Blog: Copenhagen Trip
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Copenhagen Trip - Saturday, May 23, 2026
Because Priscilla constantly has the travel itch and because she found cheap airfare to Copenhagen aboard Scandinavian Airlines for $510 per round trip ticket, we found ourselves traveling once more, exploring Denmark's capital city for 9 days.
We were able to see my parents for Mothers Day, and my mom dropped us off at the LAX FlyAway to take the bus to the airport. A very convenient option for not having to drive through traffic ourselves.
The flight aboard Scandinavian was fairly comfortable. We'd opted for extra legroom ($69 per person each way) and it was worth not having to deal with leg cramps. But even with this plus a comfier than normal reclining seat, we were unable to get much sleep on the plane.
Day 1:
We touched down at Copenhagen Airport mid-afternoon Monday and took the metro to get to our Airbnb in Vesterbro, our home base for the whole trip. Priscilla had originally booked a hotel, but we wouldn't have a fridge there and I like having some home-cooked food during trips. That evening we just explored the area and went to two SuperBrugsen supermarkets and went to Döner Corner for shawarma, which is considered fast food here.
Day 2:
We had planned for a bike trip up to the Little Mermaid statue the next day, but we ran into issues authenticating a phone number on the Donkey Republic (a local bike share) app, so we ended up just walking to several places. Still, we ended up walking 10 miles between Nyhavn, Broens Street Food, Freetown Christiania, and more. We also learned how to pronounce "Nyhavn"—it's pronounced like "Nee hown". Danish is not a phonetic language and, while Google Translate was invaluable, the pronunciation of most words threw us for a loop.
Nyhavn looked almost as picturesque as what you see online, and we took a picture at what I think was the best vantage point. Broens had several stalls and our respective lunches were each around 130 Danish Krone (approximately $20), which seems like the typical price here for food that's not fast food. And Freetown, a self-governing commune, was interesting to see.
Day 3:
We activated our 5-day Copenhagen Card, which covers 80 attractions and public transport. We visited Ripley's Believe It or Not! and the Hans Christian Andersen Experience (located in the same building), Museum of Illusions, Guinness World Records Museum, and finally a canal boat tour. I thought that Ripley's was the best attraction overall; I enjoyed the various eclectic items and tidbits. Museum of Illusions had some cool optical illusions and a room with different puzzles. The Guinness Museum had displays on a lot of unusual records and some interactive exhibits. The most fun thing was doing pullups during the "1 minute pullup challenge." The world record for that is... a lot more than what I did.
Day 4:
This was our day trip to Helsingør. It normally takes an hour on the regional train, but since it was Ascension Day, our train made fewer stops and got there faster. The main activity was exploring Kronborg, a 16th-century castle known internationally as Elsinore due to having inspired the setting for Shakespeare's "Hamlet". Climbing the stairs to the top of the cannon tower and exploring the catacombs beneath the castle were my favorite parts. Also, they had wooden stilts out in the courtyard for anyone to try, something that you would never see in the US for so many reasons. I tried them but failed to stay on for more than a second. Afterwards, we had lunch at Elsinore Street Food (the local food hall) and saw a feeding at Øresund Aquarium, probably the smallest aquarium I've seen.
Day 5:
We walked 12.5 miles on Friday, the most we did of any given day. The majority of the day was spent at the Open Air Museum; I really enjoyed the exploration aspect combined with looking at old buildings from the 1600s and on, and seeing how construction methods evolved over the centuries. They too had wooden stilts out for people to try, and I was able to greatly improve my technique and walk around on them, albeit ungracefully.
After dinner, we visited Tivoli, the local amusement park. The rides were closed due to the concert that was going on, but it was nice to walk around and see all the lights as well as the Illuminations light show.
Day 6:
We went to IKONO (an immersive experience but a bit of a letdown), and then walked briefly through the Botanical Garden, Palm House, and Butterfly House. Then we hit up the Natural History Museum of Denmark, had pho for a late lunch, and finally saw a film at the Planetarium. It was cool to see the various collections and the nature photography at the Natural History Museum, but we're realizing that museums aren't really our thing.
Day 7:
Sunday kicked off with a visit to Elijah's Church where we attended a jazz service! This was a one hour service where in addition to traditional hymns, there was also jazz music during the interludes. There was also real wine during communion. The sermon was a bit short and didn't really touch on the gospel message, and I felt like there was way too much jazz. They apparently have this service every week, so I hope that while people might come for the jazz, they leave with a real understanding of the gospel.
After the service, we headed over to another church, Church of Our Saviour, to climb the famous staircase that winds around the spire. What a fantastic view of the city! We then took a short stroll through Freetown again, saw the Royal Library Garden, and finished with touring the ruins under the Christiansborg Palace.
Day 8:
This was our day trip to Malmö, Sweden. The main draw for Priscilla was the Disgusting Food Museum, where we learned about unfamiliar, unconventional, and downright "disgusting" things that various cultures eat. Then we got to try 20 or so of those things for ourselves! Priscilla ate everything except the final variety of hot sauce, which requires signing a waiver acknowledging that it can cause abdominal distress and that consuming it is downright idiotic. I ate everything except for that one and a worm and a beetle. I surprised myself since I tried more than I thought I would, including crickets and ants!
Afterwards, we got some normal food at the local food hall, Malmö Saluhall. Priscilla ordered meatballs and I ate a lunch that she had packed for me. But we did get ice cream from one of the stalls there and the quality was terrific. Afterwards, we walked through Slottsparken (the castle park) and Pildammsparken (Willowpond Park). The parks were lovely, and overall we enjoyed walking through Malmö a little better than Copenhagen since it's slightly less crowded.
Day 9:
Tuesday was our last full day and we made good use of it by walking 8.5 miles between Assistens Cemetery, The Little Mermaid statue, and Kastellet. Assistens Cemetery is a tranquil place and is as much a park as it is a cemetery. The Little Mermaid (Den Lille Havfrue) is a 4-ft statue right off the shore and is often referred to on Tripadvisor as the "second most disappointing monument in Europe", right after the Manneken-Pis in Brussels. I can see why, as most people probably come here, take a picture, and leave. But for us, it was a nice point of interest on a longer walk and a relaxing place to rest. Kastellet, a historic star fortress, is nearby, so we took a stroll through there to wrap up the day.
Day 10:
After breakfast and cleaning up at our Airbnb, it was time to take the metro back to the airport. We were pretty tired from the long trip, so Priscilla managed to get some decent sleep on the plane, while I was only able to nap for a bit. Once we got back to the LAX FlyAway, my mom picked us up and drove us back to our car and gave us a lot of food to take home. She is very caring in that way.
Reflection:
Overall, we enjoyed our trip but were tired each day from all the activities. Each day back at the Airbnb, we would doze off and Priscilla would sometimes sleep for 2 or 3 hours. Finding the right amount of things to do each day is a balancing act, particularly when you're visiting a new location and there's no shortage of things to do and see—and especially when you have a city pass that covers more activities than you can realistically fit in.
Copenhagen is a unique place. It's dense and people are everywhere. Most people walk and/or cycle, and bikes are parked all around the city, sometimes in crowded bike lots. In fact, bicycles outnumber cars 5 to 1 here. It's a testament to intentional city planning and also a product of the city's geography. Denmark is also extremely safe. They're a high-trust society, and it was refreshing to see things like minimally-locked bikes being the norm and no turnstiles at metro and train stations.
And while food prices and living costs are high, it was cool that the country is basically cashless. We paid everything with a credit card and never needed cash.
While I was already longing for home halfway into the trip, in some ways I enjoyed it more than Priscilla did. She didn't care for all the walking (60+ miles total), and she wasn't impressed with Danish cuisine like smørrebrød, a traditional open-faced sandwich. But we're glad that we went, and she's already thinking about where she wants to go next—some place with cheap airfare AND better food!
