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copenhagen

13 Quick Tips for Newcomers to Copenhagen

Since I’ve lived in Denmark for some time, it can be hard to get in the headspace of a newcomer.

But that was my assignment recently when I spoke to a couple of hundred new students at the University of Copenhagen, who had just arrived in Denmark the day before.

I thought that some of these tips might be useful to you, my podcast listeners.

So here we go, lightning round, word association style.

Get an ugly bicycle in Copenhagen

Bicycle. When you arrive in Copenhagen, get one quickly, and get an ugly one. Don’t get a fancy one that is exciting to thieves. Denmark has a bicycle culture, but it also has a big bicycle theft culture.

A good option is a second-hand bike, but get it someplace legit, because if you get it from some random online you might find yourself riding someone else’s stolen bike.

Biking gives you freedom, it can take you anywhere at any time in any season in Denmark. And if you don’t know how to ride a bike, the Danish Red Cross has free classes for adults.

Yes, you do have to pay for public transport in Denmark

Transport tickets. There are no fare gates on the Danish metro or bus or train. You’re just trusted to buy a ticket.

However, there are controllers that go around and check, and if you don’t have precisely the right ticket when they check you, you will get a big fine.

Don’t bother with a dramatic story about how you didn’t understand the ticket system because you’re an innocent child from a faraway land.

Don’t cry. It doesn’t work, I’ve tried.

Keep your dignity, pay the fine, and then if you think it’s unfair, email the transport company. You can often get the fine reduced, in particular if it’s your first fine.

First names only in Danish culture

First names only. In Denmark, everybody goes by their first name. That includes university professors, bosses, priests, schoolteachers, doctors, even the prime minister. Mette. Mette Frederiksen.

Nobody uses Mr or Mrs or Doctor titles.

This is also true for older people. You don’t have to address them as Ma’am or Sir or Aunty or any of the other forms of respect common in other cultures. Just their first names – it’s what they want.

Always be on time in Denmark

Time and trust: Being on time is a big part of building trust in Denmark. A 10am class really is a 10am class, a 2pm meeting really is a 2pm meeting, and even for social events you have to be on time.

If someone invites you for dinner at 7 you really have to be there at 7.00.00. Otherwise your food will be cold. None of this turning up fashionably late.

And if you say that you’re going to be someplace, you really do have to turn up, or the Danes will be heartbroken. They were counting on you.

Splitting the check on a date in Denmark

Dating. Dating in Denmark is very egalitarian. The check is usually split in half. If it’s a male female date, the man may offer to pay, the woman might say no, and that doesn’t mean the date is a flop. People just like to be equal.

In general, Danes can be prickly about someone else picking up the check in a restaurant, even with friends – they do not want to feel obligated. Usually everyone splits the bill.

The exception is your birthday, when you pay for everything.

How to party if you don’t drink alcohol in Denmark

Drinking. Not all of Danish social life still centers on alcohol, but a lot still does. If you don’t drink alcohol , I’d recommend going to parties and Friday bars anyway and having elderflower juice, hyldeblomst. It’s a local favorite, light and sweet with zero alcohol.

You can also have what they call danskvand, or Danish water, that’s just plain water with bubbles in it. Put in a lemon or lime, it looks like a cocktail, nobody’s going to ask you any questions.

If you do drink alcohol, beer is generally pretty cheap in Denmark, wine less so, and cocktails very expensive. It’s common for a group of friends to drink at home before they go out to save money. (The Danes call it warm, in other words, warming up to a night on the town.)

Saving money in Copenhagen

Saving money. Restaurants and cafés and takeout are all very expensive here, so you’ve got to learn to cook for yourself or you’ll go broke. Look for items in supermarkets with yellow labels. Yellow is the color of discounts in Denmark.

Supermarkets often cut the price on food the day before it goes out of date. If you eat meat, you can buy a lot of this discount about-to-expire meat, freeze it, and eat it whenever you like. (I also recommend the app To Good To Go which offers discounts on “surprise bags” of bakery products, sushi, and other about-to-expire food as an initiative to avoid food waste.)

