This summer of July 2025, I had an opportunity to go to Copenhagen Denmark for one week because of a conference that is rarely held in Europe. Despite the busy schedules of presenting, networking, and attending conference sessions, seeing places and experiencing Copenhagen is something that needs to be squeezed-in in my agenda. Despite the daily lack of sleep, I managed to experience Copenhagen – visit as much place, taste local foods, and observe their daily life. Of course, this experience is just a tip of the iceberg. I will surely return with my family to further discover Copenhagen, as well as other Danish cities. In this blog, I will write my impressions of Copenhagen based on my one week visit.

Impressions of Copenhagen Denmark

1. Being in Copenhagen is expensive yet offers high quality products.

Yes, you are Scandinavia so expect that the prices of products and services are more expensive as compared to other European countries. For instance, a glass of wine will cost you 12 euros as compared to 7-8 euros in the Netherlands, a salad lunch for 11-12 euros vs. the 5-7 euros in the Netherlands, or a ref magnet that costs 6.4-8.4 euros in Copenhagen against the 4-5.5 euros in the Netherlands. But if you take a look at the quality of the product, you can also see the high Danish standards and therefore can say that there is a high quality of living in the country.

2. Copenhagen is into sustainability.

There are simple things in Copenhagen that can make you notice the sustainability consciousness of this city. For instance, you can see separation of garbage for paper, plastic, and waste whether on public places or in the hotel, you have to pay for your plastic bag in the airport and other establishments, or the food is in a container when in buffet breakfast to avoid getting too much food that ends up being wasted.

There are also a number of Eco-certified hotels in the city to choose from. You can find some of the lists of Eco-friendly hotels in this link. In our case, we stayed in Hotel Kong Arthur which is highly recommended due to its strategic location to the metro, very good breakfast, and high quality service such as free yoga meditation (between 8:30-9:20 in the morning) and free happy hour drink (between 5-6pm) during summer.

3. Lots of fish and seafood products.

Being situated in the islands of Zealand and Amager, Copenhagen is a fishing village since the 15th century. Aside from the beautiful beaches and astonishing view of historical architecture, you can also indulge yourself with fresh seafood products – there are many variations that you can find in restaurants, supermarket, or small shops. In my experience, I got hooked with a food shop in Norreport market, which offers seafood meals. I ended up buying fish and salad there for 3 days! 🙂

4. Copenhagen city is a bike city.

Similar to the famous Dutch city of Amsterdam, Copenhagen is also popular for biking. You can rent bikes if you want to do city tour or simply to go from one place to another. Of course, every corner of Copenhagen is also accessible by metro. And if you are a walking tourist, watch out for bikes in very busy places.

5. Internationalize in a local community

Interestingly, Copenhagen is a very international community in a local setting. Based on my observation from the place that we stayed in Norreport, the local market features many international restaurants, such as Japanese, Italian, Korean, French, and local Danish foods. You can also see in the demography of the people taking the metro that there are many different nationalities in the area.

6. Copenhagen is so small that you can tour the place in a day!

You can reach many places in Copenhagen in minutes by simply taking a metro, going by bike and taking a ferry, making the tour of Copenhagen possible within a day! Some of the places that you should not miss to visit include the famous Nyhavn (picturesque waterfron district with vibrant and colorful buildings in the background), Tivoli Gardens (amusement park inspired by Walt Disney in the center of Copenhagen), Christiansborg Slot (a palace surrounded by canals in the heart of Copenhagen), Christiania (an alternative neighborhood in Christianshavn), and The Little Mermaid (an iconic bronze statue of the fairy tale The Little Mermaid by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen).