1
The National Museum tells the history of Denmark from prehistoric times to modern day. Some highlights of our visit included a multi-media exhibit following the life of a Viking, and nicely curated exhibits on Viking culture and life, including some interesting history on how Denmark conquered England (between the years 1016-1085). They have one of the best pre-history exhibits in the world.
* Tip: Click on any activity title to visit its official external webpage.
2
This palace houses the Danish Parliament, Prime Minister and Supreme Court. In addition the Danish royal family uses some of the rooms for official functions. It’s a beautiful palace and definitely worth a visit.
​
With the combo ticket you can see 5 areas of the Palace:
-
The Royal Reception Rooms: the whole visit was worth it to see the library here. This is the most fabulous library we have ever seen. There are a lot of other lovely rooms as well including a great hall with new tapestries that show the history of the country in stunning, modern artistry. It took 10 years to complete all the tapestries. We thought the dining room and throne room were pretty interesting too.
-
The stables: From June-August the horses have a little holiday “out on the grass” so if you want to see horses, go at another time. Even without the horses this was a pretty neat visit. There are many carriages with descriptions of when and how they are used. There is also a display of riding gear from the royal family through the ages, including ceremonial saddles gifted to the family from other countries.
-
The kitchens: lots of copper pots! We like to cook and we like to see old kitchens and how they were used. This one is not used much anymore, but is set up so visitors can envision how the cooks worked. Two huge cooktop areas, each set up as a square around a central pillar, are in the center. Prep areas are off to the sides and a large bank of ovens near the stoves. The back room has a display of desserts and an interactive game for kids.
-
The Ruins: this was underwhelming. We’d prefer more information about what we are seeing and how it was originally used. They tried to liven it up a bit with a special monster exhibit.
-
The Palace Chapel: There are 4 tear-off corners on the ticket and after all 4 were torn we forgot there was a 5th place to visit, so we never made it to the Chapel!
​
The 6th place to see: The trip to The View–the tower at the top of the Palace–is free. There are 40 steps and 2 elevators. Handicap access is available in a special elevator for the 40 steps. If you would like to walk the 132+40 steps, you may.
3
Frederiksstaden neighborhood
Metro Marmorkirken: at this metro stop (all along Store Kongensgade street) are Frederiks Kirke cathedral, several nice cafes, and nice shopping in antique stores like Harsted Antik and other shops with well-curated collections.
4
At the Amalienborg palace (which is in the Frederiksstaden neighborhood), there are exhibits of the royal family history, preserved rooms on the 2nd floor and special exhibits on the third floor. When we visited, they were exhibiting some royal jewels, which was a great show. The basement, where you buy tickets and souvenirs, has a good public gender-neutral restrooms and lockers for packages should you need such while in this neighborhood. Just go in like you are going to buy tickets or browse the gift shop and the toilet area is obvious.
5
Refshaleoen neighborhood
This neighborhood is a short bus ride away from central Copenhagen. It’s an up and coming neighborhood that used to be heavy industry but has morphed into a large number of workshops, museums, restaurants, distilleries and other small businesses. There is a small but good modern art museum (Contemporary Copenhagen) – when we visited there was an exhibit from the Light and Space movement from Los Angeles in the 1960s. We thoroughly enjoyed what was on exhibit while we were here and spent about 1 hour. After that we lunched at Amass, which was ok, not great. This neighborhood has many restaurants, some of them expensive and some less so. We were here on a hot day in the summer and young folks had filled the grassy knolls, playing and swimming in the canals.
​
You could spend all day at Copenhill, the waste-treatment plant with water as its by-product (also located in Refshaleoen). It was designed by the famous Bjarke Ingalls architecture group. The elevator ride to the top of the building is free and fun. The glass elevator lets you see the inside of the treatment plant while the CEO tells you how great the place is.