We were able to see my parents for Mothers Day, and my mom dropped us off at the LAX FlyAway to take the bus to the airport. A very convenient option for not having to drive through traffic ourselves.
The flight aboard Scandinavian was fairly comfortable. We'd opted for extra legroom ($69 per person each way) and it was worth not having to deal with leg cramps. But even with this plus a comfier than normal reclining seat, we were unable to get much sleep on the plane.
Day 1:
We touched down at Copenhagen Airport mid-afternoon Monday and took the metro to get to our Airbnb in Vesterbro, our home base for the whole trip. Priscilla had originally booked a hotel, but we wouldn't have a fridge there and I like having some home-cooked food during trips. That evening we just explored the area and went to two SuperBrugsen supermarkets and went to Döner Corner for shawarma, which is considered fast food here.
Day 2:
We had planned for a bike trip up to the Little Mermaid statue the next day, but we ran into issues authenticating a phone number on the Donkey Republic (a local bike share) app, so we ended up just walking to several places. Still, we ended up walking 10 miles between Nyhavn, Broens Street Food, Freetown Christiania, and more. We also learned how to pronounce "Nyhavn"—it's pronounced like "Nee hown". Danish is not a phonetic language and, while Google Translate was invaluable, the pronunciation of most words threw us for a loop.
Nyhavn looked almost as picturesque as what you see online, and we took a picture at what I think was the best vantage point. Broens had several stalls and our respective lunches were each around 130 Danish Krone (approximately $20), which seems like the typical price here for food that's not fast food. And Freetown, a self-governing commune, was interesting to see.
Day 3:
We activated our 5-day Copenhagen Card, which covers 80 attractions and public transport. We visited Ripley's Believe It or Not! and the Hans Christian Andersen Experience (located in the same building), Museum of Illusions, Guinness World Records Museum, and finally a canal boat tour. I thought that Ripley's was the best attraction overall; I enjoyed the various eclectic items and tidbits. Museum of Illusions had some cool optical illusions and a room with different puzzles. The Guinness Museum had displays on a lot of unusual records and some interactive exhibits. The most fun thing was doing pullups during the "1 minute pullup challenge." The world record for that is... a lot more than what I did.
Day 4:
This was our day trip to Helsingør. It normally takes an hour on the regional train, but since it was Ascension Day, our train made fewer stops and got there faster. The main activity was exploring Kronborg, a 16th-century castle known internationally as Elsinore due to having inspired the setting for Shakespeare's "Hamlet". Climbing the stairs to the top of the cannon tower and exploring the catacombs beneath the castle were my favorite parts. Also, they had wooden stilts out in the courtyard for anyone to try, something that you would never see in the US for so many reasons. I tried them but failed to stay on for more than a second. Afterwards, we had lunch at Elsinore Street Food (the local food hall) and saw a feeding at Øresund Aquarium, probably the smallest aquarium I've seen.
Day 5:
We walked 12.5 miles on Friday, the most we did of any given day. The majority of the day was spent at the Open Air Museum; I really enjoyed the exploration aspect combined with looking at old buildings from the 1600s and on, and seeing how construction methods evolved over the centuries. They too had wooden stilts out for people to try, and I was able to greatly improve my technique and walk around on them, albeit ungracefully.
After dinner, we visited Tivoli, the local amusement park. The rides were closed due to the concert that was going on, but it was nice to walk around and see all the lights as well as the Illuminations light show.
Day 6:
We went to IKONO (an immersive experience but a bit of a letdown), and then walked briefly through the Botanical Garden, Palm House, and Butterfly House. Then we hit up the Natural History Museum of Denmark, had pho for a late lunch, and finally saw a film at the Planetarium. It was cool to see the various collections and the nature photography at the Natural History Museum, but we're realizing that museums aren't really our thing.
