Travel // Colourful Copenhagen – A Mini City Guide


I swear time just goes by so quickly… its now been 3 weeks since I went to Copenhagen with some friends. We’d been planning this weekend away for ages! Last year we went to Bordeaux together and had a great time – see Bordeaux post here for all its cheesy amazingness. Next year the plan is to go to Vegas for our 30ths! Very exciting!!!

So this year was our trip to Copenhagen. (Heads up… Denmark is cold this time of year so make sure to bring a coat to wrap up and bring an umbrella or hat!) For once we didn’t go for an Airbnb as we found a great deal on hotels.com. Tbh one of the main reasons we ended up coming to Copenhagen was because Skyscanner was coming out with cheap flights here. We’d originally been planning to go to Porto but it was coming out a bit too pricey which is probably because it was over the May bank holiday. So we grabbed our return flights to Copenhagen for about £60 return each. 
As work has been so busy (yes…. standard!), I didn’t really get a chance to do much research. I had however seen the following blog posts – check them out if you love looking at travel pics and having a nosey:
I’ll chat through what we got up to and then round up some tips at the bottom.

Everyone’s said how amazing it is and I am now one of those people! The colourful buildings, the history, the food… I could go on… The one thing everyone does warn you of is that it is pricey and yup it definitely is! Be prepared to spend money and don’t be shocked when the food bill comes. Just avoid looking at your banking app for a week. One dinner we had came to £89 each… £89!!! But anyways… it was all good fun and worth it.

After checking in we went for a wander to find somewhere for dinner. We ended up booking Restaurant Karla and went to a rooftop bar before for a drink while we waited for our reservation. It was quite chilly but luckily there were blankets so we wrapped up and had our drinks while looking out over the city.
Views from the roof top bar 
Best way to start a holiday
Dinner at Restaurant Karla – one of their most popular dishes

Dinner at Restaurant Karla was quite tasty – I had the steak and potato and it tasted as good as it looked!

Sunday was spent wondering around and taking in the sights. I mean just look how gorgeous it is…

After breakfast in Hyhavn (had to be pancakes!) by the water we took a boat tour – I’d highly recommend this if you get a chance. You get to see so much more of Copenhagen you might not otherwise see. (See suggestions at the bottom for some of the different places you see on the tour)

Breakfast in Hyhavn
Breakfast had to be pancakes with ice-cream, jam and nutella 😍
Views from the boat trip were fairly amazing 
The Little Mermaid statue from the boat
The rivers were just so pretty and all the houses so colourful
All the colourful houses 😍 

After the boat trip, we did more exploring and also went to see Christiania which was an odd place. I wouldn’t rush back – it’s a little area which have called themselves an independent state but it just smells of weed and I wasn’t much impressed. The rest of Christianshavn was much nicer and there’s a food market just over the river from Hyhavn which looked quite cool.

With all the walking we had to make a pit stop off at Ole and Steen for some of the famous Danish pastries… YUM! We grabbed some Cinnamon Swirls and took them back to our hotel.

That evening we went to a Korean restaurant for dinner and it was fantastic! It’s the first time I’ve had Korean food and I’ll definitely be going back… I had the KFC (Korean Fried Chicken) with soy and ginger. I mean it was just lovely. Just a warning that the service in Copenhagen can be a litttttle slow so be ready to have a chilled meal that will last a good hr and a bit or more.

The tastiest KFC I’ve ever had 😋

Monday started with a very filling brunch at Cafe Norden. It was a little pricey but you get so much to eat and drink. As well as the salad, fruit, bread, cheese and cake I picked to have granola, a strawberry and raspberry smoothie and a hot choc. We didn’t need any lunch and it saw us through to dinner.

The epic brunch platter
The decor in Cafe Norden was on point!

The rest of Monday was spent doing more exploring. We went to the palace, the Gefion Fountain, the Kastellet and then walked back to Tivoli.

Changing of the guards at the palace
We couldn’t get over how clear the water was in the fountain – can imagine it looks amazing lit up at night!
Walking around the Kastellet

When you’re in Copenhagen make sure to set aside a half day to go to Tivoli. We spent the afternoon there and it was good fun. It’s an amusement park and you can pay just to go in and then pick which rides to pay for or pay for everything which means you get to go on all the rides. We did the later and went on quite a few rides. While wondering around the park (which is covered in loads of flowers and mini gardens) we stumbled upon the cutest little sweet shop. We also made sure to grab a bubble waffle which was delish! I had the strawberry one which came with strawberry and vanilla ice-cream with cream and strawberries topped with a chocolate cigar – so good! The waffles were made right in front of us and were nice and hot against the cold ice-cream. Make sure to try one if you get a chance.

