A Long Weekend in Copenhagen

Hello Wonderful People!

I was lucky enough to spend the May Day bank holiday weekend in the lovely Copenhagen with some friends. We even managed to squeeze in a little day trip to Sweden, what more could you want? I've never been to Denmark before and several people had raved about Copenhagen, so my expectations were sky high. I had a few things in my mind of what I wanted to do, but other than that I was happy to explore the city and see what we could discover.

We arrived quite early on the Friday and had checked into our hostel and unpacked by late morning. We opted to stay in Downtown Copenhagen Hostel, and it was awesome! The location was great and the hostel had a great atmosphere, nice bar area and clean dorms. You can't really ask for much more. The weather was pretty pants on our first day, but we decided to brave the rain and headed to an outdoor festival/ concert that happens once a year in the city to celebrate the bank holiday weekend. After a few pints, a wander round and a dancing session to a crazy Danish rap group we went back to the hostel. We timed our stay at the hostel perfectly, as we were there for the opening night of their downstairs club/ bar. So we quickly got changed and headed downstairs for a free buffet, happy hour and watched some local bands play. After we had stocked up on cheap drinks, we headed out to sample the Copenhagen nightlife, which FYI was awesome. We went to a bar called Mini Bar and a club called Culture Box. These are the only details I can supply though, as my memory is pretty hazy, but I can tell you that I had a GREAT night. 

 

Our second day was spent walking round the city with a slight hangover. We went on two different walking tours and roughly walked about 1.7 billion miles in one day. The first walking tour left from our hostel at 10:45am and lasted around 3 hours. It was a great way to see and explore the city and get your bearings. After the tour finished, we grabbed some lunch in the square near the parliament buildings then joined another walking tour that started at 4pm. This tour took us through the neighbourhood of Christianshavn and ended up outside the free town of Christiania. I'd done some research before my trip and really wanted to see this hippy, alternative area. Sadly, we couldn't stay for too long as we had to get back in time for a pub crawl, but we had a quick wander round and the place seemed really cool. If I ever went back I'd love to spend a bit more time there.

On our second night in Copenhagen, we made the most of the free meal offered by the hostel then headed out to join a pub crawl. If you're ever in Copenhagen and fancy a night out then I really recommend this pub crawl, as it's possibly the best one I've ever been on! Check it out here. It costs 100 Danish Krone (around £10) for the evening and you get a free drink in the first bar (plus discounted drinks), a free shot in the second bar, a free drink and popcorn in the third bar and free entry to a club plus 30 minutes of free drinks. So you definitely get your moneys worth! Plus it was one of the most organised pub crawls I've been on and all the staff were awesome!

Our final full day wasn't actually spent in Copenhagen. We took the train across the sea (how cool?) to Sweden. This cost 270 Krone (about £27) for a return ticket. Our first stop took us to the small town of Lund, where we had a wander round the centre, went into the rather impressive church and small museum. We then headed to the bigger city of Malmo and enjoyed a few drinks (to the tune of £7 a pint, ouch) in the sun. It was nice to explore a new place and as Sweden is so close to Copenhagen I would definitely recommend a day trip there if you have the time. We then headed back to Denmark and went to the famous Tivoli amusement park, that's found right in the centre of the city, opposite the train stations. It costs 100 Danish Krone for entry and then you can pay per ride if you only fancy going on a few. Alternatively you can pay 300 Krone and have unlimited access to the rides. We opted for the entry fee, then paid 75 Krone (£7.50) for one of the rollercoasters. The park is open till 11pm and we arrived in the early evening, so there wasn't much point in paying for the full price ticket. Tivoli is worth a visit, even if you just fancy a wander round, rather than going on all the rides, as there's enough to do there to keep you entertained for a few hours.

We were catching a flight in the late afternoon on our last day in Copenhagen, which gave us enough time to take a canal tour around the canals and harbour. It was really good value, 40 Krone (about £4), and we got to see parts of the city from a different point of view, but the tour wasn't exactly packed full of information. It's a nice way to see the city though and you can't really complain at the price.

Copenhagen absolutely smashed my expectations and has to be up there with my favourite European cities. It's not the cheapest of places to visit, but that's Scandinavia for you! Don't let this put you off though, as I managed to do it relatively cheaply and still had an amazing time.