Photo by Daniel Rasmussen/Visit Copenhagen
The connection between Copenhagen, or København, and the sea is built right into its name—in Danish, København translates as “the merchants’ harbor”—and helps explain why so many of its neighborhoods end in “-bro.” The word means “bridge,” and when the city began expanding out of its medieval center in the mid-19th century, it had to construct bridges to connect the newly incorporated areas.
Each of the three main “bridge” neighborhoods—Vesterbro, Nørrebro, and Østerbro—has a distinctive personality, but within each are micro neighborhoods with their own character as well. As the city expands, they’re joined by exciting new districts—such as the ultramodern Nordhavn and the reimagined Carlsberg City District—that are being brought to life by ambitious and sustainable urban development projects.
Here are the six best neighborhoods in Copenhagen to explore for a truly local experience.
Photo by Michelle Baran
1. Indre By
The inner city—which includes part of the medieval center—is Copenhagen’s most picturesque. Home to most of the city’s historic sites, from Christiansborg (the parliament building made internationally famous by Borgen) to the candy-colored houses of Nyhavn, Indre By is also the most touristy part of Copenhagen, with the shopping street (Strøget) and bar street (Gothersgade) to show for it. But some corners still feel like real neighborhoods, the kind, in fact, that make you want to live there.
A case in point is the area around St. Paul’s Church. Bordered by two leafy parks—Kongens Have and Kastellet—the streets in between are lined with old townhouses, some of which, in the ochre-tinted area known as Nyboder, used to function as housing for military families. Artisan studios like Hanne Bertelsen Ceramics, as well as cafés like Apotek 57, restaurants like Fabro, and bars like Black Swan (for craft beer) and Lille Blå (for wine), add to the charm, as do two museum gems: the Islamic art-focused Davids Samling (or the David Collection) and the Museum of the Danish Resistance.
Indre By is great neighborhood to stay in if you want to be centrally located. Check into the luxurious grande-dame Hotel D’Angleterre, the oldest hotel in the city, with recently renovated suites and a Michelin-starred restaurant, Marchal. Another trendier option is the newly opened Hotel Bella Grande with its accidentally Wes Anderson vibe (from the team behind the effortlessly cool Coco Hotel nearby) and in-house Donna restaurant for Italian dinner fare and a see-and-be-seen atmosphere. Hotel Bella Grande is a stone’s throw from Tivoli Gardens, if you’re aiming to get some amusem*nt park fun while in town.
Photo by Daniel Rasmussen/Visit Copenhagen
2. Nørrebro
When guest workers from Türkiye started arriving in Copenhagen in the late 1960s, this area, just to the north of Copenhagen’s Inner Lakes (a trio of central lakes with long walking and biking paths along them) is where they moved, and today, the neighborhood remains the city’s most ethnically diverse, with Middle Eastern grocery stores, Thai restaurants, and West African clothing shops. Its lower rents have also made it attractive to artists and students.
All of the area around the lush Assistens Cemetery is hipster central these days, but the artisanal bakeries (Andersen & Maillard, Benji, Mirabelle, Rondo, and Collective), inexpensive wine and co*cktail bars (Vivant, Barking Dog, Pompette, Paloma), monthly farmers’ market at Guldbergs Plads, and park/artists installation Superkilen make the strip just east of the Nørrebrogade street an intriguing path to follow. While in the area, make sure to grab a killer breakfast sandwich at Doomsday Deli and reserve a seat at Paesàno for lunch or dinner to experience Naples-inspired cuisine representing the Italian new wave culinary scene in Copenhagen.
Photo by Peeradontax/Shutterstock
3. Nordhavn
Located at the northern end of the posh Østerbro neighborhood, Nordhavn is an absolute must for anyone interested in modern architecture, urban planning, and sustainability. Nordhavn is a new quarter that is being built with climate concerns front and center—many buildings here were constructed using repurposed materials and structures. To get a more complete grasp of this forward-thinking development, book a “Green Copenhagen” walking tour with Slow Tours Copenhagen focused on the sustainability efforts in Nordhavn.
The area is also coming alive with new restaurants and concept shops like Audo House (a café and dining room housed inside a design store with rooms available to rent in the Audo Residence), the exquisite Sushi Anaba where Japanese cuisine is married with Nordic seafood, and the convivial taqueria Hija de Sanchez Cantina. You can enjoy coffee and vegetarian snacks at Atelier September and catch a flick at Big Bio, a sustainable movie theater designed to transform into other uses in the future. A popular outdoor gym and playground atop a car park features killer views, and you can take a dip in the harbor at the Strandbad, a bathing area that’s free for all to use. A few prominent artists have also set up shop here, with more to come when Tunnelfabrikken, a mixed-use housing and cultural development, opens in the near future.
