GUIDE / PHOTOS

When: April

Where we stayed, where we ate and what we did...

Our first sister trip, it was a hard decision but out of Copenhagen and Berlin we picked Copenhagen. Maybe a tad expensive for a student and a part timer but with £50 flights who could resist (more about that in my guide). Me being a 'photographer' and my sister being a graphic designer we felt like we made the right decision with the destination. Everything is cool here.

We were there for 3 nights and guess what... I thought UK weather was biploar but CPH was 10x worse. We'd get excited that the sun was out but a few seconds later... downpour. The rain does not phase the danish like it does us, I noticed. It didn't ruin our trip atall except we didn't make it to Tivoli.

If you enjoy good food, neat shops and all things design then I couldn't recommend this city enough.

Stay - Hotel Sp34

When we were booking our flights I already knew where I wanted to stay but obviously had to do some research into places (because that's a fun bit about booking a trip... right?) I remember falling in love with hotel Sp34 when I saw the photographs Hannah Matcha had previously put on Instagram. We got a double room, free organic breakfast buffet and a free 5-6pm wine hour (that we managed to miss the first two days but ran to on our last evening!). The hotel was in a perfect location on a narrow street in the Latin quarter, a short stroll away from central station, city hall and the famous Tivoli gardens.

On first impressions, well we were impressed. Clean, minimal and a well thought out lobby space with a fancy bar area with huge wine cabinets obviously with a good selection of wine for wine hour! In the city of design lays this Scandinavian decorated hotel, cold colours but warm feel it's almost weird. The space has lots of different seating dotted around... comfy arm chairs, wooden chairs with built in tables and big squashy sofas to wind down on after a day of exploring. 

The bedroom has iron grey walls, with a glass light, soft white linen covering the comfortable beds. The beds has curved headboards with leather cushions that were fashioned from the backs of chairs. Our room was more spacious than I was expecting.. We had space to hang clothes and there was a little hot drink making station (I resisted so hard not to leave with a cute ceramic mug!). Luckily for us we had a huge window facing the street so yes of course we spied on the apartments opposite.

Breakfast buffets, one of my favourite things about trips. Sp34 offer an organic buffet, we enjoyed switching it up daily. First day was broken soft eggs on light fluffy slices of bread with some fruit and oats. Second day was soft boiled dippy eggs and yes this is when I discovered the delicious jam and croissants! Which I then had the following morning (my mouth is actually watering right now, I miss this!) We got free lattes and fresh juices too!

Eat - Neighbourhood

I knew this was going to be where we would head for food first... pizza is one of my all time favourite things to eat. This menu of organic pizzas really caught my attention mostly because they've stepped away from the usual pizza toppings. We started off with a 10 pound cocktail and then dived in.. I went for the 'Shiitake codfish' which was a pizza topped with chilli & lemongrass roasted codfish, shiitake mushrooms, Vesterhavs cheese, pickled red onions, soy & lime dressing, cashew nuts and coriander. Literally i've never had a pizza with so much damn flavour. London, step up! (a £50 meal for two)

Eat - Bacchouse

This place wasn't on our 'to-go-to' list, we just stumbled upon it and we were very glad we did. A very chilled atmosphere and a place used to do 'homework' etc.

The menu wasn't huge so we did end up ordering the same thing, smørrebrød with avocado, pesto with Mexican spices (plus I really fancied avocado!). I was so glad chai lattes were almost served everywhere, mmm.

Eat - Italo Disco
 

So we weren't really fancying anywhere on our list, but we knew we fancied italian but of course we had already had pizza the previous night so we found ourselves online searching for italian restaurants. We came across this mysterious place... the website doesn't really tell you anything so we basically turned up blind. We sat down and was told it was a set menu and she told us the menu (twice because I couldn't seem to take it all in the first time). We went for the vegetarian option and opted out of dessert. So for starters we had antipasto (mozzarella, mushrooms, fried anchovies, fried  zucchini and white fish on bread) and for main we had eggplant cannelloni with a tomato sauce. All of this was super tasty especially the main.

We really enjoyed the whole dining experience here. It was very low key but the waitress was very helpful and attentive and the chef even bought out our food and explained what each dish was. (another £50 meal for two).

Eat - Condesa
 

It took us a long while but we finally found a mexican, a very decent mexican at that! The service was terrible, it was as if the whole place was just kicking back, I hope we just came on an off day. Despite that, it did have a great atmosphere, neon lights and cool music. 

But let's get to these most scrumptious shrimp tacos! the best tacos i've ever had (Sorry Rakesh, you know I adore your fish tacos). We only had two each and wished we got more! We also had spiced fries with a spicy dip of some sort. After eating the place got filled up with fashion students for a fashion show type thing (we're still unsure) but we enjoyed the free beers nonetheless. 

