Took me a while (life got busy, what can I say?) but welcome to part 2 of our little European getaway! You can read all about our visit to London here.
This was our first time to Copenhagen, and we were so excited to explore the city! I was ready for everything hygge – all the Christmas markets and cozy wine bars, the cute cafes, the colorful buildings, the quiet canals. And guess what – we were not disappointed.
Keep scrolling to read what we did during our 4 days in Copenhagen!
DAY 1
4:30am wake up call – which isn’t so bad when you’re going somewhere fun!
Hello, Copenhagen, and hello, cold weather!
We grabbed a train and headed to our hotel to drop off our bags until we could check in. It was around lunch time, so we bundled up and took a bus to Nørrebro for pizza at Stefanos Pizzabar. It hit the spot. We headed back to the hotel where our room was ready, so we took a few minutes to freshen up before heading out for an afternoon/evening of fun at Tivoli Gardens.
Tivoli Gardens was so much better than I expected! I was excited to check out the Christmas market inside the park and grab some food, maybe go on a few rides, but it was absolutely magical. The lights and decorations were so festive, and I even convinced Zack to go on TWO roller coasters with me. (He is NOT a roller coaster guy!) And I couldn’t tell you the last time I road a roller coaster. What a thrill.
We also enjoyed a nice, warm cup of glogg (mulled wine) and it was one of the best I’ve ever had. The Danish add raisins and almonds into the drink, and it sounds kinda weird, but it’s really delicious. We also shared a big soft pretzel as well as some classic Danish hot dogs topped with the traditional raw onions, fried onions, pickles, and Danish remoulade. (Although I skipped the pickles on mine).
It’s was also crazy how early the sun set (a little before 4pm!). By 6pm it felt sooo late!
We headed back the the hotel around 7pm and grabbed drinks at the bar to relax. We stayed at the Ascot Hotel and both the hotel and hotel bar were very cute.
(And we may have enjoyed a midnight snack of leftover pizza a bit later…)
DAY 2
A full day walking all over Copenhagen! The best way to explore a new city in my opinion.
We started with breakfast at Democratic Coffee (little did we know this would be our morning go-to for the rest of the trip). Chai lattes for both of us + a cardamom bun + a ham and cheese croissant. Let me tell you – everything was SO good.
After the most perfect breakfast, we headed to the Church of our Savior – and checked out some iconic bridges along the way including the Marble Bridge (Marmorbroen) and the Circle Bridge (which is kind of like a draw bridge that swings open for boats). We had tickets to climb to the top of the church tower, and this was definitely one of the wilder tower climbs I’ve done! It’s 400 steps total, and you start inside, climbing up narrow wooden steps then the last 150 steps are outside where you climb up a spiral staircase around the steeple…and it gets narrower the higher you go! It was crazy, but I absolutely loved it. Zack is afraid of heights, so he was freaking out a little. He did make it to the top but immediately turned around. I hung out for a bit to take some pics and enjoy the sights – you know I love a good birds eye view! I highly recommend this climb, but if you’re afraid of heights definitely take that into consideration. They also don’t allow you to climb if the weather is bad (rain, high winds, etc).
It was time for another coffee break (and a chance to warm up a little). We stopped at Paterre in Christianshavn which was really cute and cozy.
Our walking tour continued:
We briefly checked out Freetown Christiana, a hippie commune, and it was just meh in my opinion. I read lots of mixed reviews – some people love it but I’d say skip this unless you happen to be walking right by the area like we were.
It was cool to see one of Thomas Dambo’s Hidden Giants though. There’s one in Tennessee that I saw a couple years ago.
Up next – Nyhavn – the iconic colorful buildings along the canal. Bonus points because there was a Christmas market here too! We had lunch at Havfruen where we shared fish + chips and moules frites. We definitely could’ve just ordered one dish to share because the plates were huge! But everything was delicious. After lunch we walked along the canal, checked out the Christmas market, and grabbed a hot cup of glogg.