This is a great area to stay in if you’re looking for something more affordable—it’s an easy subway ride into the heart of town and it’s definitely quieter and more residential here. Book a room at the Residence Inn Copenhagen Nordhavn or the Fairfield by Marriott Copenhagen Nordhavn if you want comfortable quarters on the waterfront.
Photo by Funtasy Developer/Shutterstock
4. Carlsberg Byen
This part of the city, once the home to the Carlsberg brewery campus, feels like no other—in Copenhagen or elsewhere. The whimsical architecture, which includes a lighthouse, a clock tower with ornate mosaics, and four massive granite elephants standing guard over the gateway to the campus, was born of the company founder’s insistence that even an industrial brewery could be beautiful.
Today, it’s also proving an industrial brewery can become a cool neighborhood. At the Home of Carlsberg museum, you’ll learn the fascinating story of the Jacobsen family, which founded the Carlsberg brewery in 1847. The old boiler house will soon be transformed into an important center for dance and choreography. In the meantime, there’s already some of Copenhagen’s best coffee (Coffee Collective), artisanal baked goods (Københavns Bageri), pizza (Surt), burgers (Gasoline Grill), and vegetarian cuisine (Beyla), as well as the trendy Hotel Ottilia located in what was once the brewery’s malting room and, next door, a thermal bath spa, Aire.
Photo by Giuseppe Liverino/Visit Copenhagen
5. Vesterbro
The neighborhood immediately west of the center was once the grim, working-class district described so depressingly in poet Tove Ditlevsen’s memoirs. Today, it thrums with independent clothing shops and happening nightlife. The area is home to the communal dining experience Folkehuset Absalon, housed inside a church and an example of a growing number of Copenhagen venues that are promoting socialization among visitors in a world where we’ve become increasingly isolated due to technology. At Absalon, you’ll be sharing a table and breaking bread with strangers, working together to serve one another and to gather plates and glasses after eating. The venue, a former church, often hosts a ping-pong battle after dinner. After making some new friends, grab a beer at Warpigs or Åben in nearby Kødbyen, Copenhagen’s former Meatpacking District.
The area around the recently renovated Enghaves Plads is just as much fun, with a skateboard park; excellent bites at the South American Gorda, the Italian Bar La Una, and Bageriet Brød, which is know for its delicious ice cream and baked goods. Vega is the city’s most iconic music venue for rock, indie, and the occasional Danish rapper. On warm summer nights, the whole square turns into an open-air party.
Photo by Michelle Baran
6. Refshaleøen
At the northern end of Holmen, which is a collection of small islands that once housed the royal naval base and shipyards, lies the cooler-than-thou Refshaleøen neighborhood that is now home to some of the best bakeries, eateries, and art institutes in the city. Enjoy lunch at Lille Bakery, followed by an afternoon coffee and pastry at Hart Bageri. Explore modern art at Copenhagen Contemporary. End the day at La Banchina, a seafood restaurant with fresh oysters, fish sandwiches, and natural wine, where you can warm up in saunas before (and after) taking a dip in the harbor. Another dinner option is Øens Have, one of the largest urban farms in Scandinavia, where meals are served in yurts. Or if you have planned far in advance, you can score tickets to the very innovative Alchemist, billed as an “experience” rather than just a restaurant (tickets go on sale in three-month batches).
Just south of Refshaleøen, hit the slope at CopenHill, a power plant where you can downhill ski atop a slope made of recycled steel, concrete, and aluminum. Refshaleøen is also a stone’s throw from the famed Noma restaurant, which put Copenhagen on the global culinary map. And while it’s almost impossible to score a reservation at Noma, which is gearing to close soon anyway, next door is Aure, a Michelin-starred restaurant housed in an 18th-century gunpowder store.
There aren’t really places to stay out in Refshaleøen proper, but for a truly serene and unique stay, book Kaj Hotel, a single hotel room on a houseboat floating on a small canal that is in short walking or biking distance (or a quick bus ride) to the Refshaleøen neighborhood. The unit sleeps up to four people (with a king-size bed on the lower level, and two twin beds in an upper loft area), and there are two kayaks available for guest use, as well as some complimentary wine, plus coffee and porridge for breakfast.
This story was originally published in December 2021, and was updated on August 27, 2024, to include current information.
Lisa Abend
Based in Copenhagen, Lisa Abend is a freelance journalist who writes for Afar, the New York Times, and Time magazine. For her newsletter, The Unplugged Traveler, she travels throughout Europe without using the internet.
