Copenhagen Highlights Guided Walking Tour with Comedy

Gammel Strand and Christiansborg Palace

The walk starts on Gammel Strand, the old waterfront where Copenhagen's fishwives once sold the morning catch, beside the equestrian statue of Bishop Absalon, who fortified the islet of Slotsholmen in 1167 and is counted as the founder of the city. Across the canal rises Christiansborg Palace, the third palace on the same spot after two fires; the present granite building was finished in 1928 and houses all three branches of government: the Parliament, the Supreme Court and the Prime Minister's Office. Its 106-metre tower is the tallest in Copenhagen.

Our guide spends about fifteen minutes here explaining how a fishing village grew into a royal capital, with the sort of anecdotes about kings and courtiers that a Christiansborg Palace tour inside the state rooms would never tell. You see the palace from the outside; entry to the Royal Reception Rooms or the tower is not included, but it is easy to return later, as the tower viewing platform is open most days.

Nikolaj Church and the Strøget pedestrian street

A few minutes away stands Nikolaj Church, founded in the 13th century and burned out in the great fire of 1795; its tall tower was rebuilt in 1909 and the building now hosts a hall for contemporary art. From here the route joins Strøget, the chain of streets closed to cars in 1962 that became one of Europe's best-known pedestrian shopping streets, running for just over a kilometre between the City Hall Square and Kongens Nytorv past department stores, Danish design shops, street musicians and the old square of Amagertorv with its stork fountain.

The guide keeps the Strøget stretch short, around five minutes of walking with a quick stop, because the street is better explored on your own after the tour when you can shop and sit on a terrace. What you get here are the stories about everyday Copenhagen: cycling culture, taxes, the Danish idea of hygge and what visitors keep getting wrong, told with the humour that gives this Copenhagen comedy walking tour its name.

Kongens Nytorv and the Royal Theatre

Strøget ends at Kongens Nytorv, the King's New Square, laid out in 1670 as the largest square in the city and framed by some of its finest buildings: the Royal Danish Theatre of 1874, Charlottenborg Palace, which houses the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, and the grand facades of hotels and department stores. In the centre stands the oldest equestrian statue in Scandinavia, ringed by a garden that becomes an outdoor ice rink in winter. Beneath the square is the busiest metro interchange in Copenhagen, which makes Kongens Nytorv the point most visitors use to reach Nyhavn.

You spend about fifteen minutes on the square while the guide recounts the theatre's history, the king who wanted a baroque square to rival those of Paris and the quirks of the Danish monarchy today. It is a good spot for photographs of the theatre's columned facade, and the square is also where the harbour canal boats depart, if you plan a boat trip after the walk.

Nyhavn harbour

Nyhavn is the image most people search for before a trip to Copenhagen: a short canal dug between 1670 and 1673 so that ships could unload right in the city, lined with brightly painted townhouses from the 17th and 18th centuries, old wooden sailing ships moored along the quay and café terraces under the awnings. For two centuries it was a rough sailors' quarter; today the sunny north side is the most photographed street in Denmark. The oldest house, number 9, dates from 1681 and has barely changed since.

The tour gives you about ten minutes on the quay, enough for photographs and the stories of the taverns, the tattoo parlours and the writer who lived in three different houses here, before continuing towards the royal quarter. Is Nyhavn worth visiting at other times too? Yes: come back at dusk, when the facades are lit and the canal boats glide out towards the harbour, or early in the morning when the quay is empty.

The Marble Church and Amalienborg Palace

The walk ends in Frederiksstaden, the elegant district laid out in the 1750s, where two landmarks face each other along a single axis. Frederik's Church, known to everyone as the Marble Church, has the largest church dome in Scandinavia, about 31 metres across; begun in 1749, it stood as a ruin for more than a century before being completed in 1894. Opposite it lies Amalienborg Palace, four identical rococo mansions around an octagonal square, the winter residence of the Danish royal family since 1794, still guarded by the Royal Life Guard in bearskin hats.

Our guide finishes here with the stories of the royals who live behind the windows, then leaves you free to explore. The Amalienborg changing of the guard takes place daily at noon, so ask the guide about the timing; the Amalienborg Museum in one of the four palaces and the church interior can be visited afterwards at your own expense, and the Little Mermaid statue is a fifteen-minute walk north along the waterfront.