Copenhagen - 3 fun-filled days in the happiest city in the world

The first view one gets of the city of Copenhagen from an overnight cruise from Oslo is the windmills on the harbour. The sight is stunning and sets the tone for tourists waiting impatiently to disembark the ship.

First view of Copenhagen harbour from inside our cabin

Copenhagen is a beautiful city with its vast open vistas, canals and roads running alongside, its beautiful palaces, bicycle lanes and gardens. Add to this mix is the people of the city who are helpful and friendly. 

We start our trip with a visit to Nyhavn, the harbour front lined with houses with colourful outer facades. This place is every bit touristy and bustling with people from across the globe. This is the place where all the water ferries start, they run very frequently so waiting time is negligible. 

One can see the entire city
on a tour of this canal!

This is the best way to see all of  Copenhagen in about an hour, the Christiansborg Palace, Amalienborg Palace, Black Diamond Library, Opera house and the little mermaid. It's a good way to start your vacation in Copenhagen. 

The famous Nyhavn Canal

After seeing the city from the canal, we set out to see the Christiansborg Palace. It's about a 10-12 minute walk from Nyhavn where the ferry dropped us off but not before gorging on Danish ice cream. The street next to the canal is lined with eateries and ice cream parlours, and you will find people sitting on the roadside licking ice creams as they watch ferries come and go.  

The palace has many wings, the most popular being the Royal Reception rooms and the palace chapel. Tickets are easily available at the counter at the palace itself. The palace houses the Danish Parliament, the PM's office and the Supreme Court of Denmark. We were happy to discover that a lot of information was written on placards next to most attractions inside the palace. 

The palace reception rooms are a historical heritage of Denmark and are a treat to watch.

Fun fact - The term 'green room' originated in this palace. A room with all green tapestries was used as a changing room by the kings' performers in the palace, so the name stuck. 

'The royal 'Green rooms'

One can easily spend about two to three hours wandering in the palace and absorbing the interesting bits of information about the royal household. 

Don't miss the impressive spire on top...
Copenhagen is called the City of Spires!

You can spend the rest of the evening loitering around Nyhavn or walking along Strøget, the longest pedestrian street in Europe. The street has everything, premium brand outlets like Gucci and Louis Vuitton and everyday shopping brands like Zara and H&M. There are also some old buildings and attractions that you can see as you shop.  

I had read a lot about the expression 'Hygge' in Danish, in English it would roughly translate to an overall feeling of well-being. I think what we experienced in that street on that day was hygge! 

Day Two - We start this day with a visit to Amalienborg Palace. We had seen the stunning palace from our canal boat trip and a closer look sounds like a good idea. 

En route to the palace, we came across this bakery, the name eludes me, but one billion flies were certainly not wrong! 

We ate a sandwich made of local rye bread, that was to die for and a danish pastry. Interestingly, the Danes don't call their pastry danish.   

Amalienborg is the residence of the royal family but parts of it are open to the public as a museum. The private chambers of the king and queen can also be seen on a guided tour on most days. Please check the tour dates and timings beforehand. 

There are four quarters in the castle square and in its centre is a great photo opportunity in front of the impressive statue of King Fredrik the Fifth, the creator of Amalienborg.     

Also, there is a change of Danish Royal Lifeguards every day at noon. 

        

Exactly opposite to Amalineborg is the

impressive modern structure of the Royal Danish Opera. 

                                                       

There is a nice walking path alongside the water body as you step out of the Amanlienborg palace. The entire area is adorned with stunning artwork including the iconic Little Mermaid. 

On route to the mermaid is the magnificent sculpture of 'Gefionspringvandet', a fountain that depicts the story of the Norse Goddess Gefion and her oxen pulling a plough. 

The sculpture suddenly appears on the path leaving the pedestrians awe-struck by its sheer size and intricately carved stonework. We clicked many pictures around the fountain but none of them does justice to this beautiful piece of craftsmanship. 

One has to stop every now and then to inspect some interesting piece of art on this path. 

   

And finally, we reach the Little Mermaid.... for the uninitiated, this little mermaid is the central character of a fairytale written by Danish Author Hans Christian Andersen. The petite statue has been made by Edward Eriksen. We spent a whole hour around the area trying to figure out the reason why this statue is so very famous? Honestly couldn't find one! But then that holds true for so many tourist attractions, they are famous because tourists throng them to see them. And why do tourists want to see this little statue? My husband answered the question for me. He asked me that would I leave Copenhagen without seeing the little mermaid? I said no, obviously. So, we took a picture for keepsake and bid goodbye to the little nymph!

Such amazing artwork is practically strewn all over town....every nook and corner is worth a picture!

We had done our fair share of walking for the day, so in the evening we decided to dine at a local bistro to try out some local delicacies. Some rye bread again and a danish! 

Day Three, we head to the Round tower. The tower is open all days of the week and can be a fun outing. It dates back to the 17th century and is still a functional observatory. 

There are so steps inside the tower, just a wide spiral ramp to walk on. One can see the entire city of Copenhagen from the top. The climb sounded quite tough in the beginning but the slope is gradual and an easy climb. There were massive crowds at the entrance. Although, once inside, so one should keep aside at least an hour to look around. 

Day three also happened to be our last evening in Copenhagen. A trip to this beautiful had to end on a high. And what better high than a trip to the iconic Tivoli Gardens!

Tivoli Gardens, I learnt, is the second oldest amusement park in the world, preceded by the oldest, Bakken, which also happens to be in Denmark. We have been to many amusement parks, Disneyland in Hong Kong, La Aventura in Barcelona, and Canada's Wonderland to name a few. But Tivoli has an unmistakable old-world charm. The rides are familiar, nothing exceptional but the overall experience of visiting an amusement park that was built as early as 1843 is enough to get anyone's adrenaline pumping.

   

We stayed for a better part of the evening in the park to see it all light up as night fell.