The next morning, we woke up to beautiful sunshine again and went early to have our breakfast at
Torvehallerne market hall. It is about 5 minutes away from our hotel and according to my research, it's one of the more affordable places to have a meal.
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| We were really early and some of the stalls were not open yet. |
We found a stall which sells all kinds of Danish bread and decided to settle for it. It was a good decision!
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| Chic decor |
We just ordered whatever looked nice from the bakery and have no idea what their danish names are. The white pastry at the bottom right hand corner was surprising good! It was glazed with icing and has raspberry bits sprinkled on it.
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| Fresh flowers at every table! |
We didn't have any concrete plans for sightseeing and decided to get a
Copenhagen Card when we arrived at the train station on Day 1. It grants you admissions to 73 museums and attractions (assuming that it is even possible to visit all), free transportation to nearly every where you need to go in Copenhagen, and discounts at restaurants, attractions and entertainment.
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A complimentary guidebook and map comes with the card.
The card is of the same quality as your credit card so there's no worries of it disintegrating even if you were to purchase the maximum 120 hours validity |
For our trip, we purchased the 48-hours card for DKK529 per person (about S$108 or
€71). You can specify what time to start using the card and the 48-hours start from there. It's really useful if you arrive in the city late or decide to sleep in a little later in the morning.
After the satisfying breakfast, we proceeded with our first destination:
Kronborg Castle (Kronborg Slot). It is a UNESCO site and more famously known to be Shakespeare's Hamlet's Castle. It is only an hour's train ride from central Copenhagen and trains depart regularly about every 20 minutes. Naturally, the Copenhagen Card covers both the admission cost and the cost for travelling to the Helsing
ør Station.
Hint! When you arrive at the Helsing
ør Station, don't hurry to the castle! There is a small quaint town a few steps away from the station selling a huge variety of things and lined with cafes. We found out that the souvenirs here are actually
cheaper than the exact same ones selling in central Copenhagen. It is also less crowded and a really enjoyable place to take a stroll.
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| The colors are just so beautiful |
As we had a long schedule ahead, we could not linger as long as wanted and started off for the main site:
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| Pretty even from the distance! |
The entire castle grounds and beyond looked as medieval as I imagined it had been centuries ago. The Kronborg Castle was constructed and reinforced by King Federick II mainly as a toll booth, to collect taxes from ships passing through the sound as the Danish Kingdom controlled both Denmark and the city at the lowest tip of Sweden (which you can see across the sea from the castle). It was heavily fortified as the taxes collected were a major contribution to the kingdom's coffers.
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| In years of peace. |
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| Closer up |
We were fortunate to be here while they were celebrating Shakespeare's 400th anniversary. Being also the setting for Hamlet's castle, they had many related activities going on, including short skits held at various places in the castle. We caught Hamlet and Polonius in action at the courtyard!
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| With the castle grounds as backdrop, you feel as though you are part of the play! |
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| "Insane and cheeky Hamlet |
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| Schedule of the short skits |
In my opinion, Kronborg is definitely one of the most beautiful castles that I've visited. (Also check out our visit to Rosenberg Slot on
Day Three!) The castle grounds itself is so vast, you would need at least 2 hours to quickly finish touring the place. There is a huge inventory of paintings, tapestry and even original furniture from the royal family. There are also the underground passages where the Danish mythical hero Holger Danske sleeps until the day when Denmark is threatened by enemies and wakes to save the day!
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| Even the royalty had small rooms and beds to keep out the cold |
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| A vast collection of original tapestry |
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| The castle's chapel |
For the fit and mobile, you should definitely go up the spiral staircase up the tower. It wasn't a very easy climb, but we made it to the top and we well rewarded by the magnificent view of the old town and beyond.
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View of the courtyard and the sea.
Across the sea lies Sweden. |
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| Looking across to the old town |
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| The castle's spires |
After visiting the castle, we headed back to the small town for lunch. We quickly realised how erratic Denmark's weather could be as it transformed from beautiful sunshine to heavy windy rain with barely any warning.
