Denmark’s ‘Cold Harbour’ (‘Kobenhavn’) is an idyllic capital, cut through by canals and picturesque views and seemingly bereft of crime, in a town where no one seems to have thought of stealing a bike.
Sitting in the south of the original Zealand, Copenhagen seems to be the largest village in the world and is a great place to hang out even if it is a tad on the expensive side.
Tweedle Dee
Speaking English in a German accent will get you far in this country, as is illustrated by the name of the Nyhavn district (that’d be ‘New Harbour’). The area seems to be the inspiration behind Lego, with a strip of bright and blocky buildings overlooking the picturesque canalside. The Nyhavn canal is a great place to start looking at the town, with boats trawling into the harbour and a very pleasant atmosphere to sit down and have a drink. Being a harbour town there’s a lot of good seafood to be found in Copenhagen, and good places to eat in Nyhavn include the Nyhavans Faergekro, with an all-you-can-eat buffet with 10 types of herring, and the Charlotenborg Cafe, which serves some excellent sandwiches. The canal has a fair deal of history, with Hans Christian Andersen’s house, as well as a monument to the Danish seamen of World War II.
At the corner of the Slotsholmen, a short walk from Nyhavn, is Borsen, the oldest stock exchange in Europe. The Renaissance building is topped with a 50m tower, carved into the shape of four dragon tails – a kind of pointier Natural History Museum. The Kunstindustrimuseet (Museum of Decorative Arts) exhibits a fantastic range of material, with English furniture, Danish porcelain and silver as well contemporary design – including a short history of how modern Danish design reinvented the chair. Ikea indeed. At the other end of the Nyhavn district is the distinctly disappointing Little Mermaid statue, which, though a logjam on the tourist track, is something that can be missed. No wonder it’s been repeatedly vandalised and stolen.
Harbourside
From the harbourside are great views across the Inderhavnen of the new Opera House. If you turn around then you can head to the Amalienborg Slot, taking up four sides of square, where you can see the twice-daily changing of the guard.
The royal palace is still largely occupied by the popular Queen Margrethe II, but what is open to the public exhibits the apartments that the kings of Denmark occupied through the second half of the 18th century. You’ll have to go a little further afield for the best of Copenhagen clublife, with the packed Rust to the north of the city centre and Vega out westwards, where things get started towards midnight and pack up around 5am.
Good Vibrations
Copenhagen has a little more in common with Amsterdam than a liberal attitude and lots of canals, and has none of the bad reputation. In 1971, a group of protestors took over the site of a disused military camp in Christianshavn, and popular liberal sentiment prevented the police from closing it down. The social experiment of Christiana survives to the present day, with peace and wacky baccy on sale, though it’s been decades since hard drugs were driven out of the area by its ecologically minded citizens. While you’re visiting ‘Little Amsterdam’ you can surreptiously nip over to the Opera House, the Lille Molle windmill museum or the Gammel Dok architecture museum. The Christians Kirke is also worth checking out, with a huge, ornately decorated interior that doubles as an occasional music venue in the evening. And you don’t even have to pretend like you’re there for the canals.
• Additional information supplied by Lonely Planet (www.lonelyplanet.com). The first edition of Lonely Planet Copenhagen is out now.
Bonus points for: I need to narrow it down?
Loses marks for: Expensive
Check out: www.visitcopenhagen.com
– Michael Simon
