København amusements

Bakken

Klampenborg. Hours: Open in summer.

An amusement park like Tivoli in the suburb of Klampenborg, more basic and with more space, popular with many locals.

Brønnum

Kongens Nytorv. (B2).

The senior actors and artists pub in town, conveniently situated between the Royal Theater and the Royal Academy of Arts at the central Kongens Nytorv Square. The antique bar is comfortably weary-looking and romantic.

Hviids Vinstue

Kongens Nytorv. (B2).

One of the oldest pubs in the center, situated on Kongens Nytorv in several small rooms in a cellar reeking with antiquity. It looks like it must have looked in the 19th C. It has a low ceiling, hard benches and chairs. The visibility is poor due to tobacco smoke, and the guests never seem to leave, nor to stop ordering more beer.

When the happy hour arrives, this ancient wine bar fills up for a while with loud and happy people from the offices around. The congregate here before going out or home to dinner.

Library Bar

Bernstorffsgade 4. (A3).

Heavy wood, old books and thick leather are the hallmarks of this upper-class bar of the Plaza hotel, alongside the central railway station. Speech hushes into a whisper in the distinguished and irresistible library, dominated by a flower arrangement.

Vin & Ølgod

Skindergade 45. (B2).

The mood is usually exuberant in this moderately priced late evening beer hall accommodating 400 guests. Customers in high spirits stand on benches and sing along to old favorites. A small band and a jester keep things going. The place fits the older crowd. Beer is drunk freely from one-liter mugs and a few smørrebrød are devoured too.

It is a distant relative of the beer halls of Bavaria. Those are more brassy and these have milder music and songs of a more universally popular variety, the texts being conveniently provided in song-books at every seat. Guests sit on benches at long tables, join hands with neighbors, waive flags and dance waltzes and rhumbas.

If we want more quiet, we can order a window table upstairs in the English Pub, where we have an excellent view over the commotion. The Portuguese bistro can also be used in the same way. If we want to concentrate on beer-guzzling, there are long tables downstairs in Rådhuskælderen under seven centuries old vaults and ancient dungeon irons.

Cafe Dan Turéll

Skt. Regnegade 3-5. Phone: 3314 1047. (B2).

A tiny café in a small street near Kongens Nytorv, very “in” and crowded for several years, with literary and intellectual regulars.

Cafe Europa

Amagertorv 1. Phone: 3314 2889. (B2).

Perfectly situated on pedestrian Strøget, specializing in newspapers. It is good vantage point to observe the pedestrian commotion outside.

Cafe Krasnapolsky

Vestergade 10. Phone: 3332 8800. (A2).

A popular café with techno music and large windows near Rådhuspladsen, on the northern side of the street, between Larsbjørnsstræde and Gammeltorv. The kitchen is above par and the the service is getting slower all the time. A rectangular bar in the middle dominates the place.

Cafe Norden

Amagertorv. (B2).

Perfectly situated on pedestrian Strøget, specializing in cakes, on the corner of the shopping streets Købmagergade and Strøget. It is on two floors, but the most attractive part is the one that spills into the pavement in summer, when artists perform on the square.

Cafe Sommersko

Kronprinsensgade 6. Phone: 3314 8189. (B2).

On the southern side of the street, a few steps from the pedestrian Købmagergade, the Danish answer to Café Flora and Café Deux Magots in Paris. It is the mother of bohemian cafés in Copenhagen, brightly lit, has lots of mirrors and the staff are in uniform.

Falsled Kro

1996

© Jónas Kristjánsson