Copenhagen travel guide

Nyhavn means "new harbour" in Danish and is where the sailors came to shore back in the days when Denmark was a big seafaring nation. It was a rowdy place with pubs, tattoo parlours, and strip joints. Today Nyhavn is still a popular place to have a beer or a traditional Danish open-faced sandwich. The restaurants are mostly used by tourists, since locals find them overpriced. Instead, the Danes just buy beers in a shop and sit at the quay. The row of colourful town houses, which make Nyhavn so iconic, are from the 17th century and H.C. Andersen lived here for many years.

The Nørrebro neighbourhood is sometimes called Nørrebronx referring to its tough reputation. In the old days, it was a working class neighbourhood with small and dreadful apartments. Later came Middle Eastern immigrants who brought with them greengrocers who sold more exotic stuff than just potatoes and carrots. Within the last two decades, Nørrebro has reinvented itself as a trendy place to be and live (if you can afford it). The street scene is lively with plenty of funky cafes, sushi bars and interesting fashion stores. You can still find pockets of old Nørrebro with laundromats, Bollywood videos stores and dark bodegas, but they are a dying breed. The area is perfectly safe during daytime, but be more cautious during nighttime.

Nørrebrogade is lined with shawarma/kebab shops. Coming from the city centre and travelling outwards, the closer you get to Nørrebros Runddel, the higher the density becomes until it reaches a level where pretty much every shop is a shawarma joint. It is one of the cheapest places to eat in Copenhagen, but some shops are definitely better than others - try your way down.

The name for this shopping area behind the main drag Strøget means "piss gutter" and it was probably how it smelled in the old days, when the area housed livestock, home breweries, pubs and brothels. The wonderfully old buildings, most of them dating back to the 19th century, still stand today and have become a centre for alternative shopping in Copenhagen. Second-hand stores and designer fashion mix with sandwich shops and gay clubs. During nighttime on weekends, the streets resume some of its old glory (and smell) when drunk partygoers stagger from bar to bar.

For the last decade, the Copenhagen waterfront has been going through a huge transformation from naval base and industrial areas to affluent residential neighbourhoods and creative business zones. Reffen was a former industrial area, which is now turned into a trendy street kitchen market. Old shipping containers have been turned into mini kitchens, cooking up everything from pulled duck burgers and gourmet pizza to world food and ice creams - of course, all freshly made. When it rains, you can seek cover at the bar, and on sunny days you can relax at the pier with fine views of Copenhagen.

This cobblestone square is the heart of the hip and trendy part of Nørrebro. The neighbourhood has a thriving cafe scene with several cafes having outdoor seating on the square. A granite sculpture occupies the centre leaving enough space for people to hang out with cheap beers bought from the supermarket down the road. During the week, the square might be unused and empty, but on a sunny weekend, the whole place comes alive. During the summer months, Sankt Hans Torv might be the scene for street parties and festivals, but every year is different.

Not many knows this, but Christiania is not the only freetown in Copenhagen. The Shit Gutter, Lorterenden, is a cluster of about 40 shacks in the southern part of Copenhagen. A small autonomous community of mostly misfits, who rather live without electricity and running water than being part of society. Technically, the people don't have the right to live there, but the government has turned the blind eye to them for decades. However, the Shit Gutter is not a small Christiania, for out here there are no music venues, hash stands, or tourists, just old car tires, ramshackle trailers, and wild flowers. But the squatters certainly knew how to pick a pretty location, for the Shit Gutter lies on the riverbed under shady trees and lush bushes - and right next to Musikbyen, a quarter of garden allotments, another piece of Copenhagen cultural history.

Copenhagen has been expanding heavily during the last decade with new neighborhoods shooting up along the waterfront and in old industrial areas. Sluseholmen in previously southern docklands is just one of those. It's a new canal district with waterways splitting the distinct different quarters from each other. One of the most exciting areas is the Dutch inspired Canal Quarter, which is built on artificial islands all interconnected with bridges. Here the individual facades of the townhouses have been designed by different architects to create a diverse appearance, even though they are built at the same time. Instead of gardens, the houses have private rooftop terraces or floating balconies. The streets are all named after jazz musicians, who had some connections to Denmark.

The main shopping strip in Copenhagen is Strøget, a car-free pedestrian street lined with brand shops and department stores. Its full length is 1.1 km, which apparently makes it the longest pedestrian shopping zone in Europe, and it is made up by four separate streets (Frederiksberggade, Nygade, Vimmelskaftet and Østergade). Strøget starts and ends at two of the main city squares (Rådhuspladsen og Kongens Nytorv) and passes through two others (Gammel torv/Nytorv and Amagertorv) on its way. If you find Strøget too mainstream and touristy (many Danes do), explore the side streets for independent fashion stores and trendy cafes.

The area around Nørrebro station is one of the most ethnic diverse in Copenhagen and the public park Superkilen brilliantly reflects that. The park is 750 meters longs and is made of three areas; the Red Square, the Black Market and the Green Park. Throughout the park there are objects from all over the world. There is an iconic black bull sign from Spain, a bus stop from Saudi Arabia, a fountain from Morocco, Thai boxing ring, and many others. Each bench, trash bin, and even manhole are different and copies from other countries. The same goes with the trees, which you might have seen other places on globe. The Red Square is popular with skaters, while the Black Market is more for picnics and chess playing. The Green Park has basket and hockey courts and a cool outdoor gym. Even though Superkilen lies right next to one of the toughest ghettoes in Denmark, Mjølnerparken, the area is peaceful and welcoming.