Denmark
Out partying into the wee hours and the bar closes? Yes it happens in Denmark too, the only difference being it is now morning. Still thirsty and want to continue? Well head off to Hong Kong a small nats vaertshus, and one of the first in KBH to go 24hrs. It's a really unimpressive, scruffy bodega generally full of drunks and the like. Oh yeah, by this time you will fit in just fine! Just take it from me the cobbles outside lining Nyhavn are not that comfy to sleep on!
Nyhavn 7, 1051, Copenhagen, Denmark
+45 33129272
Google map: bit.ly/jztOlA
You might remember the TV advert that claimed ‘the Danes hate to see it leave’ but they certainly don’t mind offering visitors the chance to drink it in their city. The tour offers some of the cheapest pints in the city as, after a brief look round, you can drink for an hour for free. The catch – it’s open until 4pm, so getting your money’s worth may feel a little indecent!
Gamle Carlsberg Vej 11, DK 2500
Umami is a unique experience, based on the philosophy of Japanese cuisine of natural, seasonal ingredients, accentuated by the substance and tradition of French cuisine. With an international flavour, Umami offers the very best in modern Japanese cuisine and interior design.
The bar is well stocked with the finest booze known to mankind and excellent cocktails.
St. Kongensgade 59
1264 København K
Tlf. +45 33 38 75 00
mail@restaurantumami.dk
Ruby is Copenhagen's newest cocktail bar offering sublime cocktails in a beautiful old luxurious apartment. Really hard to find but well worth the effort.
You won't find a better place to enjoy a perfectly made Manhattan. Top service from professional, passionate bartenders. Homely atmosphere, like visiting friends.
Ruby
Nybrogade 10, st.
1203 Kbh K.
T: +45 3393 1203
www.rby.dk
One of the oldest bars in Copenhagen (has existed since 1917!). It has lots of atmosphere due to the dim lighting, its red wallpaper and jazz on the stereo. The clientele is a mix of old regulars and young people. A place where it's hard not to get into conversation with the person next to you.
Address: Klareboderne 14, Copenhagen K. A side street to Købmagergade and close to Nørreport Station.
Telephone: +45 33 12 55 43
Great boutique hotel near centre of town. Conceived as promotional project for VW, 21 international designers and urban artists were briefed to design unique rooms. Result is a strange and otherworldy experience. Highly recommended, staff are helpful and breakfasts terrific - served on day beds/sofas in funky foyer. Click onto website to see all the rooms. Even if you don't choose to stay, you must try the cocktails in the ground floor bar/restaurant which is open to all.
Address: Hotel FOX, Jarmers Plads 3, DK-1551, Copenhagen V, Denmark
Telephone Reservation: +45 33 95 77 55
Web: www.hotelfox.dk/home.html
Email: hotel@hotelfox.dk
Great little bar that serves the most random and tastiest beers from around Europe.
Charlie's Bar is on a side street of Strøget, Copenhagen's main pedestrianised shopping street, right in the centre of town.
Have a day trip to the beautiful, cosy fishermen’s village on the southeast coast of Amager island.
Have a glass or two of firewater (akvavit) chased with Danish beer accompanied by various herring (sild) specialities, and ponder about the long forgotten (in other words never forgotten) Danish domination over the southern tip of Sweden across the Sound. You will not regret it.
This is a very lively bar in the city centre and it's the cheapest place we found, by a mile - £1.50 to £2.00 a pint. It tends to be full of students, but if you want to avoid irritating tourists, it's a good bet!
The Moose
Svaertegade 5
You get given two free vouchers for a drink at the Carlsberg Bar at the end of the self-guided tour. Definitely worth it to try out all their different beers. We went back three times!
A bus ride from the centre of town.
This Anglo-Irish pub, jointly owned by a Mancunian and an Irishman, boasts Irish folk music on Sunday afternoons, non-stop football if that's your cup of tea, occasional disco music, a good range of beers from Guinness to Boddingtons to Czech, hot fresh pies, and an equally solid supply of Irish and English newspapers, available on the day of publication.
Unpretentious and friendly, the cellar pub attracts a wide range of Danes and expats. If you fall in love with the chilly Danish capital or even with a cool blonde, and decide to settle, or stay for a while, this might be a good place to begin asking questions about work and accommodation.
You can even browse through a copy of Ulysses.
Niels Hemmingsens Gade.
Take the road past the City Post Office. Niels Hemmingsens Gade is the second on the left.
Tuborg is a Danish beer. The best place to try it is in Copenhagen because it's super fresh there, and really tasty. I found that a fair proportion of the Danes I met could knock back a bottle at breakfast time, and I can’t blame them, as it’s the best beer I've ever tasted. You can buy it overseas, but somehow tastes best in Copenhagen.
Most bars will have it. I find its best out of the bottle, but it's not bad on tap.
Vesterbro is the old working-class district of Copenhagen that starts just behind the Main Railway Station. As Denmark is turning more and more xenophobic, introvert and ‘American’ in its denial of its own weaknesses, Vesterbro still keeps alive its reputation from World War II as a haven for tolerance and community spirit.
Today it is a cultural melting pot with many good working-class and student pubs/cafes. You can also find cheap (but not unfashionable) clothes shop and some of Denmark's best ethnic restaurants - check out the Turkish, one of which once received 4 chef hats in Politiken's (the main newspaper) restaurant reviews.
This is the Copenhagen that you don't hear about in the glitzy brochures but where real Danes live and struggle to put food on the table. Enghave Plads is the centre of Vesterbro.
Exit the Main Railway Station towards Istedgade (the waning red light district).
There are lots of places to get a decent beer in Copenhagen, from bars to cafes, bodegas to basements, but there aren't many places with something other than Carlsberg and Tuborg on tap.
The Lord Nelson is a relatively new bar in a cosy basement on Hyskenstræde, just off Strøget. They have many different beers from micro-breweries all over Denmark, including dark and fruit beer. Definitely the place to go to break away from the city wide lager monopoly.
In a basement on Hyskenstræde, just off Strøget
Search Been there