24 Hour Layover in Copenhagen
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After we left warm and sunny Santorini, we flew back to Athens on Aegean Air and switched flights to leave Greece. We got a great flight deal on SAS, which has a major hub in Copenhagen. Though we nearly ran through the CPH airport on our way to Zakynthos, we were excited for a 24-hour layover in Copenhagen on our return flight.
When we landed, we grabbed a taxi, checked in at the Scandic Palace, which is located near the Tivoli Gardens entrance, dropped off our luggage, and swung by the concierge desk before heading out to explore the city. We told the concierge that we wanted to experience as much of the Danish culture as possible in 24 hours and requested a few of her top suggestions.
Tivoli Gardens in downtown Copenhagen is the second-oldest operating amusement park, and second-most popular seasonal theme park, in the world.
We knew we wouldn’t have enough time in the city to wander with our usual “let’s get lost” lack of direction, so we decided to do a Hop On Hop Off boat tour of Copenhagen. We walked directly to the booth by the water to purchase our tickets for the last boat tour of the evening. Since we missed lunch and had only about 10 minutes before the boat left, we are not ashamed to admit that we purchased sushi from 711. That’s right, sushi from 711. In Copenhagen. And you know what? It was actually decent.
We made it back to the boat with about a minute to spare, and enjoyed a wonderful tour of the city. The boat tour guides were incredible, and we were impressed by the sheer number of languages they spoke fluently. The tour brought us past some of the top attractions in Copenhagen, including the statue of the Little Mermaid, the beautiful spiral tower of the Church of our Savior, and under some extremely low bridges. (Seriously, don’t stand up, and keep your arms down.) The guides were hilarious, and one even sang a quick melody as we passed under the final bridge. The best part of the boat tour was that it provided a great overview of the city, which was really important to us so that we’d be able to maximize our time the following day. We lingered for a while at Nyhavn (pronounced like “new-hown”) with its iconic canal views before we were ready to make our way to dinner.
Nyhavn is a 17th century canal and entertainment district in Copenhagen. The canal is famous for the row of brightly-colored townhouses, bars, cafes, and restaurants lining its northern side.
We wanted to try something a bit more authentic for dinner, and our concierge quickly made us a reservation at one of her favorite restaurants, Väkst. Denmark excels at living sustainably, and Väkst was no exception. The large greenhouse in the center of the dining room and rustic garden furniture were designed to give the feel of dining outside, inside. It felt very Danish, which made it all the more surpising when our waiter greeted us with a distinctly American accent! While we were both a little taken aback to stumble across another American so far from home, we spent most of the evening chatting about what to do, and where to eat, in Copenhagen. The dinner itself was fun, delicious, and in a uniquely beautiful setting. We highly recommend it for a night out!
The next morning, we woke early, got ready, and enjoyed breakfast at our hotel. We set out to explore the city again, starting with the beautiful central square called Rådhuspladsen (pronounced sort of like “rah-hush-pla-sin”), then heading down the main pedestrian street called Strøget (pronounced kind of like “stroy-it”) to Gammeltorv (Danish for “Old Market”)—the oldest square in Copenhagen. The city has reputation of being extremely clean and well cared for, and we found this to be quite accurate. We didn’t see a single piece of trash on the ground.
Though we originally planned to go to Tivoli Gardens, we called an audible due to the fairly chilly weather and our limited time. Our goal for the day was just to take in as much of the city as we could before we headed out to the airport. We explored on foot, walking past adorable flower shops, bicycles upon bicycles, and cute cafes. Some areas of Copenhagen (like the Little Mermaid) are a bit removed from the city center, but the majority city itself is very navigable by foot if you’re interested in walking — our favorite mode of transportation when traveling.
When we finally couldn’t wait a minute longer, we grabbed our luggage from our hotel and hopped in a taxi back to the airport to head back home to our babies. This was the first trip we took after Victoria was born, so our departure brought bittersweet feelings of excitement to see the kids and sadness for this adventure to end.
There is public transportation available, but we chose taxi travel to and from the airport to help maximize our time in Copenhagen. During our ride, we chatted about how we’d love to have more time in Denmark — to see more than just Copenhagen, to go to Tivoli Gardens, and to find the famed Danish licorice called Lakrids that we must’ve missed during our stroll. When we were walking through the airport, we were delighted to see a small store stocked with Lakrids and picked up a few containers to bring home. If you’d like to try it before you travel to Copenhagen, you can now order it in the US via Amazon Prime! Don’t worry, Copenhagen, we’ll still be back.
Unkempt Adventures Travel Tip: If you’re visiting a country where you don’t speak the language, we recommend learning a few key words in that country’s native language: “please,” “thank you,” “yes,” “no,” and “hello” at minimum. We’ve found that locals typically appreciate the effort, even if they can immediately tell that you’re not fluent. For those of you who haven’t traveled internationally much, we understand this can be daunting. We’ve found that the hotel concierge is often happy to help with dining reservations and other arrangements via phone, which might otherwise be too intimidating. We recommend that you politely ask rather than miss out on a great experience.