Copenhagen: Why Walking Back Is Super Great!!!!

From our late July 2008 visit to Copehhagen, we loved the walk back from Tivoli to the main ship docking area. During our leisurely walk, we saw and enjoyed the City Hall area, main shopping street, lots of nice fountains and great statues/sculptures, more docking areas, views of the key government buildings, the famed "new" Nyhavn port with its scenic and colorful buildings, the new Opera House viewed from across the water, the Royal Palaces or Christiansborg Palace (Christiansborg Slot), lots of unique churches and old buildings, nice squares, the bronze Christian Anderson's Little Mermaid, etc., etc.

We had earlier in the day done the canal boat tour (which is a must-see, must-do highlight) and visited the Rosenborg Castle grounds. We visited the old fishing village of Drag'r, south of Copenhagen, strolling through this picturesque town with its thatched-roof homes as a part of an am tour through our ship. This village was very nice and enjoyable. Tivoli Gardens is a must-see with its rides and amusements and restaurants ranging from casual snack shacks to Michelin-starred haute cuisine. Lots of live music and performances were happening on this nice Sunday afternoon. Doing Tivoli and walking back took about three and a half hours. It was a total joY!

You can do and set lots in Copenhagen in one day. One person summarized correctly that Copenhagen still has its "small-town soul". Did we get inside the key museums and palaces? No, but we would see the really big palaces and museums later in St. Petersburg on our cruises, plus what had seen in previously trips to Paris, Vienna, London, Rome, etc. Walking around and enjoying Copenhagen was a total joy, plus we had 80F temperatures and perfectly blue skies. Walking around is THE great way to get a better "feel" for this town than just seeing it out the window of a tour bus. Below are some picture highlights from our walking back to the ship from Tivoli. Say nice things about the pictures and I'll post more.

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

Hehe, the Nyhavn picture looks like something for tourist guide.

Hehe, the Nyhavn picture looks like something for tourist guide.

I'll take that as a "yes" to share a few more pictures from our walk back to the ship from Tivoli. Still have more!

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

Hehe, the Nyhavn picture looks like something for tourist guide.

Trying as larger-sized pictures.

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

CPH-Testing Two.pdf

CPH-Testing Four.pdf

Trying more ways to get larger pictures.

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

We're flying in a dasy early and plan to do our walking tour ending up at Tivoli at night. I've read your description before an am convinced we will have a very enjoyable walk- weather permitting. We even have a stop at the icebar in the afternoon planned.

Thanks for all the pictures.

JKW

We're flying in a dasy early and plan to do our walking tour ending up at Tivoli at night. I've read your description before an am convinced we will have a very enjoyable walk- weather permitting. We even have a stop at the icebar in the afternoon planned. Thanks for all the pictures. JKW

THANKS, JKW from Columbus! Glad you get in a day early to better experience Copenhagen. That added time gives you some added flexibility. Enjoy!

Am making another try at better posting some of the larger pictures. Maybe some success.

Terry in Ohio

Terry, your pictures are beautiful! Thanks for figuring out how to post the larger views.

How long (time-wise) would you say the walk took? We plan on doing the walk in reverse, from the ship to Tivoli and to be moving along at a leisurely pace, stopping to enjoy the sights (and tastes ... beer in Nyhavn, hot dogs from a street vendor, danish pastries) along the way. We'll end the day in Tivoli and take a taxi back to the ship.

Terry, your pictures are beautiful! Thanks for figuring out how to post the larger views. How long (time-wise) would you say the walk took? We plan on doing the walk in reverse, from the ship to Tivoli and to be moving along at a leisurely pace, stopping to enjoy the sights (and tastes ... beer in Nyhavn, hot dogs from a street vendor, danish pastries) along the way. We'll end the day in Tivoli and take a taxi back to the ship.

THANKS for the thanks on the pictures! It's nice to make them work in a larger size that is easy for people to see and enjoy. I'll post a few more to share our love for this great and charming city.

My guess is that maybe it was about an hour or 90 minutes in walking back. We did the cruise ship's tour in the am that included the canal trip and the small fishing village south of town, etc. Then we were back at our ship, had lunch there and then took their coach back into town that dropped us at City Hall. We walked across the large square, did Tivoli and then started to walk back. We hadn't planned to walk all of the way back, but we kept going and going, discovering more things, enjoying it so much! I had our Eyewitness book which was very helpful in knowing our directions and what we were seeing. I took lots of pictures. Our ship didn't depart till midnight, so we had no time worries or pressures. We were probably back to the ship around 6 pm.

It was a perfect weather day and we enjoyed Copenhagen so much that my wife moved this lovely city into our top five favorite places in the world along with Paris and Prague.

Terry in Ohio

wonderful pictures, Terry; keep posting as we enjoy them so much.

we will have an overnight in Copenhagen before we fly home. we definitely will try to walk around as much as possible.:)

Beautiful pictures! My anticipation for Copenhagen, our first port of call on our trip, is definitely building thanks to you! I'll be praying for good weather in order to make our walk that much more enjoyable! And, thanks for the information on the walking time.

Beautiful pictures! My anticipation for Copenhagen, our first port of call on our trip, is definitely building thanks to you! I'll be praying for good weather in order to make our walk that much more enjoyable! And, thanks for the information on the walking time.

