A weekend in Copenhagen: things to do, places to eat and cost-saving tips
Hi there, I’m Belle and I’m Head of Social and Creative here at The Know.
I moved to London from a town two hours north of Melbourne, Australia, last year. Having the opportunity to explore more of the world was definitely a major draw for me. The proximity I have to so many incredible new places is hard to believe when back home it takes four hours just to fly across the country.
Copenhagen was at the top of my travel bucket list for a while - and I finally got to visit a couple of weeks ago, along with my bestie, Georgia. We instantly fell in love with the city and so I wanted to share my experience. If you ever decide to book a long weekend in Denmark, here are all my tips and tricks!
Day 1 - London to Copenhagen
We had an early afternoon flight so didn’t check into our accommodation until around 5pm. We stayed at Next House in central Copenhagen, which was a really nice hostel. As there was so much on our to-do list and we knew we wouldn’t be spending any time at our accommodation, we decided to save money by staying here. That ended up being a smart decision, plus the location was perfect for us.
After checking in, we headed straight down to Islands Brygge to meet our friends and hop on a GoBoat. Cruising along the harbour was a fabulous introduction to the city - and something I would highly recommend.
We then headed to a 3daysofdesign event, which is a festival to showcase and celebrate great design that takes place in the city every year. Our friend is an architect in Copenhagen so knew all the spots to go, but this festival is open to the public (plus the venues often had free drinks and great atmospheres!). It was a fluke that we were there over the weekend of the event but if I ever go back to Copenhagen, I’ll try and plan it so it coincides with again as it was such a cool addition to the whole experience.
Day 2 - city exploring
We started off our first full day strong with the most drool worthy pastries from BUKA and wandered around central Copenhagen for a little while. We then browsed some vintage stores but didn’t find anything (which is never a sad occurrence for the bank account). Andersen & Maillard was next on our bakery bucket list but we decided to just have a cookie and coffee and save the pastries for another day.
My hayfever was trying its very best to ruin my day, so I had to pitstop at a pharmacy before doing some more exploring. We then stumbled across Pompette and basked in the sun with a vino. I haven’t mentioned yet that we were using Donkey Republic bikes to get everywhere, which was super easy and convenient.
Checking out more of the 3daysofdesign festival was next on the agenda - and the free beers went down well. For dinner we got takeaway pasta from Fabro and sat on the curb on the street. It was a lovely day all round.
Day 3 - the Danish do it better
We rode over to Lille (incredible food in the most gorgeous Danish bakery) to start the day off right!
La Banchina was next on the list (a short walk down the road), where we sat out on the deck for hours people watching and enjoying the sweet sunshine. By then it was the afternoon, so we met up with our friends at Rosforth and Roseforth - a hidden little wine bar. They are a wine wholesaler so have much more competitive prices compared to a lot of wine bars in Copenhagen.
Our local mate took us to Bar Vivant as it is his favourite wine bar and it didn’t disappoint. That was a wrap on day three; it was pretty chilled, which is exactly what we needed.
Day 4 - day trip
This was my favourite day of the trip! We started at Apotek 57 for breakfast and then made our way to the train station. We used Citymapper for this whole day, which made it all really easy.
Our destination was the glorious Louisiana Museum of Modern Art. To get there, we hopped on the train in central Copenhagen to Humlebæk, and then it was just a short walk.
Louisiana was the most magnificent museum I’ve visited, with incredible architecture on the backdrop of expansive ocean. It’s one of those places you just have to visit to understand what I mean and I hope you’ll all get the chance one day if you haven’t already.
We had been recommended to visit Oliver’s Garage in Charlottenlund, which is basically a boujee petrol station that was designed by the Danish architect Arne Jacobsen. It’s famous for its soft serve ice-cream in the summer so we thought it would be rude not to give it a taste!
It was then back to Copenhagen for us where we sealed a perfect day with a beautiful meal at Cantina.
Day 5 - Copenhagen to London
Another gorgeous eatery to start the day… this time it was Atelier September for hotcakes which certainly did not disappoint.
We didn’t have much time before we had to head to the airport so we just strolled around the streets for a little while and then popped in Andersen & Maillard to try their pastries. Oh my - I’ll never be able to find a croissant like that again! If you’re in Copenhagen you HAVE to go there.
We finished off the trip with a little shop and then off to the airport we went.
I hope you enjoyed my guide to Copenhagen! 💙 If you’ve been to any of these places - or have spots to suggest of your own - please do get in touch! You can find me at belle@theknowmedia.co.