My second trip to Copenhagen was part of a family trip through the Balkans on a cruise departing from Copenhagen. Joined by my parents, siblings, my son Freddie, and siblings’ partners, there were 11 of us in total. Our second family cruise, having previously travelled together on a cruise from Rome in 2022.
My first trip to Copenhagen was in 2024, and it was a rather condensed experience of trying to squeeze all the main sights in. So this time, my Copenhagen itinerary was essentially to eat a Copenhagen hot dog, eat the food in Warpigs, step foot in Tivoli Gardens, and take a day trip to Malmö. To save you the suspense of grinding your teeth whilst reading, waiting to find out was I successful, I’ll save you the pain and let you know, I was indeed successful.
We arrived, luggage in tow at Copenhagen Central where it had been raining heavily. We can fast forward the uber to our hotel, and jump straight in to its location. We stayed in CABINN Copenhagen, located next to the bus terminal and close to the Meat Packing District (which is now renowned for its night life rather than its meat packing). The hotel was affordable (for Copenhagen), and whilst slightly out of the way, it was an incredible location.
Straight off the bat, we were straight into my itinerary, and walked to Warpigs, conveniently located in the nearby Meat Packing District.
Operated by Mikkeler, one of the breweries at the forefront of the burgeoning European craft brewery scene, Warpigs is a perfect place to drink good beer and eat good food. I ordered one of the share platters with Amy, and we tucked in, and as I write this, I would be tempted to return to Copenhagen just for this.
The group split up post-barbecue as my Mum needed to get a phone for the trip as she lost hers, whilst the rest of us waited at St. Pauli 54, a bar themed after the Hamburg based football club, located relatively close to the Meat Packing District.
When the group reunited, we stayed here for a bit before heading back to our hotel for our trip to Malmö the following day (Copenhagen bucket list item number 2).
We booked train tickets and took off, Malmö. My first time in Sweden. Everyone in the groups first time in Sweden. And a city that left nice memories all around.
We emerged from Malmö central, and drifted towards Lilla Torg Square – a square adorned with timber framed buildings – like something from medieval times.
We walked from here towards the castle, through the marvellous houses on Hyregatan street.
The Castle itself was nothing special, I was more intrigued by the windmill outside the moat around it.
We stopped for food in Max Burgers, a Swedish burger chain. And if you’ve followed this blog for a while, you’ll know I endeavour to find the best burgers when travelling somewhere new – and I’m pleased to say Max Burgers made the list.
We had one thing left to do in Malmö before making our return to Copenhagen, the Ukrainian Beer Bar, a bar set up by Ukrainians, selling Ukrainian beer (and wine in their sister bar, the Ukrainian wine bar). Whilst offering commentary on current events with their decor.
We can fast forward to the next morning in Copenhagen from here.
When in Denmark, you have to eat the local cuisine, right? Especially when it comes in pastry form, and Danish pastries blow French pastries out of the water. Holm bakery was the first we had encountered, and it absolutely hit the mark
After scoffing pastry, we checked out Tivoli Gardens, the amusement park in central Copenhagen occupying the space between the train station and city centre. It’s the second oldest amusement park in the world. It was founded in 1853 when Georg Carstensen persuaded King Christian VIII for his blessing to use the land for a park with the words “when the people are amusing themselves, they do not think about politics“. What was Walt Disney’s motivation?..
The gardens themselves are spectacular, even if you’re not riding any rides, drawing inspiration from world architecture, and you have ample choices of eateries to fill your stomach.
We eventually left the park, and stumbled across a Freddie friendly activity, a kid’s disco. Byhaven Pumpehuset is a cultural venue in Copenhagen city centre, often offering free concerts, but on this particular occasion, there happened to be a kid’s disco ongoing just as we passed – so we called in and allowed Freddie to dance his socks off (he couldn’t walk at this stage, but he did indeed bop along to the music).
That afternoon, me, my Dad and my brothers attended Boldklubben 1893 vs Hellerup in the north of the city. B.93 are 9 times Danish football champions, but they now linger in the 3rd division. When other Copenhagen based clubs merged in 1992 to form FC Copenhagen, B93 continued to operate independently, and have lived in FC Copenhagen’s shadow metaphorically and literally since, with FC Copenhagen’s much larger stadium next to B93s Østerbro stadium.
Hellerup are a local rival to B93, hailing from the district just to the North of the Østerbro stadium, so you could say this was a local derby, one that B93 won 3-0 (wooo).
We watched the first half from the main stand, and moved pitchside for the second half for a memorable victory, leaving the ground hoping we are the catalyst for B93 to ascend back up the Danish football pyramid. Watch this space.
At the game, I did manage to try a Danish hot dog. I can’t say they’re anything special. I didn’t think they would be, but I almost forgot to write about it despite it being a goal to achieve on the trip.
When we finally made it back to the hotel, it was time to call it a night, as the following morning was our embarkation day.
The final morning, myself and my mother were some of the first to wake, so whilst walking with Freddie, we took a (very long) detour to the centre so Mum could see the Hans Christian Andersen statue. And I think that’s an apt place to leave this piece.