One thing you cannot do here is negotiate a discount at the supermarket checkout, and yes, I have seen people try. Flea markets, yes, supermarkets no.

You’ll notice that many of the staff in supermarkets are under 18. That’s because employers are legally allowed to pay young people less.

Your doctor in Denmark

Your doctor. Every person in Denmark legally gets to choose a primary care doctor, this is the famous tax-funded universal care. The doctors are self-employed, they own their clinics, but they are paid by the government, you don’t pay to see them.

What you do have pay for is medicine. If you need a prescription, they’ll send it electronically to a central system and you can pick it up at any pharmacy in Denmark, the price is the same everywhere.

That said, Danish doctors are often reluctant to prescribe medicine, in particular sleeping medication and antibiotics. These are t ough to get.

When you need someone to talk to in Denmark

Mental health. It’s August, it’s the light times, now is the time to start finding friend groups and activities, because the dark times are on their way. You do not want to be sitting all alone in your room during the dark times – November, December, January, February.

If you’re in Denmark and feeling alone and desperate, and the wait to talk to your doctor or to a free public counselor is too long, you can always make an appointment with a Danish priest.

Now, don’t freak out. You don’t even have to be a Christian! In the Danish state church, the priests are often middle-aged women. They’re not going to wear a funny outfit or talk too much about Jesus. They’ll just listen to you.

If you really need someone to talk to, a Danish priest from the state church is available in every neighborhood in Denmark. It’s fast, and it’s free. Don’t wait.

(Find your local branch of the state church in Denmark here.)

Hanging out with the Danish Royal Family

The Danish Royal Family. They are not big celebrities like the British Royal Family, you will see them walking around, especially in Copenhagen. I remember when I first got here looking through the window of a hair salon and seeing the then-Queen getting her hair washed.

If you’re a young person like the people in my university audience, you might see Crown Prince Christian, the future king, out having a few beers. He’s 20, whatever, he likes beer. Same for his sister, who is 19 and currently in the Danish Army. When she gets a break she probably likes some beers as well.

If you’re single and heterosexual, keep in mind that Danish Royals always marry foreigners, never other Danes. The current King married a woman from Australia, his Mom married a Frenchman, his grandpa a Swede, his great-grandpa a German. So you have a chance.

Quiet, taxis, gifts in Denmark

Quiet. Denmark is a quiet country. You might be on a bus or a train FaceTiming with a friend at home and see a Dane looking at you in a disapproving way.

You might think it’s because you are a foreigner, and that could be true, but it could also be because you’re loud.

With the exception of those drunken Friday bars, this is a quiet country.

Listen to the traffic: there are almost no horns honking. Most Danish trains have a “silent car” where no one is allowed to talk or play music.

Danes like peacefulness. If you are loud, voice loud, music loud, TikTok on your phone with no earphones loud, any type of loud, you are going to get funny looks.

Taxis. Taxis aren’t as common here as they are in many other big cities, because public transport is reliable and clean and used by every social class. And taxis are expensive.

You can’t really call a taxi by raising your arm like you do in Hong Kong or New York City.

You have to go to a taxi stand or call a taxi to where you are, or use the local taxi app. And the local version of Uber is just another version of the local taxi app.

If you absolutely must use a taxi, perhaps if you have a lot of luggage, use the fixed price option in the app. This will help you avoid getting an unscheduled tour of the city.

Gifts. In many countries, gifts are a social cue and and important part of doing business, but not in Denmark.

You should never give your professor or your boss flowers or candy or any other kind of gift. They’ll be very uncomfortable if you do. They see it as a form of corruption, which is not OK in Denmark.

You also should not offer money to university administrators to get what you want, such as a better housing assignment, or to municipal officials or immigration staff to get them to bend the rules.

They will be angry if you do. This is not the Danish way.

