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Our family enjoyed Copenhagen vacation recently over the summer. Copenhagen is the capital of Denmark. It is a 3-hour flight from Reykjavik Iceland. Many people, me included, know Copenhagen for Andersen’s fairy tales. The Little Mermaid is perhaps the most famous one.
Copenhagen is also popular for its harbor and royal palace & garden. By the way, the Louisana Modern Art Museum located north of Copenhagen along the seasid offers very unique experience. We enjoyed our stay there tremendously.
- Little Mermaid Statue {Den Lille Havfrue}
- In front of Frederik’s Church {Frederiks Kirke}, an 18th-century Lutheran Church with the largest dome in Scandinavia.
- TorvehallerneKBH {Copenhagen Fresh Market}
- Louisiana Modern Art Museum
- Changing Guards, Amaleinborg Palace
- Superkilen Park
- Food at Torvehallerne {Fresh Food Market}
- Seaside Restaurant close to the Little Mermaid {recommended}
- Kastellet
- Inside Amaleinborg Palace
Copenhagen Vacation Must Visit – Rosenborg Castle
Rosenborg Castle is a Renaissance Palace and Garden located in the city center of Copenhagen. The castle was initially built as a country summerhouse in 1606 for King Christian IV. Now it also includes a museum that holds the crown jewels.
There’s a beautiful rose garden in front the castle. Like a typical royal garden, the landscape on the ground is carefully maintained in certain way. On most days at noon, the royal guards will travel from here to Amalienborg Palace for the change of the guards ceremony.
Amalienborg Palace
Amaliengborg Palace is within walking distance from Rosenborg Castle. It is a 18th-century rococo complex of places, containing four buildings laid out in a circle with the open courtyard in the middle. The museum on royal history is in one of the four buildings.
If you are wondering what is a Rococo structure. Simply put, it has moderate exterior but sophisticated and elaborated interior decoration. That’s exactly the case for the palace. From outside, they look plain marble gray buildings. Once you enter into the building, you will be impressed by the decoration and displays.
- Inside the Amaliengborg Palace museum
- Changing guards in front of the Amalienborg Palace
- The golden banquet setting inside Amalienborg Palace
- Walking pass by the Frederiks Kirk, which is next to Amalienborg. It is also a Rococo structure, often referred as “Marble Church”
- Courtyard of the Amalienborg Palace Complex
- In front of the Amalienborg Palace museum building
By the way, the palace has a free locker room to store the backpacks. As for the tickets, you can buy a ticket including both Rosenborg Castle and Amalienborg.
Copenhagen Fresh Market
Located in Torvehallerne, the city center of Copenhagen, the acclaimed Fresh Market offers all kinds of premium fresh produce, seafood and meat.
It is a 10-min short walk from Rosenborg. If you are in the area visiting either Rosenborg, the Little Mermaid, Kastellet, Gefionspringvandet, feel free to swing by, picking up your lunch while enjoying this vibrant open air fresh market.
Nevertheless, to be honest, it is different from I thought about a fresh market. We visited Venice’s fresh market where local people shop for fresh seafood, meat and produce to cook at home. The price at Venice’s fresh market is very reasonable. I can tell you it is NOT the case here. Frankly, I was a bit shocked by how pricy Copenhagen’s Fresh Food Market is.
I always love cooking meals using local ingredients while traveling and was thinking about shopping at Torvehallerne. I ended up shopping at the supermarkets Netto instead. LOL.
Seaside Toldboden Food & Bar Copenhagen
Little Mermaid, Kastellet and Gefionspringvandet Fountain are in adjacent area. We arrived the area around lunch time and delighted at Seaside Toldboden Food & Bar. If you are in the area, I highly recommend it.
So what is Toldboden? Nordre Toldbod refers to a waterfront area in Copenhagen, Denmark. Toldboden is a three towers building complex located at the port quay. It used to serve as a customs house starting 1897. Exact the reason people sometime refer to it as Aarhus Custom House. Famous Danish architect Hack Kampmann designed it.
Seaside Food & Bar occupies one of the buildings. By the way, both the building and the view are outstanding.
The Seaside Toldboden boasts of 7 kitchens featuring different cuisines. We ordered the spring rolls, sushi, orange chicken, and burger, and devoured them. If you are super hungry, go for the Burrito.
Dining at Copenhagen in general is pricier than that in the US. We had dinner at the Copenhagen’s Nyhavn area, four of us spent nearly four hundred dollars and still left somewhat hungry and unsatisfied. LOL.
That experience made me appreciate Seaside Toldboden more. Tasty food with reasonable price.
Kastellet Copenhagen
Kastellet is a citadel located in Copenhagen, very close to the shore where the famous Bronze statue Little Mermaid. It shapes like a star or pentagon, with one way in & out. The star shaped area is surrounded by moat.
For Copenhagen vacation, many people debate whether to come to see the place. There is not much active things to do other than walking around. Nevertheless, I still think it worth the visit, considering it is literally next to the Little Mermaid statue.
- 1 ~ 4 – Kastellet Copenhagen
- 5 – Gefionspringandet fountain
- 6 – Little Mermaid
Kastellet was initially built in 1664 by Frederik III. It still serves as an active military area that belongs to the Ministry of Defense. There is a beautiful windmill on site.
Superkilen Park {Xian Xing Gong Yuan} is not longer relevant for Copenhagen vacation
2023 Superkilen Park updates – it become a run down place and not recommended going during your Copenhagen vacation. Maybe it was trendy at one point, hence I got recommended. However, it is now just looks like an abandoned park. No need to go for Copenhagen vacation.
Louisiana Modern Art Museum – Copenhagen Vacation Must See
It is a very unique modern art museum located along the shore, about 1 hour train from the city center Copenhagen.
You will need to get a large zone city pass to get there, which costs about DKK150 per adult. Conductors on the train check the ticket. Use the “DOT” app to buy tickets, which works for bus, train and metro in Copenhagen metropolitan area, quite convenient.
Taking the public transportation in Copenhagen is relatively straightforward. Two things you will need to pay attention. One is to look for various levels when transferring from bus to train. Usually the train is at lower level. if the Google Map doesn’t tell you the platform you will need to be, try use “Rejseplanen” app, which is a journey planner app to get such info.
It worth mentioning that after you get off the train, after a short walk, you shall see a cozy Italian restaurant along the way called “La Strada De Luxe Ristorante”. Their freshly made pizza and pasta are amazing, large portion, using fresh ingredients, yummy and reasonably priced.
By the way, the museum also has a nice waterfront cafe.
The Museum has indoor exhibits, which usually focuses on less known artists, as well as outdoor art pieces. During the summer, there is live performance on the platform, right outside of the museum Cafe facing the sea. Such a pleasant unique experience.
