I took a one-and-a-half-day trip to Copenhagen, which proved to be enough. Although it’s not a big city, it was still worth going!
In early May, I found a cheap ticket: Tuesday noon outbound with Ryanair, Wednesday night return with Wizz Air. The two tickets cost 32 €, which is really good. The trip was on May 28-29.
Table of Contents
From the airport to the city
The airport is located south of the downtown area, with both metro and bus connections. Obviously, the metro is the fastest, reaching the city in 15 minutes. During the day, it runs every 6 minutes, so you can get into the city very quickly. Just follow the metro sign from the arrival hall. Tickets or passes can be purchased on-site from vending machines.
Public transportation
Since I use public transportation a lot, I bought a day pass here too. The easiest way is to buy it on your mobile: download the DOT Billetter app, and after a quick registration, you can purchase tickets or day passes.
I bought a two-day pass (valid for 48 hours, cost about 20 €), which is called the City Pass menu. You need to select City Pass Small, which covers the downtown area and the airport zone. There are 24, 48, 72, 96, and 120-hour passes available. This is valid for buses, metro, and regional trains.
By the way, you’ll notice that there are many cyclists. This is no surprise, as most roads have separate bike lanes on both sides. I felt like there were far more cyclists than car drivers.
Tuesday afternoon
I dropped my bag at the accommodation and walked to Kastellet along the riverbank. The walk there is very atmospheric, with a great view of the opposite side. The modern Opera building stands out there.
I also stopped by Amalienborg Palace and Frederiks Kirke. The church itself is a huge dome, which we can also admire from the inside. It’s open until 5 PM.
Kastellet is a former fortress on a large area that has been preserved in very good condition. The buildings inside have also been nicely renovated. It’s worth walking along the elevated path on its edge.
There are three major attractions around the fortress: St. Alban’s Church, Gefion Fountain, and The Little Mermaid statue. The latter is the most famous, with many people on the shore around it. But it really is a small statue. I can safely say its fame is much greater than what it offers.
After that, I walked along the main street, Strøget. At its western end is the City Hall, which unfortunately is under renovation, and the area in front of it was closed off. So I only saw from the side that it’s indeed a wonderful building. On the right side of the building stands a statue of the famous writer, Hans Christian Andersen.
Opposite the City Hall is perhaps the world’s most famous downtown amusement park, Tivoli. It’s an interesting sight, as if there were a serious amusement park next to Deák Square in Budapest…
Since Copenhagen is quite far north, it stays light until late in May. It only started to get really dark after 10 PM. I spent the evening at Nyhavn. This few hundred meter long canal-side area is full of restaurants. It’s a very atmospheric place, and even more beautiful when lit up. I had a similar feeling to the Naviglio in Milan.
Wednesday
I went to the central station and left my bag in the luggage storage there. There are three types of lockers, but even the smallest is quite large. It cost 70 kroner (about 9 €) for 24 hours. After closing the door, you get a receipt, which you need to hold up to the QR code reader when opening and pay the fee.
The day started with sunshine, but they predicted cloudy weather after 10-11 AM, and rain in the late afternoon. So I walked around in good weather, seeing the remaining sights: Christiansborg Palace, Nikolaj Kunsthal, Vor Frue Kirke.
After a coffee, around 10:30, I went to the Rundetaarn lookout, which is in the center. In the Round Tower building, you have to walk up a spiral corridor, then a narrow staircase at the top. Here, traffic lights help with going up and down. 🙂
From the lookout, you can see Copenhagen very well. Not only the downtown area is visible, but in the distance, you can see the Øresund Bridge between Denmark and Sweden. The entrance fee is 40 kroner, so around 5 €. It’s definitely worth it for this price.
Then I visited the garden next to the nearby Rosenborg Palace. Together, it was a beautiful sight, and I lingered on a bench for a while. I didn’t go into the palace, but you could see that many people were visiting it.
I took the metro to the Christianshavn district, which is the bohemian part of the city. This is symbolized by the Christiania courtyard, where you can find wall graffiti and small shops. The smell of weed was quite noticeable in the air here. 🙂
It’s worth seeing Vor Frelsers Kirke both from the outside and inside. The church’s distinctive feature is the external spiral staircase, which makes it special.
I walked along the canal at the edge of the district towards Nyhavn, which you reach via two bridges. The longer bridge (Inderhavnsbroen) is movable: if a larger ship comes, they stop pedestrian and bike traffic, and part of the bridge opens on rollers. I managed to catch it, and the whole maneuver takes just a few minutes.
There were still two main attractions left. The David Collection Museum is free, so I visited there. It’s set up on four floors, with its most famous part being the Islamic exhibition. But it covers many other arts as well, and even moving quickly, you can easily spend an hour there.
The nearby Nyboder area consists of a few streets. This is where sailors used to live, and the neighborhood has remained original to this day. People still live in the bright, vivid yellow row houses, of course, adapted to modern times.
It started to drizzle, and I still had time, so I chose a bus to ride around the city a bit (I like to wander in the suburban areas too, that’s where you can really get to know a city). Then around 6 PM, I went back to the station for my bag.
Since my flight was at 9:55 PM, I had plenty of time. So I took the 5C bus to the airport, which is mostly used by locals to get to the suburbs.
Summary
Since I hadn’t been to Scandinavian lands before, Copenhagen was a good choice. It’s a pleasant place for a quick trip.
In terms of prices, it’s obviously more expensive than in Hungary, especially noticeable in services. In a café, a long coffee and a cinnamon pastry cost 11 €. However, in shops, goods are not much more expensive. For example, a can of cola was about 0.7 € (true, not the two most famous brands, but there wasn’t much difference in taste).
And the title is apt: a short excursion can be enough. The sights are quite close to each other, the city is not big. So everything can easily fit into two days. But it’s definitely worth traveling here!