​
You can also walk up or down via stairs without charge. Once at the top, you’ve got a great view of Copenhagen including windmills and the sea and downtown. From the top we noticed waterskiing available in the bay (from another vendor). At Copenhill, you can ski the slope–either bunny hill or full version–and ski rentals and lessons are available on site. There is also an innertube option next to the bunny hill for about 50DKK per 30 min, and a massive climbing wall covering the full 300 feet up the building. The website lists archery as another activity (on the ground) and there are places to eat and drink both at the top and bottom of the building, though we didn’t eat here.
​
From Copenhill we walked to Freetown Christiania, which was about a 35 min walk. There is also a bus available. The neighborhood looks like a street fair, with food stalls, folks selling jewelry and bohemian clothing and marijuana-themed items from folding tables, and many buildings covered in graffiti. There are also a lot of skateboarding ramps. Since we are from Northern California, none of this seemed particularly radical.
6
Fredericksborg Palace (Danish: Frederiksborgslot)
Get here from Copenhagen center via the train at Oesterport station (metro and train station). The train ends at Hillerod where the Castle is located.
​
The approach to the Frederiksborg Castle is a pleasant shopping district – it takes about 10 minutes to walk from the train station to Frederiksborg.
​
The castle was a hunting lodge and because of this we were expecting something much less grand. This is a very large castle with a moat and large garden. Turns out this was the primary castle from 1620-1720, and briefly again in the mid-1800’s. There was a big fire in 1859 and though the castle was renovated after that it was never again a royal residence.
​
The castle has the largest portrait collection in Denmark. Yep, there are lots and lots of portrait paintings of royals. There is also a nice collection of furniture, decorative arts, china and silver, some impressive clocks, and 2 super cool Copernican time pieces. In addition, the Grand Hall has a clothing exhibit with ancient and modern royal outfits.
​
The museum would benefit from better signage. When it was first conceived as a museum, the founder thought the extensive portraits would be a great way to teach the history of Denmark.
Eh. I’d rather hear about how and when the rooms were used, with a smattering of information about a portrait or two. The audio guide is cumbersome to use and without fail did not give the information we wanted. For example, in a room with a large metal model of the solar spheres, the audio guide only talked about a painting. There is a Children’s treasure hunt activity for this site and it, too, directed children to the same painting.
​
So we found it more useful to use google translate, taking photos of Danish language signage, though sometimes the local Wi-Fi was too weak to work. The printed map also had sparse information.
​
Despite all that this is a great castle visit if you like castle architecture, old beds and thrones, cool clocks, silver, clothing, and, of course, early portrait paintings.
​
They also have good things for kids, including a space in the basement with costumes and backdrops and art activities.
​
The gardens have a main path that is paved and wide, suitable for wheelchairs. There is also a cafe. It was closed when we visited but we had planned ahead with a picnic, which we ate on the restaurant patio. A boat crosses a section of the moat. If the flag is raised, it is in service, running every 30 min for 30DKK per adult.
​
The chapel was impressive in size and decor and offers an organ concert each Thursday. This is one of the few areas of the castle which was not destroyed in the 1859 fire.
7
Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek (aka the Glyptotek)
Known for its collection of sculptures, but we visited for its Egyptian and Greek collection. There are a lot of really well preserved items here with adequate or little curation. There are several mummies. We found the presentation problematic in that the mummies of quite different ages are presented in the same room with paintings taken from the sarcophaguses, and the paintings are all from late era mummies and hence white. It gives the impression that all the deceased were white, which is unlikely. Some of the statues had amazing detail, like of the hair in the photos below and gold painting. The museum tags mostly say these are from unknown areas; in other words, pilfered. The center of the museum has a pleasant courtyard with trees and plants and the cafe is adjacent. We enjoyed a good lunch here.
1. Select "Danish Krone" In the "From" box.
2. Select your native currency in the "To" box. For example, US residents will select "US Dollar".
3. Type in the DKK amount you would like to convert into the "Amount" box. For example, if you would like to know how many US Dollars are in 500 DKK, type "500".
4. The conversation rate will display at the bottom of the gray box.
