A Weekend in Copenhagen, Denmark

Meet my new favourite city: Copenhagen. I recently spent the weekend here with a few of the girls in my building. It’s easy to travel between Sweden and Denmark, as there is a train on the Øresund bridge that connects the two. We got up for the early train on Saturday morning and spent three hours on our journey from Växjö to Copenhagen Central Station, which is just past the airport I flew into.

When we arrived at the station, we consumed some caffeine and sugar before we headed out in search of our hostel. We followed the directions we had set up in our phones and walked for quite some time. We soon realized that we were headed in the opposite direction of our hostel andwere a bit lost without any form of internet. However, we stumbled across a gorgeous walking path, a lake and an old military base that’s maintained as a public tourist location so we extended our unexpected detour to explore the area.

It was such a pretty location with plenty of cobblestone walkways — very European. Since we were already close by, we decided to go to the famous mermaid statue we had heard about. We headed past the lake and down to the harbour. When we arrived, we discovered that the famous statue really does live up to its Little Mermaid name, as it was much smaller than we anticipated. However, the view of the sea from the harbour was nice to look at, with all the sailboats lined up.

After wandering around the harbour for a while, we realized that we had to check into our hostel very soon. We found a wifi spot near a tour bus and got the directions, only to realize we were about an hour walk away. We started the long trek back across the city, which was luckily one long street. However, we got a bit confused once we made it to the canal, had to ask several people for directions and referred to the map countless times before finally locating our hostel in a tucked away street. 

The hostel was a cozy place called Sleep in Heaven. As soon as you walk in, you’re greeted by a warm and inviting entrance with large wooden picnic tables and cozy couches on the lower level.

We were given a room in an adjoining building, so we had to "follow the sheep" painted on the ground to the building.

The room had three bunk beds and fit six girls. Four of us were there from my residence building, and the other two girls were very friendly, even though we only saw them for a few minutes. The rooms were so clean, and had handy lockers that could only be opened with your room card. The windows opened up to a nice view of the street and a nearby church.

The hostel had a happy hour at 7 pm, so my friend Jenna and I sipped on White Russians and Irish Coffees before heading into the city to meet our friend Rikke.

When we met up with Rikke, we got a night tour of the town, walking around the streets and stopping into a few bars along the way. Unlike back home in Canada, where I’m rarely out later than 2:00 am, we stayed out until 5:00 am! It was a long night, but so much fun meeting new people. When we got back to the hostel we crashed right away and tried to get some rest before another long day of exploring. 

On Sunday, we walked to Nyhavn, where the streets are lined with colourful buildings and packed with street musicians and people relaxing with their coffees at the outdoor dining tables. In the centre of the street is a canal full of sailboats. We spent quite a while at Nyhavn because the buildings were all so beautiful and we couldn’t stop taking pictures of the sights!

After our Nyhavn visit, we visited the National Gallery of Denmark.

It was fun to wander through the different rooms and look at the progression of European art over the years. When we left the museum, we wandered around the city some more. The streets of Copenhagen are full of incredible architecture everywhere you look. Check out these photographs I snapped of some of my favourite buildings that we came across.

Overall, the weekend I spend in Copenhagen was incredible. From meeting new people, spending time with friends into the early hours in the morning, and walking around beautiful Nyhavn, there was so much to see and do. I certainly recommend checking out Copenhagen if you are looking for a vibrant, lively city with beautiful architecture.