COPENHAGEN : A Budget Friendly City Guide.

Smørrebrød, Endless Flowers & Damn Good Beer. Velkommen til København!

Hej! You may have gathered from my small Insta-Spam last week that I’ve recently returned from a very short but sweet trip to Denmark’s capital, Copenhagen. Myself and Kristabel were challenged by Hoppa to find the crème de la crème of the city on a tight budget, now it’s no secret that most of the Scandinavian countries are a little more on the expensive side when it comes to travelling in Europe, but that shouldn’t deter you from booking a quick trip to this little treasure trove of delicious food, bicycles and incredible design. In our three days, we budgeted the following: 

Accommodation – Airbnb = £35 / 291 DKK per person (a night). Food & Drink = £30 / 250 DKK per person per day. Bike Hire = £10 / 84 DKK per day. Entertainment = FREE! 

I’ve broken down my tip’s and tricks to getting the best of Copenhagen on a budget into FIVE things that I found to be of importance or a great help in regards to Penny Pinching or  ‘Krone Pinching’…

1.) RIDE A BIKE!

So I’ll be straight up and say that if you (like myself) cannot ride a bike, you may find it difficult to navigate the city and you could miss out on some absolute gems! There are plenty of bike rental services dotted across the city, with the most popular being the Bycyklen or the Donkey Bike rentals as they are quite literally on every other street – Both of which I have the scars to show I could not ride (learning how to ride a bike last minute at the age of 25 is not recommended). If like myself you can’t cycle, or simply would prefer another alternative, the local bus service is brilliant, easy to navigate and fairly reasonably priced. What I will say is that choosing to walk everywhere which is what we did for the most part until we gave up and hopped on the bus, is not advisable (even for Londoners!), I ended up with horrifically swollen and bleeding feet after three days of aggressively walking everywhere to avoid bikes and save money! (40,000 steps in one day anyone…)

2.) BE A TOURIST.

Embrace your tourist status and do ALL the free things you can! The Visit Copenhagen website is chock-a-block with things that will satisfy all tastes and ages, so I’d recommend making a brief list of all the places you’d like to visit, map where they are in relation to each other and make a day out of visiting a few places a day. We booked onto a free Sandeman’swalking tour, which run in both English and in Spanish. Sandeman’s also run other (paid) tours for food, drink and other parts of the capital too! Other places to visit / things to do are;

• Freetown Christiania, which is an autonomous neighbourhood in Christanshavn, filled with colourful people, delicious veggie fare and some other uh.. ‘Green’ delights if you’re that way inclined.
• The Botanical Gardens, which is home to the famous 1874 Old Palm House and over 13,000 different species of plants! Entrance is free which is a plus too!
• Snap colourful houses in one of Copenhagen’s most picturesque neighbourhoods, Nyboder
• Spot the changing of the guards in Amalienborg where the Danish Royal Family resides.
• Do a spot of Window Shopping – or actual shopping if you’re not on a budget and want to soak up all the Scandi fashion on Strøget, Copenhagen’s main shopping district.
• Chill out and grab a coffee in quiet Jaegersborggade, which is filled with cute and kitsch indie stores and hipster central coffee joints. (Pop along to Palermo Hollywood for cute and kitsch things, or Knast for incredible homeware)
• Soak up Touristy vibes and get a photo of the colourful houses of Nyhavn.

3.) AIRBNB IT.

Consider an alternative to a traditional hotel in order to save a few pennies for more smorrebrod (can you tell I’m missing it?). We stayed in an incredibly beautiful and spacious apartment in the Norrebro district, which was quiet and filled with very kind and friendly locals for around 291 DKK a night. We stayed here, Uffe was a wonderful host and the flat was beautifully furnished.

4.) EAH (EAT AT HOME!).

To save money, I’d recommend eating at least one meal a day in your Accomodation. We opted to have breakfast in the flat we were renting as our host provided us with lot’s of coffee and tea options, so we went to Netto and picked up Milk, Bread, Cereal, Fruit etc to start the day right. It saved time, and it also saved money. But if you are wanting to eat or drink out, check out: Taxa (Try the Fries with Basil Mayo and their Smorrebrod), Meyers Bageri (Their cinnamon rolls are second to none!), Original Coffee (These were dotted around the city, and they do a mean cold brew if you’re coffee inclined like myself), Paper Island (For an absolute spread of varying food and drinks trucks, and a beautiful view over the Copenhagen Harbour), or if you’re already going to the Design Musuem consider stopping for a Carlsberg, or a Cake in their Kaffe.

5). THE GREAT OUTDOORS.

Danes are serious about their Hygge, as you should be too! So consider spending some time outside, particularly in the warmer months as the city is brimming with beautiful outdoor spaces such as, Fælledparken, Superkilen Park, The Kings Garden Playground, or even Assistens Cemetary, which holds the remains of philosopher Soren Kierkegaard, Storyteller Hans Christien Andersen. Danes are incredibly friendly, as I found it was easy to strike up conversation with people even simply in passing, or mostly in my case, falling from my bike…

All in all, we thoroughly enjoyed our trip to Copenhagen, and I’m already planning a return in Spring with my sister. As always when travelling, it was a pleasure to be able to engage with another culture and way of life, and after visiting I can honestly say I finally get why the Danes are the happiest in the world, with so many clean, kid friendly open spaces, bike lanes, great beers and such a relaxed culture, it has been a pleasure for two headless chicken Londoners to reduce the pace of life a little.

If you’re wanting a taste of Scandinavia, without the flights and bikes, how does a competition to have a Scandinavian 5 Course lunch with wine and champagne on arrival sound? All you need to do is post / comment your favourite holiday hack on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook. Entries must include the @arrive_happy (Twitter) or @arrivehappy (Instagram) handles and the hashtag #HoppaHacks to be counted! (Check out the hashtag to see a few of mine and Kristabel’s Hoppa Hacks!). The competition ends 10th August and the winner will be announced on the 11th of August. Check out the competition link here for more details and to see Kristabel’s vlog of the trip!

Have you ever been to Copenhagen? If so, what did you do whilst you were there!

This post was in collaboration with Hoppa, all words and photography are my own*

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