Weekend in Copenhagen: Scrapbooking My Travels
Copenhagen is a gorgeous Danish city filled with stunning canals, colorful buildings, and rich architectural and historical sites. It’s also quite expensive, which is why I only spent a weekend there when I visited this winter.
While in Copenhagen, I did my best to travel on a budget, but the prices there make that quite difficult. Still, with careful planning, and by only visiting for about forty-eight hours, I was able to cut corners so that I could have the opportunity to see this magnificent city without breaking the bank.
When I visited Copenhagen, it was quite cold—below freezing temperatures with wind chill that made it feel even colder. That made walking around the city a bit challenging, but I bundled up and did it anyways! And I’m so glad I did, because I got to see some pretty cool sites. Plus, since I traveled to Denmark in December, I was able to visit Copenhagen’s incredible Christmas markets and try seasonal foods and drinks.
This post includes a virtual scrapbook of my adventures in Copenhagen. If you’d like to read a more concise itinerary of my weekend travels in Copenhagen, check out this blog post!
FRIDAY:
On Friday, my friend and I arrived in Copenhagen in the evening. Once we de-boarded my plane, used Google Maps to determine the public transportationI needed to take to get to my hostel. Then, we bought metro tickets at one of the machines at the airport.
When we arrived at the metro platforms, it was a bit confusing which train to take. But after a minute of looking at the screens around the platforms, it became clear that all of the metro trains from the airport take the same route into Copenhagen. They arrived every few minutes, so it wasn’t too long before we boarded the train and made our way into Copenhagen.
After checking into my hostel, Sleep in Heaven, we got dinner at a place called Sliders, which is famous for its creative burger sliders. (I had veggie burgers, of course.) At 129 DKK for two sliders, fries, and a dipping sauce, the prices were incredibly reasonable for Copenhagen—especially considering that the flavor combos were incredible.
As I ate, I felt the fatigue of traveling and sleeping in hostels (the few days before arriving in Copenhagen, I traveled to Amsterdam) catching up with me. So we decided to turn in early to make the most of the limited sunlight on Saturday. (During my winter trip to Copenhagen, the sun set around 3:40 PM.)
SATURDAY:
To save some money, and to try a trendy Copenhagen dish, my friends and I began my day with breakfast at GRØD, a Danish chain popular for its oat porridge. If you’re looking to visit Copenhagen on a budget, GRØD is a great place to get a filling but fairly cheap (cheap for Copenhagen, that is) breakfast.
After breakfast, we used a self-guided walking tour from Nomad Epicureans as a guide for the day. A walking tour was a bold decision, since it was winter, but we wanted to make the most of our time in Copenhagen, so we bundled up and braved the cold as we walked briskly around the city sightseeing.
Funny enough, the GRØD location we ate at happened to be located within the first suggestion on the walking tour: Torvehallerne, a food hall with vendors selling a variety of foods. Since it was Saturday, Torvehallerne happened to have a farmer’s market outside, too.
Next, we visited Rosenborg Castle and Kongens Have, the gardens in front of the castle.
Then we continued on to Nyboder, a neighborhood of yellow buildings originally built to house sailors.
After that, we walked to Kastellet, an old fortress shaped like a star. Since the Danish Armed Forces control the Kastellet, guards man the entryway, even though the outdoors spaces are open to the public. We took photos with the famous red barracks and the old windmill. From the distance, I also took some photos of St. Alban’s Church.
From there, we walked to Amalienborg Palace, where the Danish royal family resides today. The entire square where the palace is located is quite stunning.
At the palace, we were trying to figure out what to do for lunch when my friend decided to ask a tour guide a few feet away for a recommendation. He told us he knew of a cozy sandwich place down the street, and he led us there. (The place is called Holberg no 19.) He ended up joining us for lunch and we all had some mulled wine and Christmas cookies.
Stopping for lunch allowed us to warm up a bit, which we really needed after walking around in freezing cold weather all morning. But after lunch we had more to see, so we went back out into the cold!
We walked through Nyhavn, a neighborhood famous for its brightly colored buildings along the canal. There happened to be a Christmas market going on (Christmas markets pop up all over Copenhagen during November and December), so we spent some time meandering through the holiday shops. We continued walking to find one more Christmas market, which we enjoyed perusing for a little while, but after that we were too cold to stay outside any longer.
Before heading back to our hostel, we made one more stop at Skt. Peder’s Bageri, the oldest bakery in Denmark, established in 1652. We sat inside for a few minutes and ate some really tasty cinnamon rolls. Then we speed-walked back to our hostel. It was only 4:00 PM, but the sun had already set.
For dinner we ate at nihao YAO, which had incredible vegan options and very reasonable prices for Copenhagen. I ate the vegan duck with stir fried veggies, and it was phenomenal.
SUNDAY:
On Sunday morning, our plan was to grab cheap(er) food at a bakery or 7/11. With that plan, we set out to brave the cold for our last few hours in Copenhagen.
We heard there was a cool Christmas market at Tivoli Gardens, an amusement park, and although we did not plan to buy tickets to enter, we planned to pass by and take a peek.
As we walked up to Tivoli’s entrance, we noticed a sign in front of a nearby restaurant, called Dalle Valle, advertising a buffet for 99 DKK (about $14 at the time). We figured it couldn’t be that good of a buffet for that price (quite low for Copenhagen), but we decided to take a peak inside because the price was that good. And I’m SO glad we did.
The buffet, which was all-you-can-eat, included an amazing variety of dishes, including lots of veggies!! So, we turned it into breakfast and lunch. I even got to try some olliebollen, a Dutch dessert that I had wanted to try in Amsterdam but didn’t get a chance. And the food wasn’t just good, it was excellent. I really can’t believe we stumbled upon that place.
After our huge meal, we went out into the cold one final time to check out Freetown Christiana, an autonomous community located in Copenhagen. When we left Freetown Christiana, I grabbed some quick souvenirs at a nearby Danish supermarket, and we made our way to the airport.
Even in the cold, I thoroughly enjoyed my trip to Copenhagen. And I felt especially lucky to get a chance to see the Christmas holiday festivities, lights, and markets around the city. We had to stay bundled up, but it was a lovely experience traveling to Copenhagen.