Day 7:
Sunday kicked off with a visit to Elijah's Church where we attended a jazz service! This was a one hour service where in addition to traditional hymns, there was also jazz music during the interludes. There was also real wine during communion. The sermon was a bit short and didn't really touch on the gospel message, and I felt like there was way too much jazz. They apparently have this service every week, so I hope that while people might come for the jazz, they leave with a real understanding of the gospel.
After the service, we headed over to another church, Church of Our Saviour, to climb the famous staircase that winds around the spire. What a fantastic view of the city! We then took a short stroll through Freetown again, saw the Royal Library Garden, and finished with touring the ruins under the Christiansborg Palace.
Day 8:
This was our day trip to Malmö, Sweden. The main draw for Priscilla was the Disgusting Food Museum, where we learned about unfamiliar, unconventional, and downright "disgusting" things that various cultures eat. Then we got to try 20 or so of those things for ourselves! Priscilla ate everything except the final variety of hot sauce, which requires signing a waiver acknowledging that it can cause abdominal distress and that consuming it is downright idiotic. I ate everything except for that one and a worm and a beetle. I surprised myself since I tried more than I thought I would, including crickets and ants!
Afterwards, we got some normal food at the local food hall, Malmö Saluhall. Priscilla ordered meatballs and I ate a lunch that she had packed for me. But we did get ice cream from one of the stalls there and the quality was terrific. Afterwards, we walked through Slottsparken (the castle park) and Pildammsparken (Willowpond Park). The parks were lovely, and overall we enjoyed walking through Malmö a little better than Copenhagen since it's slightly less crowded.
Day 9:
Tuesday was our last full day and we made good use of it by walking 8.5 miles between Assistens Cemetery, The Little Mermaid statue, and Kastellet. Assistens Cemetery is a tranquil place and is as much a park as it is a cemetery. The Little Mermaid (Den Lille Havfrue) is a 4-ft statue right off the shore and is often referred to on Tripadvisor as the "second most disappointing monument in Europe", right after the Manneken-Pis in Brussels. I can see why, as most people probably come here, take a picture, and leave. But for us, it was a nice point of interest on a longer walk and a relaxing place to rest. Kastellet, a historic star fortress, is nearby, so we took a stroll through there to wrap up the day.
Day 10:
After breakfast and cleaning up at our Airbnb, it was time to take the metro back to the airport. We were pretty tired from the long trip, so Priscilla managed to get some decent sleep on the plane, while I was only able to nap for a bit. Once we got back to the LAX FlyAway, my mom picked us up and drove us back to our car and gave us a lot of food to take home. She is very caring in that way.
Reflection:
Overall, we enjoyed our trip but were tired each day from all the activities. Each day back at the Airbnb, we would doze off and Priscilla would sometimes sleep for 2 or 3 hours. Finding the right amount of things to do each day is a balancing act, particularly when you're visiting a new location and there's no shortage of things to do and see—and especially when you have a city pass that covers more activities than you can realistically fit in.
Copenhagen is a unique place. It's dense and people are everywhere. Most people walk and/or cycle, and bikes are parked all around the city, sometimes in crowded bike lots. In fact, bicycles outnumber cars 5 to 1 here. It's a testament to intentional city planning and also a product of the city's geography. Denmark is also extremely safe. They're a high-trust society, and it was refreshing to see things like minimally-locked bikes being the norm and no turnstiles at metro and train stations.
And while food prices and living costs are high, it was cool that the country is basically cashless. We paid everything with a credit card and never needed cash.
While I was already longing for home halfway into the trip, in some ways I enjoyed it more than Priscilla did. She didn't care for all the walking (60+ miles total), and she wasn't impressed with Danish cuisine like smørrebrød, a traditional open-faced sandwich. But we're glad that we went, and she's already thinking about where she wants to go next—some place with cheap airfare AND better food!