Summary: On our final day in Copenhagen, and final day of our 15-day Northern Europe trip, we rented bicycles to cruise this bike-friendly "City of Spires." Our self-made, self-guided bicycle tour took us to the Frederiksberg neighborhood, through the art district known as Freetown Christiania, around old town Copenhagen and finally to see the Mermaid. We then left our bikes at the Round Tower, visited Rosenborg Castle, and enjoyed gelato from Torvehallen. In the evening, we capped off our trip with a little family fun by conquering a Dane escape room.
[This blog is part of a 3-days in Copenhagen, Denmark series, which is part of our 15-days in Northern Europe trip].
How to Rent a Bicycle. We used Donkey Bike rentals with their easily recognizable orange bicycles. Throughout the City you will see them parked here and there. The downloadable app lets you know where available bikes are located, with everything else handled within the app such as bike locks and rental rates. For us, all we had to do was walk a couple blocks in our AirBnB's neighborhood to find 5 bicycles clustered together for us to use.
Riding in Copenhagen. This bike-friendly City has dedicated bicycle lanes and is easy to navigate. A couple important things we noticed different from riding back home was that (1) you should not enter an intersection on a yellow light at all -cars won't wait and there's not enough time to cross; and (2) you cannot turn left in an intersection. Instead, cross the street and then use the stop light to make your turn. Other than that, it makes for an especially fun way to go site-seeing.
Frederiksberg. Our first stop of the day was to ride up the hill from central Copenhagen to the Frederiksberg neighborhood. Here, we parked our bikes and took a stroll through the public gardens.
Central Copenhagen. Next we cruised back down the hill to Central Copenhagen to revisit some of the sites again, this time on bicycle. We rode through Freetown Christiania, the neighborhood known for street art, and stopped at a neighborhood park for a quick picnic lunch. Next we rode over to the Inderhavnsbroen pedestrian bridge to watch the boats come through the harbor. Here is little timelapse video that starts from our lunch spot.
From the Inderhavnsbroen bridge, we headed over to Den Lille Havfrue, Copenhagen's famous Mermaid statue. This major tourist attraction was a bit underwhelming but at least it gave us a reason to keep peddling around town.
Next we rode over to climb the Round Tower (unfortunately we have no photos). It was at this spot that we ditched the bicycles for the day and headed out on foot to see the grounds of Rosenborg Castle. The garden grounds made for a nice spot to sit in the shade for a bit of a rest.
From here, we walked across the street to see one of Copenhagen's fresh food markets, Torvehallen. Truthfully, it was a bit too packed but we did manage to nab some gelato.
Recharged with our sugary treat, we headed over to complete the last bit of fun for our trip - an escape room with Riddlehouse Escape Room. We were lucky to find that they took drop-ins since this was a last minute add to the itinerary (thanks to the teens in our group). If you haven't done one of these, you're in for a fun challenge. The purpose of an escape room is to figure out a series of riddles and puzzles to eventually free yourself from the room. The object is to work together as a group to escape as quickly as possible from any one of the themed rooms you have selected. Ours in Copenhagen was a "Pablo Escobar" theme.
Another fabulous trip in the books. This Northern Europe trip will be remembered for this writer's personal favorites: Iceland's waterfalls, Norway's incredible landscape, Sweden's rich history, and Denmark's sweet Danish baking class. However, what will be most memorable is our cherished family time. We live such busy, hectic lives, but these trips bring us together in ways that would otherwise be lost in the everyday hustle. Whatever we are doing, where ever we go, we will always be grateful for these fabulous memories.
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