Copenhagen had been on our wish list for years—a city of bicycles, canals, royal palaces and colourful waterfronts. Three days gave us just enough time to see why it’s considered one of Europe’s most liveable capitals…and even sneak into Sweden for the day.

Arrival in Copenhagen (København)

Our ship came alongside Copenhagen right on schedule Friday morning — no fog delay, and since not every passenger was disembarking that day, the process was blissfully quick. No taxi crush, no chaos: just a calm walk off the ship and onto the metro toward our hotel.

Ten in the morning is an ambitious check-in time by any hotel’s standard, so we left our bags with the front desk and set out to explore. First stop: the Little Mermaid. We’d been warned she was smaller than expected. After Manneken Pis in Brussels last year, “smaller than expected” had us bracing for something the size of a garden gnome. As it turns out, she isn’t tiny—just incredibly popular. Getting an unobstructed photo took some patience, but we managed. The sheer volume of people determined to see one small bronze statue never stops amazing us.

From there we wandered — the changing of the guard, fountains, canals lined with the kind of painted buildings that show up on every Copenhagen postcard (and reminded us, oddly, of Curaçao). We wandered through the Citadel, Amalienborg, Christiania, Nyhavn, Christians Church and past Tivoli Gardens along the way, racking up something like 25,000 steps before our room was finally ready.

A bridge that is an engineering marvel, but we did not get to see it work

The circular swing bridge — Cirkelbroen — was a must-see for Meg, though no ships came through while we were there, so we didn’t get to watch it operate. Even so, the mechanics and structure of it are a genuine marvel worth the detour.

The trendy market for local food

That evening we headed to Torvehallerne, an upscale food market, to try smørrebrød — open-faced sandwiches on dense rye bread, traditionally topped with herring or cod. We went with marinated salmon, roast pork, and chicken salad from Hallernes Smørrebrød, reportedly the city’s top-rated maker. Worth every krone, though at roughly $20 CAD each, they’re a proper introduction to Copenhagen prices too.

Wandering home through Ørstedsparken, we came across a crew setting up an outdoor theatre — the play turned out to be King Lear. I asked whether it would run in English or Danish; Danish, the producer told me, which left me turning over the strange fact of Shakespeare’s own words getting translated into a language he never wrote in. Unable to follow along, I let it go and called it a day.

Saturday, June 6

We started the day climbing the Round Tower, a 17th-century observatory reached by a helical ramp rather than stairs — seven and a half turns of it — which made the climb far easier than it sounds and rewarded us with a proper panorama over the rooftops in the early morning light.

During our visit, the Round Tower was marking the 350th anniversary of Danish astronomer Ole Rømer’s discovery that light travels at a finite speed— the tower’s exhibits are careful to note that’s what he demonstrated, not that he calculated the speed of light itself, despite what the internet sometimes claims. It’s a good reminder that things we now teach schoolchildren were once genuine frontiers of science. Rømer later put his talents to a more practical use in Paris, engineering the fountains at Versailles for Louis XIV.

Our aimless wandering carried us to Rosenberg Castle, where we strolled the gardens before grabbing takeaway salads for a picnic under a tree — about as good as a summer afternoon gets.

We eventually drifted into the Lego Store, where you can build a personalized minifigure — hair, accessories, a laser-etched outfit of your choosing — for about $20 CAD. Lego may have started in Denmark, but Billund, its actual birthplace, is over 250 km away. We found the Copenhagen store not` especially unique. We considered making custom figures for the kids before deciding we probably already had all the pieces at home—we’d just have to find them.

Sitting along the canal on a sunny day – life is good!

The best part of the day came later, when we claimed the last open bench along Slotsholmskanalen (a canal within the city) and just watched the boats go by. Warm evening, cold drinks, a steady parade of rental boats loaded with picnics drifting past in a generally festive mood. Simple, relaxing, and hard to beat.

That evening we found a burger bar with an unexpected Canadian connection. Their signature pulled-beef brisket burger, cooked low and slow over open flame, was outstanding—good enough to send me home thinking about firing up the Traeger.

Sunday, June 7

The sunshine had left us overnight, replaced by gray skies, though at least the rain had let up. Since our ship hadn’t passed under the Øresund Bridge, we decided to go over it instead — a 16-kilometre feat of engineering that’s part bridge, part tunnel, connecting Copenhagen to Malmö, Sweden.

The short walk to the train station turned eventful: our intended train had been cancelled, doubling the crowd for the next one. We stood the entire way, watching the car empty out at the airport stop while people were still boarding for Malmö.

Malmö – where old meets new and calm replaces busy.

Malmö turned out to be a study in contrasts — old architecture beside new, a relaxed pace instead of Copenhagen’s bustle. We wandered past the centuries-old Lion Pharmacy and a bronze marching band sculpture, where Cam couldn’t resist stepping in behind the drum major for a photo.

We spent the afternoon among churches, quiet squares, a windmill, and a lunch of smörgåsbord sandwiches that cost a fraction of Copenhagen prices, before finishing at the water with a view of the lighthouse. Malmö felt like a city living its normal Sunday rather than one performing for tourists. The parks and pedestrian paths belonged to locals, cyclists, and joggers rather than crowds like us. Between the pace, the prices (comparable hotels ran at roughly a third of Copenhagen’s, regardless of how far out we booked), and the quieter vibe, we agreed: if we’re ever back in the region, we’re staying in Malmö.

Farewell to Copenhagen

Back in Copenhagen for our last evening, we took a final walk along the canals and cobblestones to an alfresco Italian restaurant. We only ordered a sandwich, but it was memorable — the owner shaped and baked the bread to order after we sat down, which is about as fresh as bread gets. Small, independently owned spots like this one always find a soft spot with us. (If you’re ever in the neighbourhood: spigadoro-due.dk.)

It was a fitting close—not just to Copenhagen or Denmark, but to our entire European adventure. Tomorrow we’d head for the airport and the long flight home to Canada, carrying memories of castles, canals, Baltic ports, Scandinavian summers, and countless moments we’ll be talking about for years.

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Cam and Meg