Denmark · Self-guided walk
Copenhagen in one walk 8 sights, 40 minutes
A self-guided walking tour of the Copenhagen Old Town: 8 sights on one 2.8 km loop, about 40 minutes on foot, back where you started.
No two days to spare? Here is the short version: the big sights in one loop. I would take longer. I always take longer.
At a glance
The walk in numbers.
- Distance
- 2.8 km, a loop
- Time
- about 40 minutes of walking at 4 km/h, plus however long you stop
- Sights
- 8
- Start and finish
- Christiansborg Slot
- Steps
- no streets with steps on the route
- Cost
- free: no guide, no booking, no tip
The route
Map of the Copenhagen walk: 8 stops, one loop.
The gold line is the walk. The numbers are the stops, in the order you reach them. The pale lines are every other street in the Old Town.
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).
The stops
8 sights in Copenhagen, in walking order.
Each stop says how far the next one is and which streets take you there.
1. Christiansborg Slot
the start
It takes a whole island, and four names on your street list are only its yards. Go through them instead of around them. Then find the way down: there is something a great deal older under the floor, in the dark, and you can walk into it.
Next: Helligåndskirken, 530 m, about 8 min, along Højbro Plads.
2. Helligåndskirken
about 8 minutes of walking from the start
It stands right on the busiest walking street in the country and hardly anybody turns their head. Go around it into the churchyard at the back. Three steps through the gate and the whole racket is gone. Best quiet on this level.
Next: Rundetårn, 370 m, about 6 min, along Valkendorfsgade, Kringlegangen, Skindergade.
3. Rundetårn
about 13 minutes of walking from the start
At the top of Købmagergade, behind a door most people walk straight past. Go in and keep going up. How you get up is the good part, and I am not describing it. From the platform every lane in this level lies out flat in front of you.
Next: Vor Frue Kirke, 270 m, about 4 min, along Store Kannikestræde, Fiolstræde.
4. Vor Frue Kirke
about 18 minutes of walking from the start · inside open Mon–Sat 08:00–17:00, Sun closed
It stands on Frue Plads with the university facing it across the square, and the lane down its flank is called Dyrkøb. From out here it seems shut. It is not. Go up between the columns and see how far back the room reaches.
Next: Rådhuspladsen, 570 m, about 8 min, along Fiolstræde, Skindergade, Gammeltorv, Frederiksberggade, Rådhuspladsen.
Lunch break
Restaurant Kronborg, Brolæggerstræde 12, about 120 m off the route, open Mon–Wed 11:00–18:00, Thu–Sat 11:00–22:00, Sun 11:00–18:00.
Low beams, a fireplace, old drawings and copies of Danish church wall paintings, and a kitchen that makes the lot from scratch. More on what to eat in Copenhagen.
5. Rådhuspladsen
about 26 minutes of walking from the start
The west end of the level, where the long walking street runs out and the ground widens. Roads come in here from every direction. Stop for a minute and see which way people pick. That is a whole town making up its mind, over and over, and I could follow it for a century.
Next: Københavns Rådhus, 200 m, about 3 min, along Rådhuspladsen.
6. Københavns Rådhus
about 29 minutes of walking from the start
It is open to anyone, and hardly anybody finds that out. Walk in off the square, and once you are through the door go and look at the clock on the ground floor. It keeps the calendar and the movement of the sky at the same time, and it will still be right long after I have stopped caring what day it is.
Next: Nationalmuseet, 330 m, about 5 min, along Vester Voldgade, Stormgade.
7. Nationalmuseet
about 34 minutes of walking from the start
A whole block of it, between the canal and Ny Vestergade. Whatever time you have set aside for this one, double it, and go in through the courtyard rather than the front. I was carried in for a quick look and came back out a season later.
Next: Thorvaldsens Museum, 340 m, about 5 min, along Stormgade, Prins Jørgens Gård.
8. Thorvaldsens Museum
about 39 minutes of walking from the start · inside open Tue–Sun 10:00–17:00, Mon closed
On the palace island, canal down two sides, and easy to walk past on the way to the bigger thing next door. Go into the courtyard at its centre before you look at anything else. Somebody is buried under it. Not many courtyards can say that.
Back to the start: Christiansborg Slot, 220 m, about 3 min, along Prins Jørgens Gård.
Every stop counts from the street; the hours are for going inside. Opening hours from OpenStreetMap, © OpenStreetMap contributors. Check before you go.
After the walk
The rest of Copenhagen.
This loop is 8 sights. The Old Town is 122 streets, and I have opinions about all of them. Every street of the Copenhagen Old Town, with what to eat and where.
Cobble Gobble is a walking game for iPhone: every street is a line of dots you collect by walking it, and the phone stays in your pocket. Your first city is free.