TOP 22 best attractions in Copenhagen

Copen­hagen is the cap­i­tal and largest city in Den­mark, spread over islands near the Öre­sund Strait. This is an amaz­ing place, famous for his­tor­i­cal mon­u­ments, muse­ums and parks.

Who travels to Copenhagen and why

The first men­tion of Copen­hagen appeared in doc­u­ments writ­ten a thou­sand years ago. From the begin­ning of the 13th cen­tu­ry, an ordi­nary set­tle­ment turned into a large for­ti­fied city. But its advan­ta­geous strate­gic posi­tion made it a tar­get for ene­mies — it was attacked and loot­ed many times.

In the first half of the 18th cen­tu­ry, a fire destroyed the his­tor­i­cal cen­ter, and 100 years lat­er the city was attacked by the British. Despite this, icon­ic sights have sur­vived to this day, and tourists can see mag­nif­i­cent palaces, ancient tem­ples, and muse­ums.

Copen­hagen is a city of fes­ti­vals and cel­e­bra­tions:

• In July, jazz fans flock here to lis­ten to con­certs of famous musi­cians from Amer­i­ca and Europe.
• The col­or­ful Trin­i­ty car­ni­val is very pop­u­lar. These days the city is vis­it­ed by more than 100 thou­sand peo­ple. Peo­ple watch the mag­nif­i­cent parade and take part in dance com­pe­ti­tions.
• A gas­tro­nom­ic fes­ti­val starts in August. A fun fair opens in the cen­ter. Sou­venirs, hand­i­crafts, prod­ucts of local farm­ers are exhib­it­ed on wood­en coun­ters. Hol­i­day guests buy goods at a low price and try nation­al dish­es.

Copen­hagen is a par­adise for con­nois­seurs of qual­i­ty brand­ed items. There are Max Mara, Marc Jacobs, Pra­da, H&M stores on Stro­get Street. In brand­ed bou­tiques, pro­mo­tions and sales are often arranged. To buy vin­tage clothes, trin­kets and sou­venirs, it is bet­ter to go to spon­ta­neous mar­kets. A good city bazaar is locat­ed next to the Char­lot­ten­lund rail­way sta­tion.

Fam­i­lies with chil­dren like to vis­it the H. H. Ander­sen Muse­um, the Exper­i­men­ta­r­i­um enter­tain­ment com­plex, and the Dire­havs­bakken amuse­ment park. The lit­tle ones enjoy play­ing in the Tivoli Gar­dens, and the old­er kids have fun in the Felled Park, rid­ing bicy­cles, skate­boards and elec­tric cars.

Historical landmarks and architecture

Nyuhwan

Nyuh­wan Port is locat­ed in the city cen­ter near the Roy­al Square, which is both a canal and a place of rest for local res­i­dents. It con­nects the sea and the his­toric dis­trict of Copen­hagen. Along the canal, bright mul­ti-col­ored hous­es of wealthy mer­chants of the 17th cen­tu­ry and aris­to­crat­ic man­sions flaunt. On the north side, the build­ing in which H. H. Ander­sen lived has been pre­served.

Part of the port between the Roy­al Square and the bridge is con­sid­ered a muse­um. Among its main exhibits: a float­ing light­house, wood­en ships, self-pro­pelled barges and a memo­r­i­al anchor.

Amalienborg

The Roco­co palace com­plex, found­ed in 1760, is a true gem of Copen­hagen. It con­sists of four large hous­es that frame a beau­ti­ful square. In its cen­ter is a mon­u­ment to Fred­er­ick V, where the Dan­ish king, in the form of a Roman emper­or, sits on a horse.

The two palaces of Amalien­borg are home to the roy­al fam­i­ly, so they are closed to out­siders. The rest of the man­sions are avail­able for vis­its. Tourists can explore the cer­e­mo­ni­al halls, go to Fred­er­ick­’s Church and take a walk in the park.

town hall

The first town hall in Copen­hagen, built in the mid­dle of the 15th cen­tu­ry, suf­fered from fires sev­er­al times. After the lat­ter, the author­i­ties decid­ed to aban­don the restora­tion and erect a new house of city gov­ern­ment. Con­struc­tion end­ed in 1905.

The North­ern Art Nou­veau man­sion has a wide, aus­tere façade and a tow­er 105 meters high. At its top there is an obser­va­tion deck and an astro­nom­i­cal clock.

Christiansborg

Chris­tians­borg Cas­tle is the for­mer res­i­dence of the Dan­ish kings, built in the 12th cen­tu­ry. The com­plex was often destroyed and rebuilt, acquir­ing new archi­tec­tur­al fea­tures. Since the begin­ning of the last cen­tu­ry, it has housed the coun­try’s par­lia­ment.

Inside pass by pri­or arrange­ment. Dur­ing the tour, guides show the lush inte­ri­or of the rooms, a col­lec­tion of paint­ings based on Dan­ish his­to­ry, wood­en pan­els on the walls.