August 28, 2026 by Kay Xander Mellish

Copenhagen vs Berlin

When I checked into my hotel on a recent trip to Berlin, I was surprised to find a little shop next door called Hygge. It was a Danish theme store, right in the middle of the German capital city. It had soft pillows, candles, wooden figurines, and other home items designed to create a cozy Copenhagen atmosphere in the raw rough streets of Berlin.

Of course, it’s not uncommon for one city to have tiny tributes to a different city. After all, Copenhagen has a Berlin Bar, and a clothing store called New Yorker, and an Old Irish Pub. But it inspired me to compare the two cities, Copenhagen and Berlin, two national capitals which are relatively close – less than an hour’s flight – but very different in spirit.

In my youth in Berlin

Those of you who have followed me for a while know that I used to live in Berlin, long before I lived in Copenhagen. This was when I was young and pretty, so quite some time ago, and at the time Berlin was a demilitarized zone, which meant that military draft notices could not be sent there.

That meant that a lot of young German men from around the country chose to live in Berlin as an alternative to joining the army, which meant that the male-to-female ratio at any party was very much in my favor.

Copenhagen vs Berlin

Berlin was fun and exciting then, and it’s fun and exciting now. It has much more of a nightlife scene than Copenhagen, being one of the capitals of techno music, and more of a classical culture scene too.

Berlin has eight symphony orchestras and three opera companies, in part because in the days when the wall was up and the city was split into West Berlin and East Berlin, there had to be an opera company on both sides, and symphony orchestras on both sides.

Berlin also has two zoos, one in the West and one in the East.

Copenhagen has one opera company, and one zoo.

Poet or punk

Berlin is just a bigger city, roughly twice the population, and it’s the capital of a bigger country. 84 million people in Germany versus 6 million people in Denmark. If you look at it that way, Copenhagen is culturally punching far above its weight.

Living in the two cities is very different. Copenhagen is a mostly clean, mostly safe, mostly well-run, mostly get up early in the morning and get to work type of city.

There’s not a lot of opportunity to opt out and be a poet or a punk, especially since reforms tightened the maximum term for unemployment payments to two years instead of four.

Long-term low-income lifestyles

Berlin, on the other hand, is more tolerant of long-term low-income lifestyles. There are a lot more government grants for artists. And until recently, Berlin also had much cheaper housing available than Copenhagen. That’s changing now.

And Berlin is not always clean and not always well-run. It’s a little scruffy. You’ll see overflowing trash cans, furniture dumped on the sidewalk, parks that aren’t very well-tended.

You’ll see many more rough sleepers in Berlin, people sleeping in train stations or under railway arches, or sometimes putting up a tent in a park. That’s rare in Copenhagen.

Traditional lunchtime foods

I was thinking about these contrasts as I waited in line at lunchtime at a trendy bratwurst stand in Berlin. Both the Danes and the Germans still seem to enjoy their traditional foods, especially at lunchtime.

You can’t beat a good piece of smørrebrød in Copenhagen.

Both Copenhagen and Berlin are modern cities strongly affected by their history. Copenhagen still has its medieval street plan, even if most of the brightly colored buildings are from the 1700s and 1800s. This helps give Copenhagen its fairy-tale feeling, its warmth, its hygge.

Berlin is not hyggelig. Its medieval street plan is long gone, and of course the city was devastated at the end of World War II. You can still find bullet holes from the Battle of Berlin in some buildings, like the old National Gallery in the center.

Big parts of the city were flattened, and the buildings that replaced some of the destruction weren’t very pretty. Parts of Berlin are actually ugly.

A friendly balance

As different as the two cities are, their residents are admirers of each other. Danes vacation in Berlin to get a taste of big city nightlife, Berliners often come to Copenhagen to enjoy the charm of Tivoli Gardens, and sometimes to get married. Copenhagen City Hall’s wedding rooms are beautiful, and there’s much less paperwork than there is in Germany.

Germans and Danes have been on the opposite side of several wars, but their two capitals, one secure, one a bit chaotic, now have a friendly balance.

