Copenhagen solo! Your tips please

[abreakplease]

Finally booked my first properly solo break, 2 nights in Copenhagen in a couple of weeks. So excited! I've come out of a long marriage and a hideous year of dealing with the fallout, so I flipping deserve it! At 51, it's about time too.

Would love tips on what to do when I am there. I visited about 6 years ago but had a broken foot so didn't walk much so feel like there is lots I didn't see. Up for lots of walking this time, galleries, bakeries, stylish shops, using the three phrases I have learned from years of Danish drama watching - and anything else that I can squeeze in.

Staying close to the main station in a nice hotel and seeing a friend one of the nights. Otherwise free as a bird - any recommendations?

It was a few years back but if you go to the ballet at 4 pm you can get cheap last minute tickets I think it’s on kongens nytor?!

The 2 big department stores in the centre are both really nice - ilium has a lovely cafe on the top floor- we lived there for 20 months and I used to meet my H there for coffee regularly . A favourite of mine was Mauds in Frederiksberg - done up like a granny’s parlour but really nice - kind of place you feel ok on your own too . If you want a bit of a lively vibe take yourself off to Reffen ( you can go on the boat) huge outdoor food court with buskers/DJs etc - by the water . I would also recommend getting the train and going to Bakken ( about 15 minutes) it is beautiful old woods with deer and the oldest amusement park in the world and lots of Hansel and gretel vibes - 5 minutes walk from there and you have a white sand beach and lovely blue sea ( especially if sunny- go on a nice day) it’s a very upmarket area but lovely - all totally fine and enjoyable if on your own - I went a lot in lockdown . The beach is also nice down in Amager - you get the metro to this - I would also recommend the lovely fishing village of Dragor - which is next to the airport ( but not noisy suprisingly) - train or bus for that .

If you the Lonely Planet city guide there's walking routes through various parts of the city in that. Although we found that the free maps from the airport which far better than the ones in the book. Frederiksberg Hava park is lovely and the park to the south of the zoo, both have views into some of the animal enclosures!

I did I kind of solo trip last year (my nearly 3yr old was with me 🤣).
Bertels Salon did some lovely cheesecake and coffee.
I enjoyed the Stromma canal cruise too.

I wasn't there long, so mainly just wandered around.
Did the touristy things of visiting the little mermaid, walked around the Kastellet and generally just soaked up the streets.

Have a wonderful time.
I hope to go back and see more in future.

So many things to see in a concentrated space- get the Little Mermaid over with, and then go to:

• Kastellet for some history and greenery,
• Marmorkirken for splendid architecture,
• Amalienborg for a very compact, Scandinavian idea of how to house your royals,
• The Rundetarn for a great view of the city,
• Nyhavn for the classic canalside selfie,
• Kongens Nytorv for wide open space,
• Strøget for some serious shopping,
• Slotsholmen for pretending you're in Borgen,
• The Black Diamond for people-watching...

And you can easily do all that in a day!

Fabulous everyone thank you! Is it a walkable city or will I need to take public transport? I was in Berlin earlier this year and that was quite sprawling but is Copenhagen city area compact?

Totally walkable.

A lot of it is walkable if you’re staying in the city centre. Depends if you want to do 20,000 steps or more a day though! The metro is excellent for getting around and lots of the hotels have hire bikes if you’re feeling brave.

We went last week and had a lovely time and agree if you like cycling then I’d get the donkey republic app (unless your hotel do hire bikes) and have a go at using a bike to cover any greater distance. The ferry bus is also lovely. We got the Copenhagen card and it was so worth it- spent £500 buying it but our entrances alone came to £764, not including the public transport costs we saved.
Really enjoyed Rosenborg castle in the beautiful royal gardens- Crown Jewels were amazing. And for food I’d highly recommend the tivoli food hall- you don’t need a ticket to the park to go in, it’s full of loads of concessions of different foods- from amazing tacos to open sandwiches and ramen/sushi and you order whatever and get a buzzer to collect it when you’re done. Lots of outdoor seating. Worked brilliantly for us as a big group as each person could grab what they wanted,but would also be perfect solo as such a nice place to sit and anything you might fancy in one area! Have a lovely time

The Copenhagen card was very good value if you are going in to museums, sight seeing etc. the canal cruise included in it is excellent. Very walkable. The little mermaid is probably not worth the walk. Lovely city.

Yep having lived there I wouldn’t bother with the little mermaid - it is indeed ‘little’ - so many other better things to do - may I also recommend a classic ‘soft ice’ at some point - like a much better mr whippy , very creamy , like old fashioned ice cream - and my favourite is they dip it in cocoa powder- utterly delicious - the hot dog stand by the round tower in the centre also does amazing hotdogs- best with remoulade and crispy onions

if if you are a bit of a foodie I also recommend Torvehallen - it’s their big indoor food hall but with an outdoor fruit and veg and flowers market -was always our Saturday morning trip and does have some good ‘eat at the counter’ places too - the one doing homemade fish cakes with remoulade was a favourite of ours.

In fact on reading my posts there is no wonder I came back to UK having put on 11 kilos after 20 months!!

@abreakplease whilst the centre is compact some of the nice interesting areas are quite a walk - so unless you are only staying totally central you will need the metro - the beach for instance is the metro - the metro is amazing by the way - lifts from the pavement, very modern, driverless, quick and very clean -

I went on my own but only for a day! I went to the mermaid and swimming in the baths there.

Do have a fabulous time- I really miss it - it’s a very liveable city - it’s not all pretty pretty - it has some bits that are a but Berlin like, but to me has a much nicer centre . I would give you tips on keeping costs down by doing a lot of ‘sharing’ but actually on your own that’s quite hard

@Crikeyalmighty Oh yes, very much welcome the food tips! I think I can power myself on danish pastries most of the time but the food hall sounds great (and easy to do solo).

Is there a Citymapper type app for finding the best way to get to places?

And think I will skip the little mermaid, and probably the royal stuff too. I love Danish design, lights especially, so are there good galleries/design museums to visit?

Ooh just saw that there is a Martin Parr exhibition opening that weekend for the Photography Festival - that's my Saturday mooching sorted!

Go to the tivoli one night. It’s lovely.

Enjoy the solo trip, they’re the best. What a perfect time to go too, mid-end June is fab in Copenhagen.

Hire a bike would be my top tip and then just see where it takes you. Parks, cafes, swimming with locals - that’s what I did and it was lush!

Citymapper works in Copenhagen too.

@abreakplease they have branches of Lagehuiset everywhere on the pastries side of things - as well as lots of individual places - yep another contributor to my Danish wait gain - especially during lockdown - I never used the app as I got to know everywhere quite quickly - there is one for the metro though and you use it to pay -

That’s called DOT

£500 for a Copenhagen card ? How long were you there for?

I spent 4 days solo in Copenhagen last June and had the most wonderful time. Spent an absolute age in the Design Museum and also loved the architecture museum (even though most of it was closed when I was there).

If you like swimming, take your kit and visit one of the many free harbour baths. (Badezone Sandkaj is walking distance from Juno, see below; I also liked Islands Brygge and Kastrup Søbad not far from the airport. Beautiful wooden bathing platform.)

In terms of food... I was on a mission to sample as many cardamom buns as I could manage. You will be spoilt for choice. But please visit Juno the Bakery for a rhubarb cream bun (if you like rhubarb!) – I promise you will not regret it!

I enjoyed the national museum of Denmark (good food there too), wandering around the area around the royal stables, a boat trip in the harbour which was really relaxing - took in Christiania and also zipped passed the little mermaid.