Bursen

The exchange on the island of Slot­shol­men was built in the first half of the 17th cen­tu­ry at the direc­tion of Chris­t­ian IV. The two-storey build­ing in the Renais­sance style is dec­o­rat­ed with a high spire in the form of drag­on tails twist­ed togeth­er. The first tier is divid­ed into 40 com­part­ments for stor­ing goods.

On the sec­ond floor there is a large trad­ing hall. Now the Bursen exchange is used for cul­tur­al events: it hosts con­cen­tres, exhi­bi­tions, city hol­i­days.

Rosenborg

On the out­skirts of Copen­hagen stands a beau­ti­ful Renais­sance cas­tle. For many years it was used as the res­i­dence of the Dan­ish kings, and is now open to tourists. In the inner cham­bers are kept the per­son­al belong­ings of the mon­archs, fur­ni­ture, works of art, roy­al regalia of Den­mark.

In front of the entrance to the cas­tle there is a mon­u­ment to H. H. Ander­sen. The archi­tec­tur­al com­plex is sur­round­ed by a well-groomed park with bench­es, foun­tains and stat­ues.

Mermaid

In the port of Copen­hagen there is a stat­ue of the Lit­tle Mer­maid, which is con­sid­ered the hall­mark of the city. A bronze sculp­ture rep­re­sent­ing a char­ac­ter from a fairy tale by Hans Chris­t­ian Ander­sen was cre­at­ed by Edvard Erik­sen in 1913. Its height is 1.25 meters, weight — 175 kg.

The lit­tle mer­maid, sit­ting on a gran­ite stone, sad­ly looks at the har­bor and the ships stand­ing in it. Near the mon­u­ment you can hold a pho­to ses­sion and buy mem­o­rable sou­venirs.

Temples of Copenhagen

Church of Alexander Nevsky

In Copen­hagen there is a mag­nif­i­cent Ortho­dox church built by order of the Russ­ian Empress Maria Feodor­ov­na. The church in the Russ­ian-Byzan­tine style is a three-aisled basil­i­ca. The facade is dec­o­rat­ed with white sand­stone, the low­er tier is lined with gray gran­ite.

Inside there is a carved iconos­ta­sis, paint­ings illus­trat­ing the life of Alexan­der Nevsky, an icon case with icons. The walls are paint­ed with gild­ed Byzan­tine orna­ments, the win­dows are dec­o­rat­ed with stained-glass win­dows. There are 6 bells sus­pend­ed in the bel­fry, the largest of them weighs 288 kg.

Church of Grundtwig

The Luther­an church of the begin­ning of the last cen­tu­ry com­bines the fea­tures of tra­di­tion­al Dan­ish archi­tec­ture with Goth­ic and mod­ernist trends. The brick build­ing from a dis­tance resem­bles a huge organ. Lancet win­dows and high tow­ers give the façade a fly­ing shape.

Under the ceil­ing of the tem­ple, in accor­dance with Dan­ish folk tra­di­tions, hangs a mod­el of a sail­ing ship. The tem­ple reg­u­lar­ly hosts organ music con­certs, a church gift shop, a kids club and a sum­mer camp.

Frederick’s Church

The tem­ple, found­ed in 1749 by order of Fred­er­ick V, was built for 150 years. The grace­ful build­ing with a large dome is dec­o­rat­ed with stuc­co, stat­ues, arched win­dows and columns. Inside you can see a gild­ed altar, paint­ed ceil­ings, walls, orig­i­nal wood­en bench­es.

At the top of the dome is equipped with an obser­va­tion deck. For a small fee, tourists climb the stairs here to admire the city and its sur­round­ings.

Museums in Copenhagen

National Museum

The palace next to the port of Nyh­van hous­es the Nation­al Muse­um of Copen­hagen.

Here are stored objects illus­trat­ing the his­to­ry of the region and the coun­try from antiq­ui­ty to the present day:

• On the ground floor, archae­o­log­i­cal finds from the pre­his­toric peri­od are pre­sent­ed.
• On the sec­ond floor is a col­lec­tion of medieval weapons, coins and jew­el­ry.
• On the third — paint­ings, church uten­sils, nation­al clothes.

The muse­um con­stant­ly hosts tem­po­rary exhi­bi­tions telling about promi­nent res­i­dents of the cap­i­tal and sig­nif­i­cant his­tor­i­cal events.

Carlsberg Glyptothek

In the cen­tral part of the city, you can find a beau­ti­ful man­sion that hous­es the Glyp­tothek, found­ed in the 19th cen­tu­ry by Carl Jacob­sen. The son of the famous Carls­berg brew­er donat­ed his col­lec­tion of works of art to the city, which became the main expo­si­tion of the muse­um.

Guests of the Glyp­tothek admire antique sculp­tures, ancient vas­es, jew­el­ry, look at paint­ings by Dan­ish artists, study reliefs from the tombs of the Mid­dle East and Egypt.

Thorvaldsen Museum

Near the roy­al res­i­dence there is a muse­um ded­i­cat­ed to the Dan­ish sculp­tor B. Thor­vald­sen. It con­tains doc­u­ments, a library, col­lec­tions of coins and pre­cious stones of the mas­ter, as well as his works donat­ed to his native city.

