Best What to Do At Copenhagen Day 2023

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Greetings, Internet Stranger! I’m Stella Jane, author of the travel guide Get Lost, and welcome to a what to do at Copenhagen day! If you are a child, or merely, like myself, a child at heart, you cannot miss the magical Tivoli Gardens. It is the second oldest amusement park in the world, full of rides, music, and candy.

However, the one thing Tivoli Gardens is missing, in this writer’s humble opinion, is gourmet treats to eat. So to have a perfect what to do at Copenhagen day, I recommend starting with a mouthwatering food tour of some of Copenhagen’s most delectable goodies, following that with a trip to a museum, and then whiling away your evening at the amusement park.

What to do at Copenhagen day

Morning: Copenhagen Food Tour

Until fairly recently in human history, Denmark was not internationally known for its food, unless by food you mean butter cookies. Then in the early 2000s, a restaurant named Noma opened in Copenhagen and changed all of that. Noma is regularly ranked one of the best restaurants in the world, and it did more to put Scandinavian cuisine on the map than anyone since the Swedish Chef.

There are lots of wonderful “New Nordic” restaurants following in Noma’s footsteps, doing the haute Scandinavian cuisine thing, but to my mind the most exciting result of this interest in Danish food was the opening of insanemazing food hall Torvehallerne in 2011.

This delightful temple to Danish gastronomy contains everything from venison sausages to pizza, and it is here that your food tour will begin.

I know you’ll be so jealous of everything I ate that you’ll want to find out how to do it yourself right away. To book this amazing food tour experience for yourself, it’s easy to do.

Check rates and availability right here!

24 Hour TIP

Definitely don’t eat breakfast on your what to do at Copenhagen day–you’re getting more than enough food to keep you full. But I do recommend coming to Torvehallerne a little before the tour starts so you can feast your eyes on the deliciousness and get a cup of coffee. I can’t stress enough how good the coffee in Copenhagen is.

Don’t worry if you’re not a coffee drinker! They have lovely tea lattes at Torvehallerne as well. But if you do drink coffee, you’re in for a very special treat.

Now it’s time for the food tour to begin! Our guide was an upbeat French-Danish young woman who expertly educated us about the wonders of Danish food all the while helping us stuff our faces like there was no tomorrow.

I don’t want to spoil all her secrets, but I will be happy to introduce you to…

Approximately top 5: Danish eats

1) food from bornholm

Bornholm is a bucolic island located off the east coast of Denmark, and we kicked our tour off here with a plate of jams, crackers, and sweets from this magical place. Apparently there’s also a fantastic restaurant on Bornholm called Kadeau, but I couldn’t go there when I was in Denmark because the restaurant was on summer vacation.

I don’t understand that! In New York City, we never go on vacation when there’s an opportunity to make money!

2) Snacking in the Botanical Gardens

The Botanical Gardens in Copenhagen are gorgeous even on a day when it is about to start pouring rain, like the one pictured above. Our guide–let’s pretend her name was Marie–bought us some cherries at a pushcart at the entrance to the gardens. I really believe that no one who has fresh cherries to eat on a summer’s day can ever be sad.

Later, she gave us some tastes of honey made with the Botanical Gardens’ very own bees! That is so logical for a botanical gardens to make its own honey. After all, what else are you going to do with all those flowers to make money? At last, the Danes are thinking practically.

3) Danish Candy

Next, we stopped at a historic shop to get sucking candy. I don’t mean candy that is really terrible, but rather delicious candy that you suck on until it disappears, leaving you with a sticky tongue and beautiful memories.

Danes are excellent at making candy. We are going to get plenty more at Tivoli Gardens this evening on our what to do at Copenhagen day, so don’t fill up here!

4) Danish craft beer

Everyone knows that Carlsberg beer comes from Denmark. However, since you can get Carlsberg anywhere on the planet, I don’t really think you want to go all the way to Copenhagen just to taste it. But did you also know that craft beer is on the rise in Copenhagen? 

We sampled three different beers at the adorable Norrebro Brygghus, and you can see from my picture above that the sample size was decently large. As a New Yorker, my favorite was the flavorful Kings County Brown Ale. (Kings County is another name for Brooklyn, which is where some people say the craft beer revival comes from.)

5) Danish hot dogs

This part is probably me showing my ignorance, but I had no idea that hot dogs were extremely popular in Copenhagen. I basically thought that Danes subsisted off of herring, aquavit, and bicycles. But boy are we about to get an education in Danish hot doggerel because those tasty beasts are all over the city.

