Copenhagen and Malmo City Break

Because why just visit one city?!

Recommended days	2
Budget	£
Difficulty	Easy

Copenhagen wouldn’t have been my choice for my first city break of 2020 but it was Sofia’s choice so who was I to argue? I did manage to add in a trip to Malmo as it was so close it seemed silly not to and the advantage of going with Sofia was that she wouldn’t have a huge list of places to see and eat at!

Our Copenhagen and Malmo City Break

The break started with the alarm going off at 4.45 which was not a good thing. Although I’d been up by then for the last three days, typically my body chose today to plan a lie in. We dressed and went downstairs to get the shuttle to the airport for the guy to inform us that the T5 bus took 45 mins. This would have given us 45 mins to get through security and board before take off so we had to get a taxi instead.

T5 was very pleasant but it took us 45 minutes from arrival to get to the get and we were able to board straight away. I think we’d have delayed the whole plane if we had taken the shuttle so there’s a lesson for next time. Which I will of course forget.

On the flight the steward told me that because I’d been in the BA Executive Club for 10 years I could have a free drink so that was jolly nice of BA. We watched the sunrise and were soon landing to a chilly Copenhagen.

Malmo

With the skill of a seasoned traveller and lots of luck we got the correct train to Malmo and walked towards the castle. This was somewhere I’d wanted to visit for a while and it was only a 15 minute walk from the station through the very quiet and very pleasant town.

Malmo Castle

We did a circuit of the castle moat and looked at the impressive ramparts and bastions and less impressive scaffolding and tarpaulin. We crossed the bridge into the courtyard and 3 sides were modern 1930’s buildings and just one was an original.

The museum area contained an excellent aquarium and natural history museum as well as a dinosaur section. I think there was an exhibition about refugees on the top floor too but I couldn’t see anything about the actual castle and it’s history other than a couple of information boards so that was disappointing.

We took a different route back to see a bit more of the town and stopped in Surf Shack for lunch. Hindsight is a wonderful thing but if I go there again I will order either a meal or a shake, not both! The shake was a litre of ice cream with stuff added and was utterly delicious and also almost half my daily calorie intake! The burger and sweet potato fries were also nice to be fair. They just needed to supply a pillow too so we could sleep off the exertion of eating it all!

Copenhagen

We meandered back to the station and then took a very clean and quiet train to central Copenhagen. Our hotel was only 5 minutes walk which was great – we checked in, dumped our stuff and sat down for a most welcome cuppa!

Our Accomodation

We were staying at the Imperial Hotel, very central to minimise walking, and had a decent sized room on the fourth floor. It was nice to find somewhere that catered for modernity by having plenty of power sockets and USB charging ports as well as a decent desk!

Copenhagen: Tivoli

It was starting to get dark by then (3PM!) so I sorted my notes and planned tomorrow’s route while Sofia had a snooze. She woke around 5.30 and we decided to visit Tivoli before the weekend crowds made it too manic.

It was only a few minutes walk away and was quite lovely, decorated for winter and lit up. The crowds were bearable and it was very nice to have a wander around, fortified by a warming Irish Coffee. I’d forgotten how large the gardens were and we spent nearly 2 hours there and that was without doing any rides or sitting down for food. It was good that prices were sensible for people who just wanted to visit rather than do the rides, I think it was about £12 each.

We stopped for a quick snack on the way back to the hotel and then I ran myself a deliciously warming bath – luxury – the only ones that use the bath at home are the dogs! After an hours soak I was looking like an albino prune, fat and wrinkled so I clambered out to get ready for bed. A long day and we’d been in 3 countries already in 2020!

The next morning I slept through til almost 7 and Sofia was unconscious until I managed to drag her awake at 8 and eventually we got down to breakfast at 9.30. Luckily I didn’t have any must sees as they were already covered on my previous visit.

Breakfast was pretty decent, very courteous service and a good selection to fill us up for the day. We finally managed to head out until the drizzle around 10.30 for what turned out to be a four hour rambling circuit of the parks and docks. The city centre has lots of green areas and we walked from one to another before doing a circuit of the star fort at Kastellet and seeing the Little Mermaid.

Copenhagen: Botanical Gardens

The highlight was in the Botanical Gardens where a couple were feeding a very tame heron and I took more photos there than everywhere else we had visited so far! The parks and gardens were all very well kept and clean, lovely to see.