After exploring Nyhavn, the plan was to hit up a wine bar and chill until it got dark (at 4pm), but the one on my list didn’t open until 5pm (oops). Not to worry – a quick google search, and we found one nearby (Nebbiolo) and it ended up being perfect! (One thing I learned when researching this trip was Copenhagen is full of cute little wine bars!) We each ordered a glass of orange wine, and they brought us a mini snack board as well, and we had such a nice time. The vibes were also *chefs kiss* with walls covered in wine bottles, and it kind of had an underground feel.
Once it was dark, we headed out to check out more Christmas markets including: Kongens Nytorv, Højbro Plads, and the Hans Christian Andersen Christmas Market. It was fun to walk around and see all the different foods and trinkets for sale – and it really got us in the holiday spirit (as if we weren’t already).
We grabbed a small dinner at Hidden Dimsum and it was so good. I wish we were hungrier so we could’ve tried more!
After dinner, we headed back to the hotel for the night.
DAY 3
It was a little rainy in the morning, but that didn’t stop us, and luckily we had a lot of indoor activities planned for the day.
First stop – back to Democratic Coffee. Same order as the previous day except Zack swapped out the tea for a coffee. And it was still just as delicious.
We headed to the Round Tower for another bird’s eye view, and this climb was quite unique – there are no stairs, just a spiral ramp all the way up. They used to have horses pull carriages up it which is why it’s a ramp. Even though it was rainy, the view from the top was pretty magical.
We had an early lunch reservation at Selma – a highly rated (not a Michelin star but a Bib Gourmand) restaurant – for a smørrebrød tasting (open face sandwiches – a traditional Danish cuisine). The restaurant was really cute and the food was fun to try. Presentation was absolutely 10/10. I can’t say that smørrebrød was my favorite, but it was definitely something we wanted to experience on our trip. We tried 4 sandwiches – herring, salmon, pumpkin, and pork. The herring is a must try – a super iconic flavor of Denmark – and the herring was actually pretty good. The salmon was our favorite and pumpkin was our least (which was actually surprising to us because we usually love pumpkin!).
After lunch we explored the Rosenborg Castle for a few hours which was pretty cool. It’s always fun exploring these types of places. We went inside the castle (which requires a ticket) as well as walked around the grounds (free).
The rain had pretty much stopped, so we walked to Nørrebro to check out another wine bar. Pompette was on my must try list – it looked so cute, and it did not disappoint. We ordered a couple glasses of wine and Zack snacked on some olives. We chilled here for a while – it was the perfect place to…unwind…hehe.
We headed to Ramen to Biiru for dinner, which is right down the street from Pompette. Nothing like a hot bowl of ramen on a cold day. Great food and a very cool and cozy place.
DAY 4
For our last day we didn’t have much on the agenda which ending up being a nice and relaxing end to our vacation.
Once again – breakfast at Democratic Coffee. We decided to go out with a bang on our final day and got THREE pastries – cardamom, ham and cheese, and an almond croissant. Seriously – this place was great.
We strolled over to Amalienborg Palace and arrived right at the changing of the guard (totally unplanned). We considered doing a palace tour but found out it’s only a small area that you can see since the palace is actually active, so we decided to pass. Right across the street was Frederik’s Church (aka the Marble Church) so we checked that out too. I was hoping to climb the tower, but it wasn’t open for climbing (only available on weekends). Oh well!
Then we decided to end our day and trip back at Pompette. It was just such a fun and cute place so why the heck not.
Because we weren’t in a rush, we walked there (took about 40 minutes from Frederik’s Church). This time we ordered a bottle of orange wine and quite a few snacks (fresh bread, burrata, and olives) and stayed for a while – laughing, reminiscing about our trip and just having the best time.
In the early evening, we headed back to the hotel, packed up, and crashed pretty early — we had a 3am wake up call for our journey home.
FINAL THOUGHTS
What can I say? Copenhagen was absolutely dreamy. If you’re looking for Christmas vibes, plan a winter getaway. Although it looks like it’s pretty magical during the warmer months too. Maybe I need to plan another trip…
Anyway, I mentioned life got busy but it’s been a good busy. And I have SO many blogs and videos to share including Switzerland, San Antonio, and even a quick visit to Los Angeles. Stay tuned!
– Courtney
more on youtube:
Copenhagen Highlights
Copenhagen Vlog
hardys on holiday 
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