We stopped at a promisingly crowded cart called Hanegal Hot Dogs, which is actually an organic hot dog stand. That is definitely not something you see a lot in New York City unless the dirty water they store the hot dogs in is made from organic bacteria or something.

You can even choose the meat you want on your hot dog or get it vegetarian. I had mine Danish style with mustard and pungent pickles, but no ketchup (and definitely not vegetarian).

6) flodeboller

My favorite thing that we ate on the tour was actually the last stop when we returned to Torvehallerne: a Danish sweet called a flodeboller, which is a chocolate-covered ball that can be stuffed with a variety of fillings, though often marzipan is part of it. Marzipan is my absolute favorite candy, so this plump ball of goodness was right up my alley.

I’ve been made aware that some people in this world do not like marzipan. Unless they are actually allergic to almonds, these people have very bad taste and do not deserve to read my blog.

7) smørrebrød

Of course, no Danish food tour could be complete without the wonders of smørrebrød! In Denmark, these open-faced sandwiches are considered a real art form, and I can certainly say they are more nutritious and delicious than any Jackson Pollock I have ever eaten.

You actually get to eat all four of these sandwiches by your lønesøme on the tour, which is an amazing value: a fish with lemon caper sauce, a herring salad with bacon, a shrimpy, and a roast beef. Some people might be scared of trying herring, but I am here to tell you that bacon makes everything better.

24 Hour Tip

That’s all for the food tour, but I promise that I didn’t share even half the fun facts and tips I learned. If you want to experience all that amazing Danish food for yourself, you just need to reserve a spot on the tour!

Check rates and availability right here!

what to do at Copenhagen day

Afternoon: Glyptotek

We’ve already talked about Carlsberg beer, now let’s talk about the slightly less famous Carlsberg art collection. The Glyptotek Museum is dedicated to the art collection of the (now deceased) Carl Jacobsen, who was the son of the founder of Carlsberg Brewery.

You could spend many hours in this museum, but we don’t have many hours on our what to do at Copenhagen day because Tivoli Gardens is waiting for us. Let’s limit ourselves to

The approximately top 5: glyptotek edition

1) The Winter Garden

Even if you are one of those tedious people who hate museums, the Glyptotek is worth it just for its stunning Winter Garden. There are palm trees inside! And you might be able to guess that it’s not very common to find palm trees in Copenhagen.

That means even if you’re enjoying your what to do at Copenhagen day in winter, you can pretend you are relaxing in a tropical clime. All museums should have a Winter Garden like this.

2) The Roman Gallery

The Glyptotek has an amazing collection of Roman sculptures, which happen to be a passion of mine. One of my favorite television shows is the miniseries I, Claudius, so I was exactly as excited to find this place as you might be to see a hall full of busts of Mandalorian characters, Internet Stranger!

Here’s Claudius himself, looking very handsome. (The real Claudius was apparently not so physically appealing, but I guess one benefit of being Emperor of Rome is that people don’t post unflattering busts of you on Facebook.)

And here’s Agrippina the Younger, aka the sister of Caligula. In the miniseries, Caligula does a lot of really bad things to her. Like, whatever you’re imagining now, I promise you that what he does is way worse than that. Think of the worst thing a brother could do to his sister and then double it.

3) Lions

It seems like lions are kind of a thing at the Glyptotek. There are two statues of green lions posed at the entrance. They have this face of the Egyptian lion goddess Sakhmet in their ancient sculpture collection.

Then there’s this guy guarding the Egyptian wing. I feel like a lion is a fine symbol for a museum because at night when all the statues come to life, a lion or two could do a really good job scaring away intruders.

4) Van gogh roses

The Glyptotek doesn’t only have aged sculptures of emperor heads and lion heads. It also has some contemporary art, and by that I mean Van Gogh.

You can always recognize a Van Gogh painting right away. There’s something about these roses that screams, “I’m going to paint some pretty flowers, and then I’m going to cut my own ear off.”

5) Romeo and Juliet by Man Ray

I must admit that the first time I saw this work, I didn’t see how the title could suit the piece. Romeo and Juliet look like Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes, not a yellow curtain suspended over two giant teeth floating in the night sky next to a napkin ring, or whatever this abstract nonsense is.

But then I started looking at it more closely and it reminded me of all the quotes about moon and stars in R + J. I wondered what it would look like to cut someone who died up up in little stars and put them into the sky, like Juliet says should be done with Romeo. Is that supposed to be “th’inconstant moon” in the background?

Surrealist paintings, like Shakespeare’s plays, can be very absorbing. In a way, they are as absorbing as your iPhone if you know how to look at them.