The muse­um halls fea­ture plas­ter and mar­ble sculp­tures, graph­ics and draw­ings. Pop­u­lar exhibits are the stat­ues “Venus”, “Cupid and Psy­che”, “Mer­cury”, “Christ”.

Hans Christian Andersen Museum

Copen­hagen is the birth­place of G. H. Ander­sen, who wrote fairy tales known to the whole world. There is a muse­um in the his­tor­i­cal cen­ter that tells about the life of the writer and intro­duces his lit­er­ary char­ac­ters.

Vis­i­tors are greet­ed by a wax fig­ure of a sto­ry­teller sit­ting at a mas­sive table. Pic­tures and draw­ings from fairy tales hang on the walls, and fig­ures of Thum­be­li­na, tin sol­diers, Kai and Ger­da stand on the shelves.

Ripley’s Believe it or Not Ripley Museum

British col­lec­tor and enthu­si­ast Robert Rip­ley was an avid col­lec­tor of rare items, curiosi­ties and mys­ter­ies. The muse­um, intend­ed for the whole fam­i­ly, pre­serves his lega­cy. Here you can find a lot of inter­est­ing and fun­ny infor­ma­tion. Among the pop­u­lar exhibits are paint­ings made of ash­es, the Taj Mahal made of match­es, a mam­moth skele­ton, rebus­es, stuffed ani­mals and birds.

Experimentarium

It is inter­est­ing to spend the whole day in the muse­um of enter­tain­ing sci­ence. Inter­ac­tive exhi­bi­tions include 300 items. All things are allowed to be touched, dis­as­sem­bled and assem­bled. Chil­dren here in an inter­est­ing way learn about the laws of physics, chem­istry, math­e­mat­ics and put a vari­ety of exper­i­ments.

There are sim­u­la­tors in spe­cial rooms, with the help of which it is easy to make a space flight, vis­it the epi­cen­ter of an earth­quake or tor­na­do, and test your­self on a lie detec­tor.

Circus Museum

The small cir­cus muse­um in Copen­hagen is designed espe­cial­ly for chil­dren. Its expo­si­tions tell about famous cir­cus artists.

Chil­dren can see the props, try on cir­cus cos­tumes, try to jug­gle dif­fer­ent objects or walk on a tightrope. Once a week, the muse­um holds mas­ter class­es in cir­cus art. There is a gift shop on site.

Nature and parks

Tivoli Gardens

In the heart of Copen­hagen is a park found­ed almost 200 years ago. Among the trees there are attrac­tions for chil­dren and adults, wood­en stages, play­grounds.

The Tivoli Gar­den wel­comes vis­i­tors at any time of the year. Guests are hap­py to ride the carousel, watch per­for­mances, com­e­dy shows, go to music con­certs and par­tic­i­pate in com­pe­ti­tions. With­in the park there are sev­er­al hotels, cafes and restau­rants.

Dyrehavesbakken

Not far from Copen­hagen is the old­est Euro­pean amuse­ment park. Even 500 years ago, the pub­lic flocked here to watch the per­for­mances of street artists. The place has nev­er lost pop­u­lar­i­ty, so it was here that the first round­abouts in the city were installed.

Now the park has 100 rides. Dur­ing the walk, adults and chil­dren admire the roy­al deer, ride hors­es, rent bicy­cles, watch mime per­for­mances and cir­cus shows, relax in a cafe.

Botanical Garden

In 1870, a botan­i­cal gar­den was opened at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Copen­hagen. An area of ​​10 hectares was allo­cat­ed in the city cen­ter and plants from dif­fer­ent parts of the world were plant­ed. Guests here get acquaint­ed with the flo­ra of Den­mark, Cen­tral and West­ern Europe, Asia.

The park has alpine slides, orchid beds, a rose gar­den, and 27 indoor green­hous­es. They grow trop­i­cal trees, cac­ti and suc­cu­lents.

Zoo

Den­mark’s largest zoo is locat­ed on the out­skirts of Copen­hagen. There are 264 species of ani­mals here. Pavil­ions and enclo­sures are as close as pos­si­ble to their nat­ur­al habi­tat.

There is a spe­cial ter­ri­to­ry for ele­phants and a “savan­nah” in which there are hip­pos, giraffes, zebras. Of great inter­est is the under­wa­ter pedes­tri­an tun­nel of the zoo, opened in 2012. It allows you to admire the swim­ming of polar bears and the birds hunt­ing in the pool.

Oceanarium “Blue Planet”

Not far from Copen­hagen, next to the air­port, there is a large aquar­i­um. Its pur­pose is to spread infor­ma­tion about marine life, to help the edu­ca­tion­al process and sci­en­tif­ic projects.

The Blue Plan­et is divid­ed into spe­cial depart­ments:

• A trop­i­cal for­est,
• African lakes,
• arc­tic seas,
• warm oceans.

In large and small tanks swim the inhab­i­tants of coral reefs, moray eels, rays, sharks, pira­nhas and fresh­wa­ter perch­es.