Our Time In The Happiest City In The World
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We’re back from Copenhagen! We had some fun filled, but pretty chilly, days exploring this colorful city. We flew overnight (our flight literally left at midnight) and with the time change we landed in Copenhagen the following day around 12:30 PM. We flew Norwegian Airlines for this trip, which we also flew to Paris and to Oslo last year. If you saw our Instagram stories, you may have seen us comment about how we probably won’t fly them again. Let me explain- the check in process at JFK for Norwegian is insane. This is our third time flying Norwegian, and the first time we had zero issues, the second time their computer systems were down so that was a nightmare, and this time the computer systems were fine, but our intention was to carry on our bags. Typically when checking in at the airport if you’re carrying on (you can’t check in online for this airline for some reason) you print out your boarding pass at a kiosk and go right to security. For some reason at JFK, you have to then stand in line to talk to someone at the counter to get your boarding pass “stamped”. There are hundreds of people in line that have to do the same thing. This is not a quick process. We’ve checked bags on our previous Norwegian flights (and paid for that in advance online) but this trip we decided to carry on. This is probably on their website somewhere that we neglected to see, but they limit not just the size of your carry on but also the WEIGHT. We fly all the time, but have never encountered this on other airlines. The weight of your carry on AND personal item COMBINED cannot be over 10 kilos (about 22 lbs). My backpack alone with the camera gear, my laptop, etc was almost 10 kilos before even weighing my suitcase. So needless to say, we ended up being forced to check our bags. At JFK you have to stand in a DIFFERENT line to pay for this (and it was $60 per bag!) and then go back to the FIRST line to show them proof of payment so they can tag your bags. This whole process was over an hour. Then we had to stand in line for security. Norwegian doesn’t participate in TSA pre-check, so we had to stand in the long line with everyone else. The whole check in/security process took about 2 hours. If you have plans to fly Norwegian out of JFK you need to be aware of this and be sure to get to the airport in plenty of time. Norwegian is a budget airline with well priced base airfare, but for us, between the nightmare check in process and extra baggage fees we’re never going to be able to avoid, it’s not worth the minimal money you save. You should also know that nothing on the plane is complimentary (including water) so if you don’t want to pay for stuff on board then be sure to bring food/drinks on board with you. I will say though their planes are some of the nicest we’ve flown. There are personal in-flight entertainment screens at each seat with a good selection of movies and TV shows. Their economy seats are not particularly any roomier than other airlines, but we were comfortable.
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Ok, enough about that. Now on to Copenhagen!
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After landing in Copenhagen we took a train from the airport about 20 minutes into the city and had about a 5 minute walk to our hotel from the train station. We stayed at the Hotel Kong Arthur which was really lovely. It was a great location, very comfortable accommodations, and some great amenities. We enjoyed the hotel’s breakfast buffet every morning and their “cozy hour” (happy hour) every evening. They have a very popular spa on site, but we didn’t have time to take advantage of it this trip. We would 100% stay here again and would highly recommend this hotel.
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After checking into our hotel, we set out to walk around and explore the city for a few hours before heading to dinner. We walked over to the Rundetaarn (“round tower”). For a small fee you can walk up the spiral ramp to the top of the tower for some great views of Copenhagen. It was a nice first activity as it really helps you to get acclimated.
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We walked around the city a bit more, popping into shops when we saw something that look interesting, and then headed to dinner. We’re doing a separate post on all the places we ate, so I won’t go into that here, but the food scene in Copenhagen is one of the best in the world. In our experience, everyone seems to eat on the earlier side and reservations for all restaurants are highly recommended. Many restaurants have a 3 course prix fix menu, which is rarely vegetarian friendly. But through a lot of research we were able to find some great options for our meals.
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After getting a good nights sleep in a bed, instead of on a plane, we woke up the next day ready to hit the ground running. After breakfast at our hotel, we walked over to Rosenborg Castle for a tour. The interiors are very well preserved and there is lots of stuff on display for you to view. The highlight though was the crown jewels (very similar to Tower of London if you’ve ever done that in London). The grounds of the castle were fairly large and would have been pretty to walk through if the weather was nicer, but with temps in the 20s and light snow we opted for another indoor activity.
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Our next stop was SMK The National Gallery of Denmark. We headed to the cafe first for a snack and some warm beverages before walking around and exploring the galleries. The museum is not that large, so you can easily see everything in a couple of hours.
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Next we headed to Torvehallerne market which is made up of over 60 stands selling everything from gourmet chocolate and take away food, to fresh produce and meat. It reminded us a lot of Chelsea Market here in the city. We stopped at The Coffee Collective for some lattes before heading off to dinner.
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The following day we walked over to Nyhavn, which was one of the more touristy areas we saw. We mostly just wanted to take some photos, but saw that they were offering canal tours and made a mental note to stop back by there later in the day. This area is probably most known for being where the fairy tale author Hans Christian Anderson lived for many years. The bright and colorful buildings are mostly filled with restaurants and bars and during the summer months this would be a fun place to hang out.
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Our second stop of the day was Amalienborg Palace, where the Danish royal family still resides. We walked up just before the changing of the guard ceremony, but opted to beat the inevitable crowd and go ahead and start our tour before everyone headed inside. While it was cool to see, I found Rosenborg Castle more interesting. If you just have time for one, I would skip this and do that instead.
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Next we headed to the Danish Design Museum which we really enjoyed. Admission is free to anyone under age 26. We happened to be there on the very last day of the Erik Mortensen fashion exhibit (one of the former designers for Balmain) which was really interesting to walk through. We’re used to the massive fashion exhibits that the MET does every year, and this was on par with that. After walking through the museum, we stopped into the museum cafe for a break and a snack. These museum cafes have excellent food!
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Feeling refueled and refreshed, we headed back over to Nyhavn for a canal tour. I always find guided tours interesting for the facts and information you learn about the place that you wouldn’t necessarily get otherwise. It was also fun to change up our perspective and see the city via boat instead of our own two feet. It was pretty chilly out on the water though, this would definitely be a better activity in the warmer months.
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On our last day, we only had a few short hours before we had to head to the airport. We started the day by walking over to Tivoli Gardens. It was actually closed during the time we were in Copenhagen, but Shelby wanted to see it anyway. It’s the second oldest amusement park in the world (the oldest is actually also located in Denmark) and has been open for 174 years!
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We spent the rest of the morning popping into stores like Artium and Illums Bolighus and Flying Tiger. We stopped at The Coffee Collective for one last latte, picked up our bags at the hotel, and headed off to the airport!
If you missed any of our insta stories from the trip, we have added a story highlight on our profile where everything is saved. Watch our travel vlog below!
-Ash