THANKS for your nice comments! I really like your Mark Twain quote. It's good and TRUE. Will be posting more pictures on other key Baltic capitals. Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

Hi Terry,

I leave for Copenhagen on June 3rd. Loved your photos.

Sheila

THANKS for your nice comments! I really like your Mark Twain quote. It's good and TRUE. Will be posting more pictures on other key Baltic capitals. Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

Thanks! I love the quote, too. It's my "justification" for all my travels. :D

And, I'm really enjoying stumbling upon your pictures in different threads. :)

Amazing photos. Thanks so much for sharing. And great info about Copenhagen.

Please keep the photos coming if you have any more.

BTW - what is the photo of the ship - looks like a pirate ship?

Sue

I'm so excited about spending an extra day before our cruise in Copenhagen after seeing your beautiful pictures. would you recommend the cruise tour or tour with our own group of 10?

If you buy Rick Steves' Book on Scandanavia, you won't need to use the ship's tour of Copenhagen unless they are taking you out to the countryside. It is a very easy city to navigate on one's own.

Sheila

I'm so excited about spending an extra day before our cruise in Copenhagen after seeing your beautiful pictures. would you recommend the cruise tour or tour with our own group of 10?

The right and best answer to your question depends on what you want to do and see in Copenhagen, plus the size of your budget. Private guides can be costly in this city. BUT, for a group of ten, it might be a good value, maybe!

Are all ten of your group members of the same mind on what they want to do, see and experience? Ship tours aren't all great or perfect, but they do allow you to better pick where you go and what you really want to do. Some tours in Copenhagen go inside certain palaces and museums. Others focus more on the outside stuff, including a cute little fishing village south of town. Many good options. That's the bigger challenge in that you can't do it ALL in a limited period of time.

Below are some more pictures from Copenhagen.

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

The canals and waterways of Copenhagen:

In and around Tivoli. Great fun there even if you're not riding the rides!

If you buy Rick Steves' Book on Scandanavia, you won't need to use the ship's tour of Copenhagen unless they are taking you out to the countryside. It is a very easy city to navigate on one's own. Sheila

Rick Steves' books are good, but Copenhagen does enjoy a blessing that could be a bit of a curse. This charming town has too many good things to do in too short of a limited time period. Walking is great there. We've done it! Walked all the way back from Tivoli to the ship. It was wonderful. Have done a separate post on that adventure. Some tours can save you time, especially for improving your logistics, getting you around faster, easier. There is a nice fishing village south of Copenhagen that can be interesting. Below are some pictures on that neat village.

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

View of the famed, new bridge in this village:

TLCOhio, wow, looks like you had a good time, and good weather too. I compliment you on all that you achieved, you did it all, and I am happy you got to see so much of this wonderful city. Great photos too, good job!

TLCOhio, wow, looks like you had a good time, and good weather too. I compliment you on all that you achieved, you did it all, and I am happy you got to see so much of this wonderful city. Great photos too, good job!

THANKS for the nice comments! As I recall, you gave us some nice tips before visiting Copenhagen. Appreciate that guidance and the help from others. Compared to Helsinki, Tallinn and Oslo, Copenhagen is much more challenging because there is so much to see and do there. Lots of great choices there!!! We loved it. You need to think and plan ahead. It does help to have super great weather there, as we did. Did you arrange that? Terry in Ohio

Teri,

Your photos are great! You should post more photos of the other ports you visited as well.

Regarding this thread, I understand Tivoli to the port about a 2 mile walk. Did you walk this both ways? I am wondering if my 69 year old mother, who is in excellent shape, will be able to walk to and back from Tivoli, plus sightseeing along the way and all.

Hi. I have a map of Copenhagen and noticed there is a water bus service. Looks like you could go from near the dock to quite near to Tivoli. Can anyone that has been there confirm whether that is possible. We are hoping to walk to Tivoli and maybe get the waterbus back?

Thanks

Sue

Hi. I have a map of Copenhagen and noticed there is a water bus service. Looks like you could go from near the dock to quite near to Tivoli. Can anyone that has been there confirm whether that is possible. We are hoping to walk to Tivoli and maybe get the waterbus back?

 

Thanks

 

Sue

Yes - very possible to take water bus from "near" Tivoli back to area pretty "near" the docks. We took one from Nyhaven to the docks using the Copenhagen card.

The water bus only comes every 20 minutes and I don't know how late it runs. They use a tour type boat for the short run to the opera house - I think the 902 bus - but the 903? i think - has a closed top so its not quite as nice a boat ride but does have windows.

Also -as to walking Copenhagen - on our first day, we walked from the ship to Tivoli and then back again. It took about 4 hours as we stopped along the way to see things. We got a map from the information booth on the pier and followed a "walking tour" outlined on the map.

901 and 902 are the water buses at Det Kongelige Bibliotek (at Royal Library) stop closest to Tivoli.

Monday - Friday 901 schedule: 7.17, 7.37, 7.57, 9.37, 10.17, 10.37, 10.57, 13.37, 14.17, 14.37, 14.57, 18.17

Monday - Friday 902 schedule: 7.00, 7.20, 7.40, 9.20, 10.00, 10.20, 10.40, 13.20, 14.00, 14.20, 14.40, 18.20

Nyhavn last water bus is at 19.47

I didn't look at your dates - if weekend I'll post those times.