All the tulips…
Can you spot me?!
Had to try a bubble waffle – DELISH!
Tivoli by night

After a pit stop at the hotel to chill for a couple hours (and to watch Game of Thrones!) we went out for dinner. We went to Nose2Tail which is a meat restaurant (if you couldn’t tell from the name). We had a charcuterie platter with cheese to start which was very tasty followed by a sharer pork platter. The pudding was a little weird but apart from that it was a tasty meal.

This was sooooo tasty – could have eaten 3 of these!
Not the best pic but again v. tasty! Pork neck and potato salad
The questionable desert with pesto tasting basil…

Tuesday was out last half day in Copenhagen. We went to The Union Kitchen for breakfast which was just perfect! I’d say this was the best brunch we had of the trip. I had the sweetcorn fritters with poached eggs and halloumi and my friend had the brunch platter. How good does it look?!

My caramel latte with a shot of caramel on the side
How tasty does this look?!
The halloumi made the brunch!
Again the decor here didn’t disappoint – love it!

The next couple hours were spent wondering around. We went into Illum which is a lovey department store. I literally wanted to bring back all the crockery and mugs…

Love these at Christmas!

After a quick lunch at Cock’s and Cows we made our way to the airport. We stopped at Ole and Steen to stock up on all the pasties and then got on the plane home.

It was such a lovely long weekend and we averaged about 18,000 steps a day. It’s a great place to go if you like walking. It’s fairly flat too.

I’m definitely going to go back with Tim and would love to go see Malmo which isn’t too far away.

Have you been to been to Copenhagen before?
What was your favourite bit?

As you know, I love my food so here’s a round up of where we went and what to try!

Food round up

Places for Brunch:

  • The Union Kitchen – by far the best brunch we had while we were there and lived up to the great review. Try the brunch plate or the sweetcorn fritters.
  • Hyttefadt – has a limited menu but its right in Nyhavn by the canal. Try the pancakes – they come with ice-cream, strawberry jam and nutella – yum!
  • Cafe Norden – fairly central location and the interior is on point here. Try the brunch platter with a smoothie and hot chocolate! Be warned you will leave here stuffed.

Places for Lunch/ Dinner:

  • Fiat – delicious Italian. Try a large Gnocchi with pancetta and mushrooms to fill you up for lunch.
  • Restaurant Karla – if you’d like to try Danish food try out here. Try the beef and potato (see above for all that yumminess!)
  • Nose2Tail – if you want something a bit more special try here. Have the tasting menu for a meaty dinner – the starter board is delish!
  • SSAM – amazing Korean food. Try the KFC with soy and ginger – you’ll want it to never end!

Treats:

  • Ole and Steen, Lagkageshust – they have the most amazing pastries. They’re dotted all over the place. Make sure to have at least one cinnamon swirl a day and bring back a Cinnamon Social. (London now have Ole and Steen so I will definitely be getting one when I’m next down!)
  • Bubble Waffle – the one we had was in the top right hand corner of Tivoli but they are all over the place. The waffle is freshly made so is nice and hot against the cold ice-cream… heaven!

Places to explore

  • Rosenborg Castle and grounds
  • Tivoli Gardens – this will do you for a good afternoon. You can do as much or little as you like
  • Nyhavn – got to get that colourful house picture
  • Amalienborg – very pretty inside!
  • The Round Tower – hopefully its not raining at the top like it was for us when we got there!
  • Fredrick’s Church – impressive from the outside (didn’t get a chance to venture in!)
  • Walk around the Kastellet
  • Take a boat trip to see The Opera House, The Playhouse, The Warships, Floating Houses, Christiansborg Palace, Borsen, Christianshavn, and the low bridges over little canals.
There are loads more places to explore but these were what we saw in the 3 days we were in Copenhagen and would recommend.

Here’s some more pics from the trip… I can’t believe how many I took!

Our hotel interior wasn’t too shabby
Our hotel room wasn’t too bad – just what we needed as a base 
Make sure to pop into some of the interior shops – wish I could have taken it all home! 

Until next time,

Cathers xx

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