What to do at Copenhagen day

Evening: Tivoli Gardens

It’s time to finish our what to do at Copenhagen day at Tivoli Gardens! Tivoli Gardens is about 175 years and still as pretty as a picture. You can definitely tell that the park dates from the Victorian Era because the architecture either looks like The Crystal Palace or a copy of famous Asian buildings. Asian copies were all the rage in Europe in the 19th century.

The park is even prettier lit up at night!

24 Hour TIP

I recommend buying your admission ticket and an unlimited ride pass for Tivoli Gardens ahead of time.

Go ahead and do that online here.

That way all you have to do is show your printout at the ticket office instead of waiting on a long line.

If you like amusement park rides, bite the bullet and get the unlimited ride ticket. It will save you time and money because you won’t have to keep buying tickets inside Tivoli Gardens. You just show your Unlimited Ride Bracelet to the attendant at the entrance of each ride and you can go right on through. Then you’ll have time for…

Approximately top 5: TREASURES OF TIVOLI GARDENS

1) Go on The Flying Trunk!

The Flying Trunk is Tivoli’s answer to “It’s a Small World”, except instead of going through different countries, you go through scenes designed to look like different Hans Christian Andersen tales.

Also, there’s no annoying music. The ride moves slowly enough that you can really appreciate the details in each scene and even take photos. Look! Here’s Elsa!

I promise all my parent readers out there that “Let It Go” is not played on this ride even once.

2) Ride the Roller Coasters!

Since Tivoli is so old, I was shocked to find that the roller coasters will satisfy any thrill junkie, and I am not just any old thrill junkie. I have been loving roller coasters since I was about five years old.

My favorite ride was Vertigo, which puts you in a little seat and whips you around back and forth until you apparently experience 5G, which means that your body feels five times heavier than usual. I usually only feel that sensation after Thanksgiving dinner.

3) Eat the Candy!

The food at Tivoli Gardens isn’t remarkable except for the candy stores. They have an infinite number of bins to choose from, and you just stuff the ones you want in your little bag and take it to be weighed and paid for.

There’s everything from gummy colas to cherry flavored vampire bats to famous Danish salted licorice. (Only try the salted licorice if you are an adventurous eater because it’s really strong!)

4) See a Concert!

There’s music of some sort going on every day at Tivoli Gardens, from classical to international. Most concerts are included with the price of admission, but some aren’t, so check first.

I was lucky to be there on a Friday in the summer, which is when rock concerts are given–these are included with the price of admission. Just keep in mind that it gets really cold in the evening, even in the summer, so dress warm!

I was really excited to see my Belle and Sebastian concert because on one of my favorite episodes of How I Met Your Mother, Ted Mosby dated a girl who was really into Belle and Sebastian, sock monkeys, and krav maga.

Belle and Sebastian were most entertaining as well as musically noteworthy. You could tell they’d done some research on Copenhagen because they kept making jokes about Malmo, a Swedish city not far from Copenhagen.

These jokes went over big with the Danish audience–is there a major Copenhagen/Malmo rivalry? In any case, I am always impressed with a rock band that knows its geography!

Let’s get started right away!

What to do at Copenhagen day

Where to Stay?

There are so many hygge places to spend your what to do at Copenhagen day that one hardly knows where to start. But Copenhagen, like the rest of Scandinavia, can be extremely expensive.

That’s why I was happy to spend my what to do at Copenhagen day at Wakeup Copenhagen Borgergade. It was in a convenient location, it was affordable, and it had a clean private room with a bathroom. Plus breakfast was included! That’s really all you can ask for.

You can book this hotel by clicking here.

And if you’d rather explore deals on tons of other hotels in Copenhagen if you click here. This search engine will help you find the perfect place to stay. With plenty of options to choose from, I’m sure you’ll find something for your schedule and budget.

That’s a Perfect what to do at Copenhagen day

What would you do on a what to do at Copenhagen day? Are you ready to start booking your hotel in Copenhagen? And is war about to break out between Copenhagen and Malmo? Please email me at stellajane@aroundtheworldin24hours.com and let me know!

Note: If you want to know how I put my travel itineraries together, just click here. Keep in mind that while each article is about how to spend 24 hours in a place, that doesn’t mean you should ONLY try a what to do at Copenhagen day

If you have time, try 24 hours in Copenhagen. You can also add 12 hours in Copenhagen. Check out a day with the best attraction in Copenhagen. Find the most unique things to do in Copenhagen.

You can also experience this great one day in Aarhus Denmark. Don’t miss this what to do Aarhus Denmark itinerary.