Copenhagen: Kastellet

Kastellet was built in the 17th century as a classic star fort and was used in battle against both the Swedes and us Brits. It didn’t do much in the second world war and is now mainly a public park. There are still cannon on the battlements and the original gates and bridge are still there. We walked around and through the defences and then followed the waterfront to the Little Mermaid statue.

We arrived along with a party of Chinese tourists so we let them take their selfies and then took our own pictures once we were almost alone. It was still overcast so the poor thing looked very forlorn as we left her and followed the waterside south past the royal palaces of Amalienborg and the coach load of American tourists.

Copenhagen: Nyhavn

There was also a bronze copy of Michelangelo’s David which looked sadly out of place in the drizzle of Northern Europe. Nyhavn was nowhere near as pretty in the winter. There was no life to the water and the painted houses lining the docks seemed washed out and instead of crowds enjoying food outside the people were shuffling along, heads down and looking for somewhere inside to escape to. I was intending to have some food there but we carried on walking until we found a burger place to Sofia’s taste.

Jagger was a decent fast food place and the pulled pork burger was delicious. I think I was the oldest person in there by about 30 years though! We were both still stuffed from breakfast so didn’t eat much and soon headed off trekking again. I had wanted to go to the Round Tower but Sofia didn’t fancy it so I’ll do that tomorrow on my own.

Her choice of destination was a ‘vintage’ (ie; charity shop clothes at designer prices) shop so I left her to it and went to Roast Coffee and sat and relaxed with a decent cup of unadulterated coffee. It was fascinating listening to the staff chat to one another about the different types of beans, obviously wasted on me and more for connoisseurs but a relaxing interlude none the less.

Once Sofia was done shopping we slowly walked back to the hotel and our room. When we got inside the combination of painkillers and hobbling everywhere caught up with me and my ‘I’ll just rest my eyes’ turned into nearly two hours of deep sleep! I woke up feeling refreshed but still not at all hungry, very strange.

We frittered some time away then headed out for the evening, this time to the area near the City Hall which was very pretty and we found somewhere Sofia would actually eat. She declined the Vietnamese place so we went to Shawarma Grill House so she could have kebabs, she does love traditional food that girl! It was excellent value and we could actually see it all being prepared and cooked. For a fast food place the service was very good and it was nice to sit down and eat in the warm.

We decided to do some more walking and then stopped for a coffee at one of the many Espresso Houses. Sofia had a hot chocolate that was absolutely superb. The place was very pleasant, although it was a chain store it had a lovely homely atmosphere. I did try and tempt Sofia with a mini Berliner too but she declined so I had to eat two! That was also the first place in Denmark we saw people that were fat – everywhere else they have been slim or super skinny!

After that it was back to the hotel for another relaxing soak in the bath and to warm up, despite the gluttony and coats it was pretty chilly in the evening. It was actually gone midnight by the time we went to bad and due to the above mentioned gluttony it was a very restless sleep and I actually woke up at 8:40. Eight fourty AM! I am surprised my Fitbit didn’t vibrate due to suspected death! Ridiculous. To be fair, the sound of the heavy rain was actually quite soothing too!

Copenhagen: Round Tower

After another very filling breakfast we were finally ready to head out and explore by 11AM! By then the sun was starting to come out so the delay was useful. We walked back to the square with the city hall in and did some photos then took a very meandering route to the Round Tower. Sofia still wasn’t sure about going in but I dragged her and we slowly spiralled our way to the top.

There were lovely views from the top to the Oresund Bridge and the art gallery downstairs was great too. Very relaxing and accessible modern art. The actual building itself is fascinating too with lovely old windows and a brick tiled floor that makes for an interesting texture. The bell tower exhibit was interesting too and everything was also in English. Certainly well worth the £2.50 fee.

Copenhagen: Rosenborg Castle Gardens

We continued the theme of meandering and headed to Rosenborg Castle Gardens, by now in glorious sunshine. The castle is a beautiful building and the grounds are dotted with statues and formal displays, although there wasn’t much greenery in January! There were plenty of information boards in English too. The moat was full of fish and lots of families were in the grounds, feeding the fish and ducks. It was, again, litter free too.

We walked back to the hotel via the parks we had come through yesterday and packed up, ready to head to the train station. Initially I wasn’t that interested in coming here but a second visit was actually an excellent time to appreciate the beautiful architecture and relaxed pace of the city.

We felt totally safe all the time and it was so nice to walk clean streets with people that a self respect that seems sadly lacking at home. Maybe I’m reading too much into the fact that we stayed in and visited the city centre though and the outer districts may be more run down and crime ridden as they would be in the UK.

2020