The hook
A flat, bike-mad harbour capital where you can swim in the middle of the city, eat some of the world's most celebrated cooking, and feel out what the Danes mean by hygge.
01Why it's worth it
Copenhagen runs on bicycles and works almost frictionlessly, which is part of its appeal: a low, handsome city of canals, cafés, and clean design where the harbour water is clean enough to swim in from public baths in the centre. It gave the world the New Nordic food movement, so it is dense with ambitious restaurants alongside cheap, excellent bakeries and smørrebrød. The postcard is Nyhavn's row of coloured merchant houses along a canal, best seen early before the crowds. On its edge sits Freetown Christiania, a self-declared autonomous community in an old barracks, complicated and worth understanding rather than gawking at. It is expensive, but it is one of the most genuinely livable cities you can visit, and that ease is the pleasure.
02How to experience it
Rent a bike and use it for everything; the city is built for it. Swim at a harbour bath in summer, eat your way from bakeries to a splurge dinner, and walk Nyhavn early. Approach Christiania with some respect for the people who live there rather than as a spectacle.