Copenhagen in 2021: Parkipelagos, Good Food, and Biking

By Megan Mentuck

The city of Copenhagen in Denmark has introduced some exciting new initiatives for potential tourists to check out!

GoNOMAD spoke with Katinka Friis, of Visit Denmark in the United States. Friis also lived in the beautiful city of Copenhagen for about five years so knows about all of the city’s best spots and what new opportunities they have to offer.

How to Get Around Copenhagen

Metro Project

One aspect of Copenhagen that the city has aimed to improve in recent years is its public transportation system.

The latest improvements to the system connect the city center to other parts of the city.

A new train line to the southern side of the city is planned to open in 2024.

Friis noted that some portions of the public transportation system in Copenhagen offer visitors a nice view of the city.

In upcoming years the center of Copenhagen will be connected to more up and coming areas of the city.

Beyond taking the metro to get around the city, there are other exciting modes of transportation!

Copenhagen Biking!

According to Friis, most Copenhagenists get around by biking. There is biking infrastructure built into the framework of the city.

In fact, according to Friis, there are 385 kilometers of biking lanes in Copenhagen and 32% of all trips that Copenhageners take are by bike. With 673,00 bikes and a little over 600,00 people in the city, this is not surprising!

For newcomers, the intensity of bikers in Copenhagen may be intimidating—however, it is definitely worth educating yourself on how to responsibly get around the city via bike and giving it a try.

Hotels Offer Bikes, Too

Many hotels in Copenhagen offer bikes to their visitors. All you need to do is head down to the front desk and ask about their bike rental policy and at most hotels, the people there will be happy to help you navigate the nuances of biking around Copenhagen.

Kayaking Copenhagen!

If biking isn’t your thing, you could try

kayaking

around the city. Yes, that’s right—due to the city’s location on the water and the prevalence of kayak rental places in the area, kayaking to your destination is a definite possibility.

GreenKayak, specifically, is a great kayak rental company that focuses on reducing the environmental impact on the city. The best part about this specific kayak rental company is that it doesn’t cost any money…rather, you pay with a bucket of trash that you take out of the harbor.

Copenhagen’s Parkipelagos 

In Copenhagen, environmental initiatives are especially important. Many of the changes that are coming to the city have a focus on sustainability.

Many of the new initiatives that will be introduced in the city work to utilize its proximity to the harbor.

For example, this summer, the city plans to introduce more floating islands. This “parkipelago” designed by Studio Fokstrot offers residents a new way of enjoying the city’s harbor.

There was one island introduced this fall and people have seemed to really enjoy it.

Man-Made Landmasses in the Harbor

These floating islands are man-made landmasses in the city’s harbor that offer different activities on each one. Right now, the one that exists has a tree on it and offers people a place to relax in the water.

Future Islands are planned to feature a variety of different elements.

For example, they plan to have islands with sleeping huts available for the public to rent out and may even have an island with a coffee shop afloat.

People can take their boats out to these little islands in the harbor or just swim out!

Friis echoed the importance of the harbor to Copenhagen residents saying, “One of my favorite parts of Copenhagen is that the water is so clean, you can just jump in.”

Copenhagen’s Dripping Zones

Another new initiative introduced by the city to encourage the utilization of the city’s access to the harbor is dripping zones.

You can hook the dripping zones onto the back of your boat and take them to different parts of the harbor.

You can also adjust the depth of dripping zones if you want to as well.

There are also harbor baths permanently placed along the edge of the water to facilitate the transition from land to water and to offer Copenhagen residents and visitors a safe place to swim during the day.

The city also has harbor buses that were recently switched from diesel to electric so that they are now completely silent.

HC Anderson Museum

About an hour and a half west of Copenhagen, the HC Anderson Museum is opening in Odense, Denmark.

The museum will be located at the sight of the townhouse that Hans Christian Anderson, a Danish author, once lived in. The museum itself is built out from the back of the townhouse that is still standing today.

Most of the museum will be located underground. Unlike other museums, the HC Anderson Museum opening in 2021 will work to offer a fairytale experience to its visitors similar to the fairytale that HC Anderson creates in his written work.

Anderson also lived in Copenhagen for a while during his life and found literary inspiration in the city. For example, Tivoli Gardens, the world’s third-oldest amusement park is located in Copenhagen and inspired HC Andersen’s fairytale, “The Nightingale.”

What’s to Eat?

Copenhagen has countless great restaurants for visitors to enjoy. Noma is a high-quality, expensive restaurant in the city that tourists really tend to enjoy. However, if you’re looking for a more lowkey joint, Noma also recently opened POPL, a burger bar.

POPL, similar to Noma uses fresh and quality ingredients making their burger bar a popular destination among tourists and residents alike.

Street food markets are also a great way to dig into the local dishes. Sticking to the theme of sustainability, Reffen is a sustainable street food market that offers visitors the opportunity to try different restaurants.

Many restaurants in Copenhagen have pop-up shops available to get food from at the Reffen street market.

Plan Your Visit!

Wondering where to stay during your visit to Copenhagen? Many design studios have taken over buildings and the city and redone them to create these really cool hotels that showcase Danish design.

Visiting Copenhagen will offer visitors countless new opportunities given all of the new initiatives that they are introducing.

Whether you are a connoisseur of good food or interested in exploring the harbor’s parkipelago, Copenhagen is a must-visit city in 2021.