Copenhagen for the First Time: Where to Stay and What's Worth Your Time

Copenhagen had been on the list for a while, and it lived up to it.

The thing that surprised me was the pace. It felt less like a city and more like a sprawling, never-ending town. We walked the canals and the parks, sat in cafes, and never once felt like we were fighting the place to get anywhere. If you want a slow, relaxed city trip, this is the one.

We stayed in Vesterbro, ate an unreasonable number of pastries, drank with friends in Nørrebro, and found several things we immediately added to the next-time list.

This is not an exhaustive Copenhagen guide. It is where we stayed, the places we actually liked, and the handful of things worth knowing before you go. For everywhere else, our travel guides cover the rest.

Where to stay in Copenhagen: why Vesterbro works

We stayed in an Airbnb in Vesterbro, right next to Enghaveparken, and the location did most of the work.

I cannot speak for every neighbourhood in Copenhagen, but the vibe here is vibey.

Cafes, bakeries and green space are all within walking distance, and it is still well connected when you want the rest of the city. For a first visit that balance matters more than being dead central, because Copenhagen is a city you end up walking rather than commuting across.

If you would rather have a hotel than an apartment, there is a good spread of places around Vesterbro and towards the central station within the same few streets.

Three places nearby we kept going back to:

• Enghave Kaffe for coffee.
• Café Dyrehaven for breakfast, brunch or drinks.
• Bageriet Brød for the important business of acquiring Danish baked goods.

The bakeries are genuinely incredible, and a hot cappuccino on a cold day while the bikes whizz past is most of the appeal of this city.

Having Enghaveparken outside the door was a bonus. Copenhagen is walkable anyway, but Vesterbro was a particularly good place to head out with no plan and see where we ended up.

A night out in Nørrebro

For drinks with friends we went over to Nørrebro.

The highlight was Léanowski, where we spent most of the night on the shuffleboard. If you have not played, the closest description I can manage is lawn bowls, except on a table. It gets competitive after a few rounds, and it is genuinely worth playing if you end up there.

They had beer pong and other games too, so it is a good option if you want an evening with a bit more going on than sitting around a table.

The shuffleboard, and the rest of the games room. Worth going out of your way for.

Frederiksberg Have, the morning after

The next day, Frederiksberg Have is an excellent place to walk off the previous evening.

It is a big landscaped park with gardens, waterways and enough space to wander without needing a destination. Copenhagen does parks properly, and this was our favourite.

Frederiksberg Have, which is where a good chunk of our trip quietly disappeared.

Nyhavn is touristy and still worth it

Nyhavn is the Copenhagen photo you have already seen a thousand times: coloured buildings along the canal, boats on the water, and approximately everyone who has ever visited trying to take the same shot.

It is touristy for obvious reasons, and it is still worth seeing.

I would not give it a whole afternoon though. Fold it into a longer walk through the centre and along the waterfront and it earns its place.

Nyhavn, along with everyone else who has ever visited Copenhagen.

The canal walk from Nyhavn, and the oysters we found by accident

The best few hours of the trip were not planned at all.

From Nyhavn we crossed the Inderhavnsbroen and just kept walking. We stopped at Broens Street Food for a drink by the water, carried on over the Trangravsbroen, the three-way butterfly bridge, and spotted Tom’s Oyster Shack entirely by accident on the other side.

That whole stretch is worth getting lost in. Little cafes and bars keep appearing along the canals, most of them with somewhere to sit and look at the water, and none of it requires a plan.

Tom’s Oyster Shack, which we found purely by walking past it.

If you do one long walk in Copenhagen, make it this one.

Christianshavn and Kalvebod Bølge

Two areas we enjoyed wandering with no particular aim were Christianshavn and Kalvebod Bølge.

Christianshavn is at its best around the canals, and it is also where we found GoBoat. You hire a small electric boat and take yourself around the harbour and canals, no licence required, and the prices were more reasonable than we expected.

Copenhagen had other ideas for us. It was absolutely freezing.

We went in September, which I had assumed would still be mild, and the temperature had already started to drop. If being out on the water matters to you, aim earlier in the summer than we did. We stayed firmly on dry land and added it to the next-time list.

