicy).

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4. The Vegan Bar – Oh, tricky tricky, we told you this list was about Copenhagen, but this spot is actually in Malmö, Sweden, it’s just a short train ride across the famous bridge connecting Denmark and Sweden. It has TONS of vegan options and specializes in delicious burgers and fries. You can even pair this with a trip to the very close Malmö Brewing Co., which has tons of varieties of beer– it’s a cool spot to hangout and they are constantly changing the tap list.

BEER!

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1. Fermentoren – This was our favorite beer bar in all of Copanhagen, recommended by one of friends who used to manage Coppertail Brewing in Tampa Florida. It’s a tiny basement bar that has candles in beer bottles, knowledgable and awesome bar tenders, and an amazing tap list. Seriously, amazing, with really quality IPAs, stouts, sours, and so much more. It was such a chill place, I’d go every weekend if we lived in Copenhagen. We wish we had visited this spot multiple times, can’t say enough good things about it, don’t miss it.

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2. Mikkeller Baghavn – Since Denmark is the birthplace of Mikkeller, they are everywhere in Copenhagen and they all have some special theme. If you’re looking for the best one to enjoy a beer at, Mikkeller Baghavn is the spot. It’s located next to great food in Reffen and has a beautiful view locating back across the canal to Copenhagen and the Copenhagen Mermaid. They also have some special cellar sours from time to time.

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3. Bootleggers, right next to Torvehallerne – This is a great little spot that pairs well with the enclosed, outdoor farmer’s-market-like mall right next door (Torvehallerne). It’s down in a basement and has a really nice atmosphere with candles and a few intimate rooms. The tap list is extensive and they have free vegan popcorn for the taking! Make good use of the free vegan popcorn!

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4. Himmeriget – This was another recommendation from our friend in Florida, and it was on point. The place is tiny, but they offer a long bottle/can list and have quite a few rare beers. In fact, it is one of the only spots in the world that you can order that Cantillon bottle above! Fun fact: Himmeriget owned by the Evil Twin, read the story for more details.

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5. Warpigs Brewpub – This was a huge, very corporate brewery located right near Fermentoren. If you have to decide between the two, we definitely recommend Fermentoren, but Warpigs is fun in it’s own way. It specializes in barrel-aged stouts and offers a mega brewery experience with all the associated swag – and really cool brewing vats!

Activities

There was a lot to do in Copenhagen. One of our favorite things to do was just to walk around (would’ve been awesome if we were biking) and look at the stores, plazas, architecture, and parks. We highly recommend you do that, but here are a few more specific activities that we really enjoyed as well. See the gallery at the end of the list.

1. Botanisk Have – Grab a coffee or bring a picnic and visit Copenhagen’s botanical garden, the bio-diversity is breathtaking and it’s a really serene place to take a walk or just sit and soak up the garden. Best of all, it’s free to see the main garden (tickets required for the Palm House, etc.)
2. Christiansborg Palace Tower – Emily and I aren’t much for museums, but we do love scenery and checking out the landscape of a new area. This tower offers fantastic view of Copenhagen and will really give you a feel for the city. Best of all, with a little wait, it’s free! Make this one of the first things you do when you come to the City and enjoy walking around the grounds surrounding the palace.
3. The Royal Library – A library? What?… Yes, the Copenhagen library is definitely worth checking out, it’s right next to a huge canal and the architecture is very unique. It looks like a giant black diamond. Go to the top for amazing canal views and a cool look down into the library.
4. The Church of our Saviour – This is another activity you will see everywhere if you research your trip to Copenhagen. The old gothic church offers a number of stairs which can be climbed to the top of the church steeple outside. Note: It closes early and closes frequently for wind, if you see it open, jump on it and do it. We weren’t able to climb it as we put it off until the end of our trip and then it was closed for wind.
5. Original Coffee – You’ll find this coffee spot listed on Trip Advisor, make sure you go to this specific location – it’s not listed for it’s coffee, it’s listed because the view from the terrace is gorgeous. You’re on the top floor of the building and get to overlook a wonderful square that is typically overflowing with people. While they gave us real milk with our coffee on accident (bleh!), they were nice enough to make us another and we really did enjoy just sitting and watching the plaza below.
6. Kastellet – This old fort has been turned into a pretty cool park. It’s really pleasant to walk around and cross the star-shaped moat to see the historic fort. The buildings are a fantastic shade of red that allowed for some cool photos and there’s a famous windmill in the park. It’s also really close to the Copenhagen Mermaid.
7. Copenhagen Mermaid – While the mermaid is just a typical statue, behind it is a beautiful view to Reffen across the canal. Again, can’t say enough good things about Reffen, check it out – and look behind the Mermaid for Mikkeller Baghavn. Tip: The Gefion Fountain is prettier than the mermaid, in our opinion, and it’s just a five minute walk away, check it out.
8. Nyhavn – Scenic, touristy Nyhavn. It’s a beautiful area, we love these old seaside trading post with the beautifully colored houses next to the canal. It’s definitely worth walking by and maybe even stopping for a beverage at one of the many restaurants that have outdoor seating nearby. We didn’t stop and regretted it, it would’ve been nice to drink the scenery in. If you like this kind of thing, check out Bergen from our Norway post.
9. Christiania – Is a very unique, cool spot to visit. Definitely read up on the history of it before you go, it’ll make the experience that much more worth it. There’s tons of graffiti, some little markets, a restaurant or two, and what appears to be a concert venue. There’s also a short nature trail around the perimeter– this is worth a walk-through for sure.
10. Visit Malmö, Sweden – It’s just across the bridge (of Bron/Broen fame) from Copenhagen via a 30-45min train ride. It’s really cool to experience Malmö, it has a different feel from Copenhagen. Not to mention, The Vegan Bar (noted in the food section above) is worth the journey.

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