After years of traveling around Europe, I can now finally say I've made it to Copenhagen! My first (and certainly not last) Scandinavian city - and I already can't wait to go back. Although, I will say that my parents and I managed to pack SO MUCH into our two day trip to Denmark's capital city that I'm more than satisfied to cross it off my bucket list. Of course, Copenhagen was at the top of it.
Gosh, where to even begin? Copenhagen isn't a huge city, but it has a history that I admittedly was not familiar with. The extent of my Danish awareness is hygge and what I saw when my family and I visited Solvang, CA. But this is the exact reason why I am so passionate about travel as a way to learn about different cultures. Did you know that the Danish monarchy is one of the oldest in the world? Or that the Danes are known to be the happiest people on Earth? **Fact check: the happiest country in the world for 2023 is actually Finland, but all the Nordic countries (Denmark, Iceland, Finland, Norway, and Sweden) all rank high on this list. After experiencing Denmark firsthand, I am not at all surprised by this.
As soon as we arrived in Indre By, I was swept away by its charm and also a swarm of cyclists during the afternoon rush hour. It was intense, but I loved it. And I also love how no one locks up their bicycle. I suppose there is no need to when everyone has one of their own. We stayed in a beautiful top floor apartment right in front of the canals and Christiansborg Palace. It was in the perfect location and seriously central to everything. We walked everywhere, but had our 48-hour Copenhagen Card which allowed us to use public transport should we have wanted to. Again, we made the most of our time there and ended up checking out 4 attractions on the one full day we had. My favorites were the Canal Tour and Rosenborg Castle, but everything (plus Botanical Garden and Tivoli Gardens) we did I'd fully recommend.
I would also highly recommend each and every food spot we went to as well. I'm not sure if it's the fact that Copenhagen is a foodie's heaven or what, but everything we ate was amazing. On our first night, I booked us a table at KöD. If you're looking for a delicious meal and some quality meat, it's a must. There was a mix of locals and foreigners like us, but the experience was unforgettable. For breakfast the next day, my mom and I went to BUKA. We took a latte and pastry each. I'd say that the highlight meal for me was brunch at Mad & Kaffe before our flight back to London. The concept of personalizing your own breakfast board so you can have a bit of everything will always excite me. There were so many American students at brunch that morning that it made me low-key wish I studied abroad in Copenhagen. But I am Team Semester Abroad (no matter the destination) and will dedicate my life to the cause.
I have quite a few destinations that I want to travel to while we're on this side of the Atlantic, and with warmer weather finally here, I can't wait to check off more.
We had so much fun exploring Copenhagen and I'll forever cherish this quality time with my parents. I feel so fortunate to have had this chance to see a new city together and also to have hosted them on their recent trip to London. Growing up is such a crazy thing, but I'm feeling extremely blessed to be entering a new era.
