COPENHAGEN CITY GUIDE
So here it is folks... my own Copenhagen City Guide! 4 days would have been enough for us, but we decided to stay and extra day and chill around the city.
What a city! friendly people, multicultural, super clean (you should check out their public bathrooms!) full of design, kids friendly with loads of playgrounds, and sports facilities.
If you are staying for a few days, I highly recommend the apartment we booked via Air B&B check it out here. Alternatively, you can stay at the Copenhagen Marriot Hotel, where we stayed our last days post cruise before travelling back to Dubai. Oh and everywhere you go you'll either find ducks or swans to feed, a kids favourite too!
You can easily ride bikes here just like in London, Paris and Amsterdam. The only thing I warn you of is the weather,,, like they say, it changes like a woman changes her mind! You will notice I'm dressed in short sleeves on one day and boots on another! but that's the way it is there!
NATIONAL GALLERY OF DENMARK
No other museum in Denmark shows such a rich and varied selection of art history - from the early Renaissance to the art of tomorrow. Here's the best of everything, painting, sculptures, drawings, graphics, photography, video works and installation art 0 in short 700 years of art in the heart of Copenhagen.
FREDRIKSBORG CASTLE
Art, culture and history is gathered at Kind Christian 4 renaissance castle, which is on of Copenhagen suburban's finest museums. A tour of this castles beautiful rooms is a journey through 500 years of Danish history. The story is told through portraits, paintings, furniture and decorative arts. What an amazing collection it is...A stroll in the park adjacent to it is just as lovely too!
COPENHAGEN OLD TOWN
Our favourite spot was Copenhagen's oldest neighbourhood with its small, narrow streets and crooked houses.
Here you will find a myriad of great boutiques, cosy cafes, restaurants, galleries and charming canals.
The main artery of Copenhagen's Old Town is a pedestrianised street "Straedet" that runs from Hojbro Plads to Vester Voldgaede. Straedet is a street known for its many design and retails shops. It also brims with pleasant cafes serving food and beverages outside as well as inside. You can easily spend a day along Straedet and its many small side streets - shop for your home or closet, find that perfect gift and enjoy afternoon coffee... did I also mention you get 20% back on your items as de-tax?!
TIVOLI GARDENS
We obviously had to do this since the kids were with us, but even if you had no kids, the Gardens off a wide variety of venues, rides and amusements. Tivoli Gardens has something for all ages and sizes. Go for a stroll though a beautiful flower gardens and enjoy a wonderful dinner at one of the many different restaurants.
NATIONAL MUSEUM OF DENMARK
The National Museum of Denmark, in the heart of Copenhagen, is the museum where you can experience the story of Denmark from the first Mesolithic hunters to the last hash stall from Christiania. The museum also has a large collection of objects from cultures all over the globe.
In it you can explore Denmark's earliest prehistory and see treasures from Viking raids, prehistoric bodies from bogs and mounds (the kids particularly liked these!) and the Sun Chariot - a unique Bronze Age object made of bronze and gold, depicting a horse figure pulling a sun disc. Other prehistoric highlights include the Gundestrup Cauldron and the famous Golden Horns.
The museum also has a kids section depicting various cultures and kid related activities, I highly recommend it if you are visiting with your kids.
UNIVERSITY OF COPENHAGEN BOTANIC GARDENS
I highly recommend this for a stroll and a coffee away from the city streets though central to the city! The garden covers an area of 10 hectares but is particularly known for its historical glasshouses dating from 1874. It has a wide array of species (Danish plants, perennial plants and annual plants) and has a two cafes, where you can order coffee and refreshments, and the kids will love it...mine spent it watching fish in the ponds and running up and down the mini hills, as well as looking for ladybirds!!
There's a lot more to do in the city like the Zoo and Lego land which is a three hour drive from Copenhagen but we just couldn't do everything in 5 days!
ASSISTENS CEMETERY
We don'y usually visit cemeteries on travel, but this one was a ten minutes walk from where we stayed and Hans Christian Andersen (writer of the little mermaid) and other famous Danes we buried in this graveyard. The park is beautiful to walk in, just grab a Danish Pastry from a nearby bakery and enjoy the nature in there. There are many guided tours as well that you can catch to learn more about those great personalities.
SHOPPING FOR DESIGN!
The city is full of both little and big shops for everything design and there's literally a shop on every corner! Ofcourse we all know Bang & Olfsun, Georg Jensen Silver, Normann Copenhagen, Royal Copenhagen and many others, below are my favourite though!
MAGAZIN DU NORD & ILLUM
I highly recommend these two department stores if you are short on time and want to do the usual shopping we are used to in Dubai, only with many Danish and Swedish brands as well as international brands, with everything from beauty products to shoes, clothing and home accessories. The plus is that both have coffee houses and a nice terrace to rest in after the shopping (tip: I would put aside at least 2 hours for each of these!)
HAY HOUSE
The famous contemporary furniture and design house that produces products with an eye for modern living and has a great stake in Copenhagen's position as a city of world-class design. I even scored myself a few design pieces of unconventional shapes (soon to be shared with you!) We are also looking forward to see their collaboration with IKEA!
HOJ COPENHAGEN
This little shop located in Jaegersborggade 53 is a little gem. From beautiful silkscreens and posters to original pottery, trinket boxes and more. You are bound to buy something truly interesting to take home.
FISKETORVET - COPENHAGEN MALL
This mall has more than 120 shops offering everything from fashion, shoes, accessories, home designs and electronics as well as a super markets and food outlets. It also houses a cinema house should you feel like catching a movie (they play in english with subtitles). There's a particular shop I loved in there which has very affordable pieces from various brands including Hay and others, Bahne. I scored many items from there on sale for really cheap!
Next up is my guide of St. Petersburg in Great Russia!
All pictures taken by the talented @mahermoghraby
