- Copenhagen
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Denmark
Rub a Dub Sunday is legendary on the Copenhagen party scene and don’t be surprised to find the place packed well past 4am on Monday morning with dub reggae and ragga of the highest order. Entry is free before 10pm and beers are surprisingly cheap by Copenhagen standards.
The rest of the week Stengade is a metal club.
(+3536 0938, www.stengade30.dk)
A strange monument this one - built by King Christian IV. You get to the top via a wide spiral cobbled ramp. Apparently the Emperor and Empress once drove up it by horse and carriage (for which there's plenty of room). You can get a good idea of the city from the top. Well worth seeing if you've got strong legs!
Off Stroget (the endless walking street) - a short walk from Norreport Station
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
If you are driving into town from the ferry port, and you have something taller than a car, such as a camper or caravan, then take care.
There is a 2.1m bridge over one of the main roads, and it is very poorly sign-posted.
We managed to stop about 1 metre from turning our camper into a cabriolet.
Other than that, Copenhagen is an attractive town with friendly people.
Walk miles and wonder why you bothered. Far better to go and eat excellent Danish brunches.
Old fashioned amusement park and zoo right in the city centre.
Great old wooden roller coaster and plenty of stalls serving Tuborg, Carlsberg and Pølsekorv (the best hotdogs this side of Manhattan).
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.
Gorgeous cemetery in the edgy Nørrebro district. Originally built as an overflow to the central cemetery, it rapidly became THE place to be buried for Copenhageners. Extremely well kept and popular with sunbathers in the summer, you can find the graves of Denmark's two most famous writers there - Hans Christian Andersen and Soren Kierkegaard.
www.assistens.dk/
Just head up Norrebrogade, turn left into the cemetery at the first open gate.
Don’t go to Copenhagen without checking out Louisiana art museum. It’s a great building in a beautiful setting to the north of the city. It has a good permanent collection and usually interesting exhibitions too. Don’t miss it!
You can take the train very easily...it’s only about 20mins away. Can’t remember the name of the station but it’s easy to find out.
Lund (Sweden) is a day trip from Copenhagen. A beautiful mediaeval town with a fascinating cathedral, beautiful university, and cobblestone sidewalks.
Take the train across the water to Malmo and change there. It's only about an hour from the centre of Copenhagen.
A child friendly hostel - 10 minutes walk from Bella Center metro stop. My son and I stayed for four days last summer. There are places to play outside and a really good breakfast for 15 Krona.
It costs 95 Krona for IYHA/YHA members and 125 Krona for non members.
Bella Center metro - 15 minutes from the centre of Copenhagen.
On the way to Copenhagen by road, from Esbjerg, the car ferry between Fyn and Sjælland is well worth taking a ride on, because it only takes about an hour and runs right beside The Great Belt Bridge, which is very impressive viewed from the sea.
At the halfway point of the ferry journey, you get the impression that the bridge is disappearing into the sea at both ends it's that long, at 1,624 meters. The pylons are 254 meters high.
Between Fyn And Sjælland.
Here's an interesting page with photos of the bridge and more details:
www.copenhagenpictures.dk/grt_blt.html
I live here and recommend it for a mini break or much longer. The shops, by the way, are now open in the city until 5pm Saturday and open 10am Monday. However, during December they open each Sunday too.
Take a canal boat ride to cover many buildings and monuments quickly. Everyone is amazed at how tiny the famous Little Mermaid is.
Rosenberg Castle near the centre of town is open for tours and you can see the crown jewels. Nearby is the Round Tower, which gives a fantastic view across the city.
Avoid Tivoli in favour of the Bakken fair (30 minutes from the centre on a train). At four hundred odd years old, it is Europe's oldest funfair and has a carnival like charm that beats Tivoli's middle class appeal in my opinion. The scary ride mentioned earlier is there.
