Copenhagen, the classic and the new

Palaces and power plants

Copenhagen wears its history lightly. Christian IV’s Rosenborg, built between 1606 and 1634, still keeps the crown jewels in its Treasury; the Royal Life Guard still marches every day from its barracks to Amalienborg for the changing of the guard; and under Christiansborg you can walk among the ruins of Bishop Absalon’s castle of 1167.

Beside them a newer city has risen. On Amager, CopenHill puts a ski slope and a hiking trail on the roof of a waste-to-energy plant; on the harbour, BLOX houses the Danish Architecture Center; and Børsen, Christian IV’s stock exchange of 1625, is being rebuilt after the fire of April 2024.

The sights of Copenhagen →

A harbour you can swim in

The harbour is the city’s great public space. At Islands Brygge, across the bridge from the centre, the harbour bath has five pools and diving towers, with the water checked every day before swimmers are let in; the yellow electric harbour buses zig-zag between nine stops from Sluseholmen to Orientkaj; and to the north Nordhavn is growing into a district of its own on the water.

Parks and harbour baths →   Bikes and boats →

Tivoli and the seasons

Tivoli has opened its gates since 15 August 1843, and the city still keeps time by it: summer from late March to late September, Halloween in October, and Christmas in Tivoli from 13 November 2026 to 3 January 2027. December brings gløgg, Christmas beer and the great tree on City Hall Square.

Christmas in Copenhagen →

Smørrebrød and New Nordic

Lunch is still smørrebrød, built on rye with herring, beef, seafood or egg; Schønnemann has served it since 1877. Dinner can be the cooking that put Copenhagen on the culinary map: the New Nordic movement began here in 2004 with a ten-point manifesto, and in the 2026 MICHELIN Guide the city has two Three-Star restaurants, Geranium and Kadeau, and four with Two Stars. In August 2026 Noma came home.

Danish Cuisine →   The best restaurants in Copenhagen →

The city of design

On Amagertorv three houses tell the story of Danish design: Royal Copenhagen, founded as the Royal Porcelain Factory in 1775, in a Renaissance house of 1616; Georg Jensen, the silversmith of 1904; and Illums Bolighus, dating back to 1925. Designmuseum Danmark, on Bredgade, is the national museum of design.

Shopping in Copenhagen →   Designmuseum Danmark →

Opera, theatre and jazz

The Royal Danish Theatre plays on three stages: the Old Stage on Kongens Nytorv, Henning Larsen’s Opera House on Holmen, with a ceiling of 105,000 sheets of gold leaf, and the Playhouse on the harbour. Jean Nouvel’s DR Koncerthuset is in Ørestad, and each July the Copenhagen Jazz Festival fills the city.

Arts & Culture →

Over the Øresund

The airport is about 15 minutes away by Metro or train, and the Øresund trains cross the bridge to Malmö in Sweden; up the coast, the trains reach Louisiana at Humlebæk and Kronborg at Helsingør, and west, Roskilde and its Viking ships.

Malmö and the Øresund Bridge →   ULTIMATE Rail Journeys →

A city of film

Nordisk Film has made films in Valby since 1906, in the world’s oldest still active film studios, and Cinemateket, the national film house near Kongens Nytorv, shows films from Denmark and the world, with a rooftop cinema in summer. See our page Copenhagen on film.

Copenhagen on film →

Questions and answers