If you have never been to Copenhagen in Denmark, I highly recommend going in summer. All the locals are out enjoying the sun and heat. This 3 hour photo walk is only an introduction to the most common places you must visit. Bicycles are also a great alternative to walking if you wish to cover more area quickly. Canal tours can also give you a very different perspective from the water. Whatever your means of getting around you will enjoy the flatness of most roads and cleanliness in this very neat city.
Nyhavn
Google Map Route: it takes about an hour if you don't stop. I would suggest going off-track from time to time if your eye catches something down a side street. If you time it properly, a walk during the golden hours would be most rewarding. Make sure to bring a tripod if you need to get some quality shots along the path. Let's get in to my top five locations.
Copenhagen Photo Walk
1. Frederik's Church & Amalienborg Palace
Being an Australian, I wanted to see where Princess Mary lives. She is originally from Hobart, Tasmania in Australia, so it seemed like a good spot to start my walk. Unlike Buckingham Palace in London, there are no walls or fences. You can freely walk around the facade of all the buildings and take photos of the guards. Frederik's Church popularly known as The Marble Church for its Rococo architecture, is an Evangelical Lutheran Church. The awe inspiring Marble Church with the characteristic copper green dome has to be one of the most impressive churches of the city.
Fredericks Church
Amalienborg Palace
2. Nyhavn
This is a bright historic canal front filled with townhouses and restaurants. This is the tourist hub where you can have the obligatory Danish hotdog at a food stall (make sure to order all the toppings). Facing west along the canal you catch a nice sunset if you are lucky. Voted the "best city for cyclists" and the "world’s most livable city". The Danes are well known for their love of cycling and cities all around the world are now looking at ways to copy this phenomenon. It really is biking heaven for the cyclist in Copenhagen with over 390 kilometers of designated bike lanes.
Nyvahn Bike Lanes
Nyhavn
3. Royal Danish Library — Black Diamond
The Black Diamond in Copenhagen was finished in 1999 and is an extension to the Royal Library. The building is shiny with black facets mirroring the sea and the sky at the harbor front and the interior from the top floor looking down the escalators looks like a guitar.
A large incision cleaves the building into two formations and gives light to the atrium inside. The atrium connects the city with the sea outside as well as the old and new library buildings. The glass facade is held by iron girders weighing approximately one metric ton per meter.
Royal Danish Library - Black Diamond
4. Church of Our Saviour — Vor Frelsers Kirke
It is a baroque edifice with a corkscrew spire, 17th-century place of worship with a carillon and 400 steps around the outside of said spire. On a clear day you can get some spectacular views of the city. Of all the religions in Denmark, the most prominent is Christianity in the form of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Denmark which makes this location an important landmark. A stroll along the narrow canals nearby will give you some insight as to how the Danes live on houseboats.
Church of Our Saviour - Vor Frelsers Kirke
5. Christiansborg Palace
It is located on the tiny island of Slotsholmen, which contains the Danish Parliament Folketinget, the Supreme Court, and the Ministry of State. Parts of the palace are used by the Royal Family for various functions and events. The Royal Reception Rooms include The Tower Room and The Oval Throne Room where foreign ambassadors to Denmark are received by the Queen. The Throne Room gives access to the balcony where the Danish monarchs are proclaimed.
Christiansborg Palace
The Dragon Statue in front of Town Hall is a popular spot for Chinese Tourists.
Do you have any other suggestions to add to this photo walk within the city of Copenhagen?
A classic - the opera house.
And when there, visit Christianshavn. Lots of canals and beautiful houses
Thanks! I was amazed to see locals swimming there.
There are way too many places to recount here. The best you can do is to hook up with a local, and spend some time with them around the city and area surrounding it. The places mentioned are great, but they are also too "touristy". You need to see the real Copenhagen, Christiania, the bridge neighborhoods (Nørrebro, Vesterbro, and Østerbro), various places on Amager, etc. I would even say to get out to the outer and older suburbs, and see some of the more classical provensial architecture, where it still can be found, such as Brønshøj Kirke (church of Brønshøj). And talking about touristy, you obviously have to visit Tivoli as well, just look at Tony Northrup's photo of the Denmark Hotel.
Thanks great advice.
A new classic - Superkilen at Nørrebro with the red and black square.
Nørrebro in itself has a lot of great locations
Agreed!
What makes them special?
It’s a relatively new park designed by BIG Architects, Topotek 1 and Superflex.
It is divided in to three areas: The Red Square, The Black Market and The Green park
The Red Square showing the modern, urban life with café, music and sports
The Black Market a classic square with fountain and benches (and the crazy lines)
The Green Park for picnics, sports and hanging out
The park has a lot of items collected from all over the world showing the more than 60 nationalities living in the area around the park for instance: exercise gear from muscle beach LA to sewage drains from Israel, palm trees from China, fountain from Morocco and neon signs from Qatar and Russia
For more:
https://www.archdaily.com/286223/superkilen-topotek-1-big-architects-sup...
https://da.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superkilen
You may want to update the spelling of 2. Nyvahn? Correct name is: Nyhavn. You can actually see that on the yellow building with a old ship in front of it. And on the caption of the same photo
Oops thanks.
Reading this, one might think we are a very religious people. We are not. 😉
Lars Daniel Terkelsen I personally didn't see it like that reading the article. I see the city like a colourful place, with interesting ancient architecture, and a country close to it's roots, juggling with the fine line of modernism and the past. As per religion, i think some are, some aren't, as in any country :D (i'm personally not at all, but appreciate some could)
In most cities, religion had taken a huge part in art, architecture, and city structure, so I feel in those few images and this "tour" we see a bit of the few nice places to visit, more on the artistic point of view than the religious one.
I travelled to copenhagen for the millenium 1st of january, and seeing these makes me feel like i fancy finding a way to travel back on a long week-end to visit the city again.
Beautiful insight.
One of my favorites...at the Kastellet
Thanks! What makes it worth visiting? Nice Shot!
Amager beach. 😊
How far from the city?
Ah, that's a good point. Google Maps says it's more than an hour from, say, the Little Mermaid. :/ Well worth a visit though! Denmark makes the best parkour parks in the world, and there's quite a few of them dotted around the city.
You can take the Metro there in 15 minutes from Kgs Nytorv (right by Nyhavn) :)
And don't forget the genetically modified mermaid. 😆
Where is this?
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-genetically-modified-little-mermaid
https://goo.gl/maps/ZEikZ7fvRJA2
😀
Kalvebod Bølge!
Love the series.
Go to Refshaleøen - either walk past the opera or take the harbour bus from Nyhavn - takes ten minutes. Its used to be the biggest shipyard in Denmark right in the City. Now its streetfood, brewery and art shows combined with all the old shipyard buildings. And you’ll also find a huge Wolf 😄
This place was right near where I stayed!
Rosenborg Castle in the Kings Garden right in the middle of Copenhagen - next to Nørrebro Station.
Both the Castle and the Garden are worth a visit - and close by is the Botanical Garden as well
Inside of The Marble Church
Axel Towers Outside Tivoli