5 free things to do in legendary Copenhagen

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5 free things to do in legendary Copenhagen

By Jan M. Olsen (Shanghai Daily) 09:53, August 09, 2013

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While it's easy to spend a fortune in Copenhagen, one of Europe's most expensive cities, the Danish capital also has a lot to offer for travelers on a tight budget.

The city center is compact enough that you can get around on foot, enjoying the top sights and walking in the footsteps of fairy tale writer Hans Christian Andersen - without spending a single krone.

Photo souvenirs

The location of the iconic Little Mermaid statue is a bit of a hike and be advised: Her size is underwhelming. Still, many find her worth the half-hour walk from downtown. A tribute to Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale, the 100-year-old bronze statue is free to admire and photograph. Unfortunately, the easy access has also led to acts of vandalism.

Over the years she's been decapitated, splashed with paint and defaced by graffiti. Those looking for an exotic twist to their photo album or social media may want to pay a visit to Christiania, the free-wheeling neighborhood founded by hippies in the 1970s (just don't photograph the drug dealers).

The Royal Life Guards parade through the city every day at noon in connection with the changing of the guard at the Amalienborg Palace, the home of the royal family. Check out the City Hall's ornamented front and the gilded statue of city founder Bishop Absalon just above the balcony. The building from 1905 was inspired by the City Hall in Siena, Italy, and is free to visit.

Window shopping

Danes are a relaxed bunch and shopkeepers won't sneer at you for inspecting their goods without buying. There's no place for window shopping in Copenhagen like Stroeget, the artery that runs from City Hall square to the picturesque harbor of Nyhavn. Skip the souvenir shops with plastic Viking helmets (history check: real Viking helmets didn't have horns) and explore the acclaimed world of Danish design, from hand-painted china at Royal Copenhagen to cutting-edge fashion boutiques with clothes from homegrown designers like Noir, Munthe plus Simonsen and Baum und Pferdgarten.

If you visit in December, don't miss the Yuletide markets and treats at Hoejbro Plads or Nyhavn.

Free museums

Enjoy free admission to state-run museums including the National Museum, the National Gallery or the Post & Tele Museum, where you can try a telephone with a crank handle and lift a rather heavy early mobile phone (and see the splendid view from the rooftop cafe). The David Collection features work from Vilhelm Hammershoei and other Danish painters, and a rare collection of Islamic art. Access to permanent collections is free. Some private museums offer some free access: On Mondays at Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek - known for impressionist paintings; on Wednesdays the Danish Design Center (5pm-9pm), and on Fridays the Museum of Copenhagen.

In Andersen's footsteps

The 19th-century author of "The Little Mermaid" and "The Emperor's New Clothes" was born in central Denmark but lived and died in Copenhagen. The city has two statues of him: one in the Kongens Have park and another, more famous, outside City Hall. The Magasin du Nord department store has kept a tiny attic room where he briefly lived and access is free. His tombstone is in the Assistens churchyard, a half-hour walk from downtown and near the graves of Danish thinker Soeren Kierkegaard and Nobel Prize-winning physicist Niels Bohr. Don't miss the grave of Giertrud Birgitte Bodenhoff: Legend says she was buried alive at 19, then strangled by a grave robber.

Festivals

Copenhagen was home to a prominent jazz scene in the 1960s and 1970s, when many American jazz musicians settled here. The annual jazz festival still draws big names in early July (this year, July 5-14) and many concerts are held outdoors, rain or shine. Many are free. The Kongens Have park offers a free children's version of the festival. The park also has an old-fashioned puppet theater during the summer.

In August, the Copenhagen Dance Festival is staged at the police headquarters built in 1924, considered a masterpiece of neoclassical architecture with a circular courtyard surrounded by pairs of columns.