Copenhagen Weekend Winter Travel Itinerary
During winter of 2022, I had the wonderful opportunity to travel to Copenhagen for a weekend. From walking around the city sightseeing to drinking mulled wine and visiting Christmas markets, I loved my winter trip to Copenhagen.
Of course, Copenhagen gets very cold in the winter, but the city puts up festive lights and Christmas markets during November and December. So if you want to see Christmas festivities in the capital of Denmark, but you want to avoid traveling in the cold for too long, a weekend is the perfect amount of time to spend there.
In this post, I share my itinerary for my three-day trip to Copenhagen during winter. If you want to, you might be able to squeeze in some more activities and sightseeing into your wintery weekend in Copenhagen. But I feel like I saw and did a lot considering how cold it was when I visited Denmark.
While visiting Copenhagen, I did my best to travel on a budget—easier said than done in this Danish city. Included in my itinerary are the restaurants where I ate in Copenhagen. The city is expensive, so I could only cut corners so much, but I tried to save money where I could. Comparatively, the restaurants I ate at had pretty reasonable prices for Copenhagen. If you’re traveling on a budget in Copenhagen, you might want to check out the food spots I mention.
Lastly, if you’re planning a trip to Copenhagen during the winter, it’s important to keep in mind that the sun sets quite early during that time of year. Be sure to research what time the sun will set when you’ll be traveling so that you can plan your Copenhagen trip accordingly.
Alrighty, here’s my itinerary for my weekend trip to Copenhagen in winter.
FRIDAY:
5:30PM–6:30PM: Arrive in Copenhagen, travel to hostel
I arrived at the Copenhagen airport around 5:30PM. There, I purchased a metro ticket and took the metro into the main city. Taking some time to figure out the public transportation and after some time to walk from the metro station to my hostel, I arrived at my hostel around 6:30PM.
6:30PM–8:00PM: Eat dinner at Sliders
I decided to grab dinner at Sliders, a popularly but reasonably priced (for Copenhagen) restaurant that specializes in tiny burgers. It took about fifteen minutes to walk to Sliders from my hostel. Once there, I ordered the combo that included two veggie burger sliders, fries, and dipping sauce. Yum!
8:00PM–BEDTIME: Return to hostel, get ready for bed
Having already traveled for a few days (before visiting Copenhagen, I traveled to Amsterdam), I decided to turn in early. Besides, Copenhagen was really, really cold, and since it gets dark so early in the winters, it felt like the best use of my time to get some sleep so that I could wake up early and make the most of the sunlight.
SATURDAY:
8:30AM–9:00AM: Walk to downtown Copenhagen
My hostel was a bit of a walk from downtown Copenhagen, so I started the day by walking across a bridge over a canal and heading downtown.
9:00AM–10:00AM: Breakfast at GRØD, explore Torvehallerne
For breakfast, I ate at GRØD, a Danish chain popular for its cheap (again, cheap for Copenhagen) but filling oat porridge. I ate at the GRØD location conveniently located at Torvehallerne, a trendy Copenhagen food hall.
After breakfast, I explored Torvehallerne a bit. There happened to be a farmers market going on outside, too, so I enjoyed strolling around there.
10:00AM–12:00PM: Sightseeing around Copenhagen
I spent the next two hours sightseeing around Copenhagen. I used a self-guided walking tour from Nomad Epicureans to give me ideas of what sights to see and things to do and what order to see and do them in.
First, I walked to Rosenborg Castle and through Kongens Have, a huge park in front of the castle.
Next, I went to Nyboder, a neighborhood full of stunning bright yellow buildings.
I continued on to Kastellet, a star-shaped red fort with lots of public space to walk around.
Finally, I walked to Amalienborg Palace and explored the palace square.
12:00PM–1:30PM: Lunch at Holberg no 19
At that point, I had worked up an appetite and I needed to find somewhere to warm up a bit, so I ate lunch at Holberg no 19. The cafe had a nice vegan sandwich option and delicious mulled wine.
1:30PM–3:00PM: Explore Christmas markets around Nyhavn
After lunch, I headed to Nyhavn, an area of Copenhagen known for its colorful canal-side buildings. There, I found a Christmas market along the canal. So I spent some time exploring the neighborhood and its bustling Christmas market.
3:00PM–4:00PM: Eat a pastry at Skt. Peder’s Bageri
As the sun was already starting to set, I walked briskly to the last stop I wanted to hit that day: Skt. Peder’s Bageri. Established in 1652, Skt. Peder’s Bageri is the oldest bakery in Denmark. I loved the cinnamon roll I ate.
4:00PM–6:30PM: Rest and warm up at the hostel
Since it was already dark at 4:00PM, and since I had already seen the sights I wanted to see that day, I returned to my hostel to rest and warm up a bit before dinner.
6:30PM–8:00PM: Dinner at nihao YAO
Around 6:30PM, I made my way to nihao YAO for dinner. I chose this restaurant because it was just a two-minute walk from my hostel and because it appeared to have several vegan and vegetarian options. The vegan duck with stir fried veggies did not disappoint.
SUNDAY:
9:00AM–10:00AM: Walk to Tivoli Gardens and explore the area
I had heard there was an extravagant Christmas market at Tivoli Gardens, a Copenhagen amusement park. I didn’t want to spend any money on a ticket to enter, but nonetheless I decided to walk to the area and peek through the gates.
10:00AM–11:30AM: Brunch buffet at Dalle Valle
During the next hour and a half, I enjoyed a slow brunch at Dalle Valle, a restaurant near Tivoli Gardens. Dalle Valle offered a fantastic brunch buffet with tons of different dishes. I really enjoyed the meal.
11:30AM–1:00PM: Walk to and explore Freetown Christiana
After brunch, I walked to Freetown Christiana, a unique autonomous community located within Copenhagen. Once there, I strolled around the colorful buildings and explored an artisan Christmas market.
1:00PM: Head to the airport
At 1:00PM, I made my way back to the metro and traveled to my airport to catch my flight home.
Well, there’s my itinerary for my winter weekend trip to Copenhagen. If you’d like to read a more detailed account of my travels in Copenhagen, check out this post.
