I recently had the opportunity to travel to Copenhagen, Denmark for a week. Now, to preface the rest of this article, I want to say that Copenhagen is a very beautiful, clean, friendly, efficient, and well-run city. The transit system is great, the roads are lined with centuries-old houses, and I didn’t hear someone raise their voice while I was there. And might I say, the smørrebrød was simply delightful.
But, boy, was I booooooooooooored. Don’t get me wrong, the first couple of days were nice enough. I saw some old buildings and walked around. But by the end of day two, I thought to myself, “Okay, now what?” Copenhagen has this reputation of being an incredible destination for exchange students. I was actually there visiting my girlfriend, who is on exchange and loving the city. I simply don’t get the appeal.
I found that the city generally lacked in every category. It has many old magnificent buildings, but with the exception of the Marble Church, the Church of our Saviour, and the Church of our Lady (which would all take a total of two hours maximum to visit), they all kind of look the same. It’s all this red brick that, at first, had a great aesthetic. After a couple of days, it got boring. And while these buildings are beautiful, they are unremarkable compared to the buildings possessed by countless other European nations. Meh.
Copenhagen’s nightlife is one of its major draws. And I had a couple of fun nights. Although, once again, compared to nearby cities like Prague, Berlin, and Amsterdam, it’s nothing special. The people are also pretty tame. The environment at the clubs may be better suited to a calmer crowd than those who go to the aforementioned cities. Personally, I was unimpressed and underwhelmed, especially after some of the hype I heard. Meh.
As for activities? This was the worst part of all. Besides seeing the buildings and wandering the streets, there was absolutely nothing to do. I am privileged to have been to several countries around the world, and Copenhagen may truly be one of the most boring places I’ve been in this regard. Meh is an understatement.
The city just lacks character and excitement. Everything is very clean-cut, proper, and cute. It’s like someone created a happy little generic European city. There’s nothing that gives it an edge, with the exception of Freetown Christiania. This is the place I found myself gravitating towards over and over again. This neighbourhood is semi-extralegal, with cannabis openly sold on the street in cute little booths. People here were carefree, doing what they wanted. There were murals and graffiti everywhere, with art installations and little shanty homes throughout. This is the one part of the city that felt like people actually had some passion, and just reinforced how boring I truly found the rest of the city. Definitely not meh.
Copenhagen weekend trip? Absolutely. But for anything longer? Meh.