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Simple fish and chips equivalent for lunch.
Notice how dark it had become and we were sitting at the outdoor terrace. |
Once the rain subsided, we quickly ran back to the train station to catch the train to our next destination, hoping that the skies will clear up during hour ride. Fortunately, it did! :D
Our aim was the Visit Carlsberg brewery and but when we caught the last Carlsberg free shuttle bus at 6 Vesterbrogade street and realised that it also stops right outside the
Copenhagen Zoo....
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| WE ENDED UP HERE! |
The great thing about having the Copenhagen Card was that we could make impromptu decisions like these. We decided that since the card offers free entry, there's no harm in popping by and take a quick look around. And i was so glad that we did!
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| Really pink flamingos |
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| Really sleepy cows. Lucky them! |
And hello llamas! It's my first time seeing them in real life.
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| Happy trotting around to show us how beautiful it is |
The Copenhagen Zoo is really amazing. Their children's zoo area actually allows visitors to enter goats and ponies' compound to have closer interaction with them!
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| Every kid's dream to climb into the animal's compound has finally come true! |
For the little animals like rabbits and guinea pigs, they made the fence so low, and the miniature hills so near that you could just stretch your hand and pet them!
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| I didn't even have to zoom in to take this photo. |
There are so many of each species of animals as well.
And these reindeer are so cute. For some reason, the entire herd kept patrolling the compound again and again. I wonder if they thought they were migrating somewhere?
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| Even the baby reindeer had to follow along. |
We spent only about 45 minutes at the zoo as we still had to rush to
Visit Carlsberg before it closes. The brewery is at a rather far flung location and we had to walk at least 15 minutes before we reached. The directions to the entrance were not very clear and it took us some time to figure out as well. Hint! Do try to catch the complimentary shuttle along 6 Vesterbrogade street to save the troubles of locating the place!
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| Cutting through the Søndermarken park |
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| Are all the parks in Denmark so beautiful?? |
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| Saw the banner but not the entrance... |
Finally arrived!
We presented our Copenhagen Card and exchanged for the Visit Carlsberg ticket which included two complimentary beer or soft drinks.
(*Hint! The Copenhagen Card allows you to visit any of those attraction once a day. Hence, with a 48-hour card, you could come here twice in total and enjoy a second round of drinks if you are in the vicinity!)
Unfortunately, due to our trip to the zoo, we missed the last guided tour which departed at 18:00. Nevertheless, the ticket/ brochure included a rather useful layout plan so we could orientate and guide ourselves around.
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| Free beer! The man was so happy. |
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| Enjoying the free beer overlooking the modernised brewery |
The old brewhouse welcomed visitors with the world's largest collection of unopened beer bottles.
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| Did you spot any familiar brands? |
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| Gl Carlsberg vs Ny Carlsberg when the father-son relationship soured. |
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Besides beer, there is free horse carriage rides from 11:30 to 1430 every half an hour.
It's break time now for the horses. |
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| The original gate |
With the sun finally starting to set at 20:00, we headed back to our hotel in search of dinner. It was a long walk to the nearest train station at Carlsberg, as there were no roads leading down to the platform and we had to take a huge detour round the brewery and some construction sites. Fortunately, we saw that they are trying to build some form of bridge as a shortcut from Visit Carlsberg to the station.
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| Finally got on to the train! |
Back at our hotel's vicinity before sunset:
Total admission cost based on sites visited:
355 DKK
(Kronborg Slot 90 DKK, Copenhagen Zoo 170 DKK, Visit Carlsberg 95 DKK).
A one-way train ride from Copenhagen to Helsing
ør is about an additional 40 DKK.
A 24-hour Copenhagen Card costs only 379 DKK and includes all your public transportation needs to go to these places. Hence, we would have saved money even if we had only purchased a 24-hour card.
Moving on to the
last full day at Copenhagen!
If you haven't read our Day One itinerary yet,
click here!
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