Dateline Discovery

Experience hygge at its core in a city continually voted among the happiest in the world.

There are so many cool things about Copenhagen, from its chic style to its laid-back vibe to its rich history, that it’s easy to find it welcoming and comforting.

WEDNESDAY

The best part of an evening arrival in summer is that there’s still plenty of daylight to treasure. Thus, even though we didn’t step out of the airport until after 6 p.m., we knew we still had time to squeeze in some sights.

Because of availability, we didn’t stay in the city center or even anywhere near it. Instead, we were relegated to the AC Hotel Bella Sky, an otherwise fascinating structure in a commercial area south of the city. It was fine, though, as it was just a five-minute walk to the Metro, which then took 15 minutes to deliver us to one of the main train terminals.

Having dropped off our belongings at the hotel, we set our sights on the one place we knew would be open for several hours — Tivoli Gardens, the second-oldest amusement park in the world. We wandered around the grounds, stopping in shops and watching some of the more exhilarating rides, before choosing to eat dinner at Pirateriet, a wooden Danish frigate from the 1700s that has been dressed up as a pirate ship. After watching a short performance at one of the theatres, we stayed for fireworks, which were set off from the southeast end of the park and lit up the midsummer sky.
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What To Know
Date of visit: July 12 to July 14, 2017.
Airport location: Six miles (nine kilometers) southeast of the city center. The Metro’s No. 2 (yellow) line goes from the airport to Norreport station.
Walkability: 8/10. It’s an incredibly easy to navigate on foot and arguably a more leisurely way to see it than bicycling.
English: More widely spoken than perhaps any other non-English country.
Must-See Attraction: Everybody knows about Tivoli Gardens and the Little Mermaid statue, but for something uniquely Danish, tour the ultra-modern Copenhagen Opera House.
Traveler’s tip: Dining out can be incredibly expensive, so make a stop (or two) at Paper Island/Reffen, a sustainable food market.

THURSDAY

Plenty of cities offer a card that includes a number of popular sights and thorough regional travel, and the Copenhagen Card is the only one that we thought has actually been worth the (often substantial) cost. Thus, we used it to arrange an hour-long tour of the city’s ports and canals through Netto-Badene, which picks visitors up at the end of the scenic Nyhavn waterfront, lined with its colorful houses and ubiquitous cafes, near the recently opened Inner Harbor Bridge.

Once we returned, we crossed the bridge on foot and sought out Freetown Christiania, a neighborhood about 10 minutes away known for its counterculture and independent spirit. Tracing its history to the 1970s, its egalitarian and creative-minded residents have clashed with the Danish government, primarily regarding the open drug trade.

Retracing our steps, we stopped at Paper Island/Reffen, a street food market inside an old warehouse, and wandered to the adjacent jetty to the Copenhagen Opera House, which offers occasional daily tours in English. One of the most modern and expensive opera houses in the world — it opened in 2005 — it was the personal gift of A.P. Moller, a Danish shipping magnate. Tickets are roughly $20, and we learned not only about the architectural history of the building but also permitted entrance to the grand foyer, the auditorium and multiple backstage areas, including seeing what the performers see from the stage itself.

Afterward, we caught the waterbus, or ferry, across the harbor to Nyhavn and stopped at Amalienborg, a classical palace made of four distinct buildings that serves as the home of the Danish royal family. Following a brief self-guided audio tour, we headed north to the Design Museum (Bredgade 68), an ultra-Scandi tribute to the finest of Danish textiles and furniture — including a vast room full of some of the most bizarre chairs ever concocted.

A leisurely stroll north took us through Kastellet, a uniquely preserved star fortress from the mid-1600s with a still-working moat that now hosts the Danish ministry of defense. We then looped around the other side and stopped to see the Little Mermaid statue, a four-foot bronze sculpture that has come to symbolize the city and was still mobbed by crowds in the evening hours. We were fortunate — previously decapitated and bombed by protestors, the statue was doused in blue paint days before our arrival, though it had since been cleaned up.

Our day ended with dinner, and what better way was there to celebrate our visit than with a trip to Barr (Strandgade 93), the still-incredibly popular restaurant opened by chef Rene Redzepi during his one-year hiatus from running worldwide phenomenon Noma. Yes, we had to book it months in advance, and yes, it was incredibly costly, but the food and the experience lived up to expectations.

FRIDAY

Very much in favor of filling our escapades with a decent day trip, we escaped to the Swedish city of Malmo, just across the Oresund Bridge and 45 minutes away by train. The country’s third-largest city, it has a more industrial vibe than Copenhagen — though truthfully, it wasn’t the city itself that we were here to see.

No, what we wanted to visit was another 45 minutes south of the city — the Foteviken Viking Reserve in the town of Hollviken, a living museum that reconstructs a society representative of the Viking ages. Founded in response to the nearby discovery of Viking artifacts dating to the 1100s, volunteers play the parts of village people, embracing the lifestyles of metalworkers, chicken farmers and village guards to educate visitors on the history of the region.

With our original train back to Copenhagen cancelled, we took the opportunity to scan Malmo’s city center, visiting the squares of Stortorget and Lilla Torg before grabbing lunch at the Saluhall (Gibraltargatan 6), an old train warehouse-turned-food hall. Once back in Denmark’s capital, we headed west, escaping a massive thunderstorm just as we tucked into Visit Carlsberg (Gamle Carlsberg Vej 11) to tour the brewery, sample the beer and learn about how intertwined the family has become with Copenhagen’s history.

When the storms subsided, we ventured to our last stop: Frederiksberg Palace, a bright yellow Baroque-style residence completed in 1735 that was the summer home of the royal family, and its surrounding gardens.

Verdict: I instantly felt at home in Copenhagen, which is why it remains one of my favorite European capitals. It’s expensive, especially when it comes to eating and drinking, but the people are remarkably welcoming and there’s a distinct comfort apparent in all aspects of life.

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Disclaimers: All products, services and experiences were paid for and arranged by the author and the vendors named herein had no editorial oversight of this piece. All photographs were taken by and remain the property of the author; contact for republication rights.