Still worth being near the water, even when it is too cold to be on it.

An evening at Reffen

Reffen is Copenhagen’s big street food market, out on Refshaleøen. Food trucks rather than restaurants, bars in among them, and outdoor seating along the harbour.

Go in the evening. It has a slightly hidden feel despite the size, and it is far more laid back than anywhere in the centre. There is a wide spread of cuisines, which makes it the obvious answer when you are with friends and nobody can agree on what they want to eat. You end up sitting outside for hours with food and a few beers, which was exactly the pace of the rest of our trip.

There are sometimes events or live music on too, though I would treat that as a bonus rather than something to plan around.

It sits outside the central tourist area, so getting out there is part of seeing a different side of the city.

Getting around Copenhagen

Download the DOT Tickets app before you arrive, or as soon as you land.

It makes Copenhagen’s public transport far easier to deal with. You buy tickets and day passes straight from your phone instead of working out a machine every time you travel.

That does assume your phone has data the moment you land, which is worth sorting before you fly. I use Saily for that, and the code thattravelblog takes 10% off.

We used public transport alongside a lot of walking, which suited the trip.

And yes, Copenhagen is famous for cycling.

No, we did not become Copenhagen cycling people.

Maybe next time.

Tivoli and a Segway tour, or: what happens when your dad visits

My dad came out to join us, and he wanted to do the proper tourist things. So we did Tivoli Gardens and a Segway tour, neither of which I would have booked on my own.

Both were good fun. Tivoli in particular is worth an evening, and doing a city on a Segway is ridiculous in a way that turns out to be quite enjoyable once you stop worrying about how you look.

If you are visiting as a family, or with someone who wants more structure than “let us walk around and see what happens”, these are the two I would point you at.

Tivoli after dark, and the Segway tour I would never have booked myself.

What we would do next time

GoBoat is already on the list, ideally in weather where sitting on a small boat is not a survival exercise.

Beyond that, Copenhagen felt like a city we barely scratched. Vesterbro alone had more cafes, bars and restaurants than we got through, and I would happily spend longer in Nørrebro.

For a first visit, though, basing ourselves in Vesterbro, walking the parks and canals, eating at Reffen, a night out in Nørrebro and seeing the obvious sights was a good introduction.

Now I need an excuse to go back.

If you are lining up another European city break, my one week in Bologna and Amsterdam with the I amsterdam City Card are both easy weekends to copy.

Copenhagen for first-timers FAQ

What is the best area to stay in Copenhagen?

Vesterbro worked well for us. It has cafes, bakeries and parks within walking distance, and good connections to the rest of the city without being in the middle of the tourist centre. Nørrebro is the other one I would look at, particularly if you want the nightlife on your doorstep.

How do you get around Copenhagen?

Walking, plus public transport when you need it. Download the DOT Tickets app and buy passes from your phone rather than dealing with machines. Copenhagen is also a cycling city if that appeals, though we managed fine without.

Is Nyhavn worth visiting?

Yes, but treat it as one stop on a longer walk rather than a destination in itself. It is busy and photographed to death, and it is still genuinely nice to see.

Where should you go for a night out in Copenhagen?

Nørrebro. We spent ours at Léanowski, which has shuffleboard and beer pong alongside the drinks, and there is plenty else around it.

What is the best place for street food in Copenhagen?

Reffen, on Refshaleøen, and go in the evening. Food trucks, bars and outdoor seating by the harbour, far more relaxed than the centre and good for a long evening with friends. Broens Street Food, just over the Inderhavnsbroen from Nyhavn, is the easier option if you are already central.

What is the best walk in Copenhagen?

From Nyhavn, over the Inderhavnsbroen and on across the Trangravsbroen butterfly bridge. Cafes and bars keep appearing along the canals the whole way, and it is the part of the city we enjoyed most.

Is Copenhagen good for a family trip?

Yes. Tivoli Gardens and a Segway tour were both better than I expected, and they give a trip some structure if not everyone wants to spend three days wandering between bakeries.

Do you need to book a canal tour in Copenhagen?

You can also do it yourself. GoBoat hire small electric boats around Christianshavn with no licence needed, which appealed to us more than a guided tour. Just pick a day when it is not freezing, which we did not.