After landing in Copenhagen it was a short metro ride to the city centre and our home for the next few days, Hotel Sanders. It’s really central and our room was lovely, we quickly unpacked, explored the hotel and popped out for a coffee to get the lay of the land.
That evening we walked to the famous Nimb hotel to take a snap of its magical facade, it’s within the grounds of Tivoli, a traditional amusement park said to have inspired Walt Disney although it was closed for the season which was a shame. We then carried on to the trendy Meat Packing area for our reservation at Sanchez, a Mexican restaurant for margaritas and tacos. We had been warned about how expensive Copenhagen is but the bill really was eye watering, still it was delicious and we had fun! After dinner we headed to Bird which is a listening bar where a DJ was playing some great tunes, we enjoyed a cocktail and chatted to the super nice owner before heading back to our bed a little merry.
The next day we had a delicious breakfast at the hotel rooftop before borrowing bikes and setting out for the day. The bikes were a great way to get around although despite the sunshine it was freezing! First stop was Frederiksberg park and the underground exhibition at the Cisternerne. This was mesmerising if a little creepy. You have to walk along the platforms winding their way through the shallow water, did Dan fall in? Yes, and it was very very funny.
Back in the daylight we made our way down to the botanical garden to warm up in the Palm House which is stunning! And right across the road is Rosenborg Castle which was really impressive. It’s very well preserved and an absolute treasure trove of artefacts, not least the Crown Jewels! Now ravenous we parked up at Torvehallerne which is a lovely food and drink market and we decided on empanadas from Laboca which were superb. Dan also had the classic smorrebrod, a fish cake open sandwich which he tells me was very tasty. We then bought a bottle of fizz and headed back to the hotel to enjoy it after warming up with a hot shower.
That evening after some confusion on the metro we made it to Beast, a lovely Italian restaurant in Norrebro. The pizza was delicious although the service was disastrous, in an entertaining sort of way. Just across the road is Brus, a taproom where we had a couple of pints and played some Yahtzee before a nightcap back at the hotel bar, Tata.
Monday morning after breakfast, and with warmer clothes, we pottered through the city to the Round Tower for a rooftop view, they also had an exhibition depicting the fairy tales of Hans Christian Anderson which was cute. We then spent a couple of hours in the shops in the Strøget area before Union kitchen for a delicious lunch. Afterwards we walked around Nyhavn which features many colourful houses set along the canal and stooped for a drink in the afternoon sun. Next we walked over one of the the bridges to the Christianshaven area which feels a lot like Amsterdam. And then popped into the black diamond library before wandering home.
Our last night was an evening at Host for some modern Danish cuisine. We opted for the 3 course menu with wine parings, this turned out to be 6 courses but was all really good and a lovely setting. Our final morning was very lazy and we didn’t make it past the hotel lobby which was channeling the Hygge (meaning coziness) with candles galore.
And so that was Copenhagen, lots of great food and drink, plenty to see and beautiful weather. I’m not sure if it’s still feeling the effects of Covid or if it’s just the time of year but it did feel very quiet at times, perhaps we will be back one day in Summer or at Christmas but all in all, a lovely break.
If you like Piña Coladas... 