Copenhagen

A city to enjoy from indoors

By Michael Wilson

December 15^th, 2015

A drink on arrival

I arrived in Copenhagen city centre at 3pm and it was cold, grey and starting to get dark. Instead of exploring, I decided to head to the nearest bar and taste a tipple of the local brew.

One of the guides I read on the plane described the word Hygge, which the Danish use to describe the feeling of being in a small, cosy, candlelit space with a warm atmosphere. This first bar instantly showed me what it meant.

Meat packing district

Next I headed to the meat packing district, which is full of great restaurants and bars. Organic food is very important in Denmark and I chose to eat in the organic produce only BioMio.

Mikkeller

I’d been told to look out for the Mikkeller bars in Copenhagen and when I walked passed this little beauty I just had to go in. They had 20 home brewed beers to choose from and really helpful staff to make sure you got something you’d like. It was super busy and I could see why!

Lidkoeb

I’d had some dinner and I’d had some beers, now was time for cocktails! My first visit was to Lidkoeb, which was rammed. The cocktails on the menu were really different to anything I’d seen before and the barmen were really great.

Duck and cover

To get a little bit of variety, I decided to move onto Duck and Cover, which was much smaller but just as good (if not better) than Lidkoeb. I sat at the bar and chatted with the staff for ages, while they made me cocktails I wasn’t even ordering based on what I had drunk before. I think the absinthe based cocktail might have been a step too far. I had a great evening speaking to the locals and somehow managed to stumble my way home safely!

On my way to Nyhavn

I felt horrible the next morning! I couldn’t move until after 1pm but I forced myself to get outside and not spend the short time I had in the city inside my Airbnb.

I was feeling fragile, the weather was horrible, which may have swayed this opinion, but as I walked towards Nyhavn I came to the conclusion that Copenhagen isn’t so pretty to look at from the outside. This bleak view over the tracks summed up my feeling at the time.

Nyhavn

Things improved slightly when I arrived in Nyhavn. This is what I thought everywhere in Copenhagen was going to look like. Colourful, contrasting buildings with plenty of character. It also had a nice buzz about it and loads of nice little stalls selling christmas things.

Smorrebrod

Denamrk is known for the open sandwich and my hangover was telling me it was time to try one. I found a great little coffee shop, where everything including the furniture inside it was for sale. Hoping that no one tried to buy the table I was sat at, I ordered a chorizo and mozzarella Smorrebrod. The rye bread was amazing and it went a long way to improving my health.

Starting to feel like christmas

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Tivoli Gardens

While the morning started badly, the evening really turned things around. Copenhagen comes alive at night and nowhere is that more evident than Tivoli gardens. A really old fashioned theme park, which lights up beautifully and is full of families enjoying a magical evening. Also, it being Christmas meant there were decorations up everywhere and christmas tunes. I had a huge smile on my face the whole time I was there.

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Granola

The next morning I found a great little place for breakfast. I ordered my eggs, ham, mushrooms, tomatoes and tabasco sauce and awaited eagerly. What a great way to start the day. Garnola has great food and a lovely atmosphere, I could see why people were queueing outside the door to get a table.

Superkilen

I headed north to Nørrebro becasue I’d read about an interesting park called Superkilen. It’s got 3 different areas in it each painted a different colour. There’s red, which is really bright and vibrant. Then there’s green, which is provided by the grass and trees. Finally, there’s black and white with wiggly lines all over the place.

Not the prettiest city I've visited

Copenhagen is full of lovely restaurants and bars but as a city to walk around, I didn’t think it had much beauty. The architecture was uninspiring and one downside to everyone cycling around the city is that it means there are bikes strewn all over the place (most of which are lying on the floor).

Time to get inside

Before heading to the airport, I wanted to get indoors again and try out another restaurant and coffee shop. I found two more really cosy places to spend a few hours and once again got talking to some really friendly waiters.