The Carlsberg factory North of the centre does free tours with two free beers at the end, or soft drinks for children. Nearby is the Experimentarium - a great afternoon of hands on experiments for children up to about fourteen and fantastic if the weather is cold and wet.
Lovely city, Copenhagen - lived there for thirteen years, but DON'T visit for 'just a weekend'. Unless things have changed a lot, there is a tendency for everything to close at 12:00 Saturday and not re-open until Monday morning.
Tourist centres in the summer are allowed longer opening hours, but a wet and cold Sunday in the capital can be a dismal experience.
And don't forget that the Danes eat VERY early in the evening, you will find it hard to find a restaurant where the kitchen is open after 22:00 - be prepared to eat dinner no later than 20:00, if you want to eat at all (however, drinking goes on until dawn, if you know the all night bars and that is your thing).
A beautifully renovated 18th C. harbour side warehouse, with original timber framework and brick arches in the reception areas and bedrooms. Excellent value and four-star quality.
On the waterfront, on Toldbodgade; easy walking between the Royal palace and the Nyhavn dock.
www.admiralhotel.dk
0045 3374 1414
I'm 99% sure it was at Tivoli Funfair... (although it may just possibly have been in Bakken Funfair, just to the North). But if you like scary rides at funfairs, they've built the ultimate Fear Machine.
It's a massive big wheel with automated mechanical arms. These are apparently supposed to restrain the passengers into their seats. And that's where the fear starts. It's all computer controlled you see... So, just as you start wondering if that click you hoped you heard, really was the sound of the automated restraining mechanism, locking you safely into this computer controlled, Contraption From Hell (rather than the restraining mechanism just falling to pieces on the floor) ...it rises high up into the sky. And while it does that, you can see the neighbouring passengers doing exactly what you are doing. Panicking, and feverishly tugging at the restraint mechanism to try and escape. But later, when the full realisation of your fate hits you, trying to make absolutely sure it's locked. It then starts revolving in crazy spirals, and tries to fling the passengers across Denmark.
It is without doubt, the scariest funfair ride I ever been on in my life. Absolutely freaky. My only advice is that it's a good idea to give your loose change and spectacles to a friend (if you don't manage to escape from the queue). Because that's what flies through the air once it starts going round...
Vesterbrogade 3, 1630 København V.
Easily the best museum in Copenhagen, bursting with history, the Royal Theatre Museum is located among the Parliament buildings behind Christian IV's Stock Exchange. Check out the opening days and hours, which are generally limited to Wednesday and Saturday afternoons because of fire risk. It also tends to be closed for periods of renovation. The last wooden theatre in Europe, the theatre (which is still in use) contains posters from Ibsen premieres as well as of more recent performances.
Here, as cool baroque music plays, you can imagine the last doomed waltz of Queen Caroline Mathilde, sister of George III of England, with her dashing lover, Count Struensee, the German-born Prime Minister and moderniser of the Danish government. They returned after their last tryst to their rooms by secret tunnels, only to be arrested in the middle of the night. Struensee was sentenced to death for lese-majeste. His right hand was chopped off before he was brutally executed. The barbarity of his death shocked the Europe of his time. Caroline, married to an elderly, mad King Frederik, bore Struensee's child. She was "deported" to North Germany, where she died of a broken heart at only 22.
Get there early to soak up the atmosphere and avoid the crowds, although only theatre aficionados seem to head for this unmissable jewel.
Tucked away in the Danish Parliament buildings.
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.
A church with a black and gold spire, near Christiania - you can't miss it. It looks like a giant cake decoration. The stairs go round the outside and you can climb all the way to the top. Very scary, very memorable, great view.
Sankt Annoegade 29. Metro: Christanshavn.
Brilliant way to get to Copenhagen with a car. It's really good fun. Overnight ship with a great nightclub. They've always had really good bands playing whenever I've been. On the down side, it's quite a long drive from Esbjerg, and you still have to get a ferry to Sjælland.
Is this your business?Search Been there
