Where to stay in Copenhagen

Best for: culture, design and museums

Indre By is the historic and tourist heart of the city (with prices to match), and it’s a great place to stay. Nyhavn’s colourful harbour is an inevitable first stop; then take in the National Museum and its Viking treasures, the refreshed Designmuseum Danmark, and Glyptoteket, a museum of marble sculptures with a divine winter garden. With the culture box ticked, you can relax at one of the area’s harbourside bars, including Apollo Bar, a chic spot in the Charlottenborg Art Gallery, Ruby, one of the city’s coolest cocktail bars, and wine bar Ved Stranden. You’re spoilt for choice in terms of restaurants too: Høst and Vækst offer a taste of Nordic cuisine, or dine at Selma for one of the most beautiful sandwiches of your life.

Best for: food

Copenhagen’s reformed red light district, Vesterbro is lively and central with plenty going on. Boutique hotels abound, including Grand Joanne, Coco and newcomer Hotel Bella Grande. The area’s Meatpacking District is a key foodie centre, an area still used by the food industry during the day, with bustling restaurants such as Paté Paté, Magasasa and Kødbyens Fiskebar and nightclubs including Jolene in the evening. Tip: Ismageriet, its newest ice cream parlour, is worth the trip. Tivoli Gardens sits between Vesterbro and Indre By and is the city’s amusement park, full of surprisingly good restaurants as well as rollercoasters, and is the area’s must-visit. If you’re into music, don’t miss Vega, a design treat and Copenhagen’s best indie music venue.

Best for: nightlife

One of Time Out’s former Coolest Neighbourhoods in the World, Nørrebro fuses urban cool with pop-up restaurants and bars, the city’s best nightlife, and unique shopping opportunities, particularly down the independent mecca Jægersborggade, with its consignment stores, coffee shops and fantastic off licence Den Sidste Dråbe. The dining scene changes fast in this part of town, but current hot picks would be Italian trattoria Paesano, and the Guldbergsgade triangle of bar Brus, pizza joint Bæst and another Italian, Mirabelle Spiseria. Look out too, for a rising trend in plant-based food, led by bistro Baka d’Busk. Nightlife options are easier to find than hotels in this area: check out bars like Paloma and also Dupong – where beer and ping pong come together – and Rust, the city’s best nightclub. 

📍 Check out our full guide to Nørrebro

Best for: boaties

If you find somewhere to stay in grand old Christianshavn, book it fast! This desirable, central, history-rich neighbourhood is lined by marinas and canals, with cobbled streets, coloured buildings and an array of independent shops to trawl, Ganni Postmodern included. It’s also an easy walk from a few harbourside areas with limited accommodation options, namely Holmen, Refshaleøen and freetown Christiania. Take a dip at Islands Brygge swimming pool, stroll the new Opera Park gardens, or grab a Go Boat and explore the waterfront by solar-powered boat. Food comes courtesy of noma-linked burger bar Popl, city favourite Hart Holmen bakery, and cosy community dining room style restaurant and bar Kanalhuset.

Best for: beer 

Copenhagen’s newest area is nearly crane-free and is open for visitors, not least at its showpiece museum-experience Home of Carlsberg, which is all about the beer. There’s plenty to eat too: the area brings together the best of the city’s food enterprises, among them sourdough pizza specialists Surt, Slurp Ramen and one of the city’s best bakeries, Københavns Bageri. Sink a flat white at the chic Coffee Collective, munch on gorgeously greasy burgers at Gasoline Grill or try healthy brunch spot du jour Cadence. Shopping is fun at Henrik Vibskov’s avant garde archive boutique and on Gammel Kongevej, one of the city’s best fashion streets, a stroll away. Up the hill, Søndermarken has a subterranean art gallery, Cisternene, and the city’s zoo to explore. Don’t expect much in the way of nightlife – luckily, Vesterbro is only at the end of the street.