Eat - The Donut Shop
 

We wasn't gunna but we did... of course we did. How could we have not! I went for the plain glazed because i'm a plain jane but my sister went for the iced oreo ring and both were so good. There's a few of these dotted around the city so I suggest you get yourself into one and have a little treat. "Donut miss out!"

Eat - CPH Street Food

We decided to head here before catching our plane home because it's kind of on route to the airport. I'm glad I got out of my "can't be bothered" funk because this was one of my highlights of the trip. Yes I understand like London is now full of these street food places (such as Kerb, Street feast, Pop Brixton etc) but there was something else about this place. It had a more relaxed atmosphere.. everyone seemed to be kicking back with friends and it just felt nice to be a part of it.

I went for the Hanoi beef toastie (organic beef, sesame sauce, satay sauce and crispy red cabbage) from Toast. It's not something i'd usually go for but I felt like trying something completely different and I don't have any regrets because the flavours just wow.  My sister went for vegetarian Colombian food from La Tienda. 

Look how cute everything looks! You must must visit, also get a delicious rum and coke from Cocktails & Drinks.

Drink - Mikkeller
 

One from my sisters list, ah how my sister has good taste. Good beer and good cherry beer. Brewed in Berlin. Probably best to head here before you get the after work crowd as there isn't much seating but so cosy and great place for a drink. Love the illustrations. 

Drink - Props Coffee Shop
 

I love making places to go lists but I love finding places more. It started to rain and we were parched and wet so we took shelter in this cute coffee shop, they didn't have chai lattes though but I was content with chai tea!

Drink - Parterre
 

We walked over the bridge to Christianshavn and we kinda didn't know where to head (we thought the free town was a bit far to go before a flight as we didn't actually leave enough time). So we started walking down by a canal and spotted this cute coffee shop (another find!). They had outside heaters which was handy and shelter which was also handy as of course it started raining loads. We sat here with our suitcases laughing like old ladies, people watching (this is where we noticed how the rain doesn't really phase the Danish). 

Do - Botanical Gardens

We both love a botanical garden, but who doesn't nowadays. This one was rather huge actually, different areas for different plants. The cacti area was nice, set out a bit like an aquarium but quite small. Next was the huge palm haus, very similar to Kew Gardens palm house with spiral stairs.

Despite seeing these places often, of course this is worth a visit. Prickly friends.

Do - Nyhavn 

A short walk from the Design Museum is Nyhavn harbour, one of the main tourist attractions of Copenhagen. It wasn't really like how we expected, the side with all the bars/restaurants on kind of reminded me of the harbour in Barcelona with all the seats with blankets on etc. It was nice though and worth walking around. To make things a little more exciting for you there is two waffle/ice cream shops!

Do - Hay House

Obviously go here, why wouldn't you. If you're a big design fan, stationary fan or just interior design fan this will be like heaven for you. Everything was perfectly placed over two floors of an apartment in the city centre. 

There's a Hay market and you will want to spend money. I regrettably only left with the gold plated coffee spoon thing (as a souvenir for Rakesh that he didn't appreciate, he doesn't know what Hay is about... yet)

Do - Dome of Visions

A pretty place to chill, escape and warm up... It's lovely and warm in here. We didn't get a drink or anything but you're able to, we just walked around snap happy and kept saying "wow" "isn't this cool". The dome is a beautiful structure filled with nature. If you're headed to Christianshavn then go via here.

Shop - Stilleben

I don't usually write about shops but these are the shops that caught my attention! This cute two floored store is located off the main shopping street and it sells quirky homewares, textiles, jewellery and stationary. 

Shop - The Design Museum

We only came here to browse the shop and what a great put together shop it was. Tonnes of design books of course, Hay products and independent designer products. You could pop in here before heading to Nyhavn as it's a short walk away!

Shop - Playtype

Beth had visiting the Play type pop up in London last year and insisted we visited and I did not kick up a fuss, because I love stationary too! Especially when it's mostly got letters on. "Do you have this one with an E on?" My most asked question when walking around. I sadly didn't leave with anything because I was short of money but my sister luckily left with a huge poster (that she worried about getting home on the plane) and a notebook.

Shop - Viktoria Ceramics

We saw this place on a whim, it was nice.. We was welcomed by friendly faces and were told if we wanted a tour of the workshop. A cute tucked away space behind the main shops. Worth a visit if you're into ceramics. I'm still so sad I only had a limited amount of money for this trip and next time I'll remember to save money way in advance.