They even name shops after each other.

July 26, 2026 by Kay Xander Mellish

Podcasts, Stories about life in Denmark

The design quirks of Copenhagen

It’s summertime, the top tourist season in Copenhagen, and the streets and the bike lanes and the harbor boats are full of people from around the world. One of the things they come to look at is Danish design.

I’ve created a new audio tour of Danish design in Copenhagen via Voicemap, but I thought I’d share a few quirks of design in Copenhagen that are not in the tour.

First of all, did you know that Copenhagen has its own color?

It’s called Copenhagen Green, and it’s a dark emerald green, mixed with a fair amount of black. A little like the dark green we see on the leaves of trees here in August. Pantone 3435C, for you designer types.

Green and black blend well

You’ll notice that all Copenhagen benches are this color, and there are thousands of these wood and cast-iron benches around town. They were originally designed more than a hundred years ago by Thorvald Bindesbøll, an art nouveau master also known for the Carlsberg beer label.

You will see Copenhagen Green on many wooden doors and window frames in the old city, as well as lamp posts, railings, even small bridges in the beautiful Ørsteds Park, all painted Copenhagen Green. This was a conscious decision by city leaders in the early 1900s.

They felt the combination of green and black blended well with both natural and urban settings and using it widely would create a sense of harmony. Plus almost everybody likes green.

August 8, 2024 by Kay Xander Mellish

Podcasts, Stories about life in Denmark

New Year’s Eve traditions in Denmark

It’s almost Week 1, in the weekly numbering system that’s widely used in Northern Europe, where the year starts with week 1 and runs through to Week 52 or 53, depending on the calendar.

It’s very efficient for planning, so you don’t have to say something messy like “What about that week that starts Monday June 3…” Week 1 starts on January 1, and everything follows that in perfect order.

But before that we have New Year’s Eve, a day that fills me with trepidation to be honest, because in Denmark, New Year’s Eve is all about amateur fireworks.

Cannonballs, Roman Candles, Ding Dongs, Triple Extremes – these are what you can purchase to set off yourself in a local parking lot, terrifying any nearby dogs or cats.

Having a family member in the hospital business, I can’t help but think that today, December 26, there are a few amateur fireworks fans who have perfectly well-functioning eyes and fingers who won’t have them on January 2.

December 26, 2023 by Kay Xander Mellish

Podcasts, Stories about life in Denmark

Drugs in Denmark

When it comes to drugs, Denmark’s approach is inconsistent. Getting illegal drugs doesn’t seem to be too difficult, but getting legal drugs can be.

Hashish, which is illegal in Denmark, was until recently easy to procure at “Pusher Street”, in the so-called Free State of Christiania in Copenhagen. Christiania is one of the tourist attractions of Copenhagen.

This old military base, which was taken over by hippies during the 1970s, is a unique place, with dirt roads and ramshackle wooden buildings put together with odds and ends and some gorgeous wild nature which is surprising to find in the middle of a European capital city.

Pusher Street was a row of wooden booths where until recently buyers could choose from a selection of hashish being sold openly, although the dealers would smash your camera if you tried to take a picture of it.

It’s been shut down again and again in the past, usually after violent incidents, but it always risen up again. The truth is many Copenhageners like the fact that hashish dealing is centralized in one place. They don’t want the dealers and customers coming to *their* neighborhoods.

Snowflake doesn’t mean winter weather

Anyway, much of the drug dealing in Denmark today doesn’t take place on Pusher Street, it takes place via smartphones like everything else. Via text messages, or on apps that are popular with young people, like Snapchat.

When someone has a snowflake emoji next to their Snapchat profile image, it doesn’t mean that they like winter weather.

September 29, 2023 by Kay Xander Mellish

Stories about life in Denmark, Travels in Denmark

The Bridges of Denmark

I don’t do a lot of stock market investing, but if I did, I’d want to go back in time and invest in companies that build bridges in Denmark. This country is on a tear when it comes to bridge building. Over the past decade, there have been 5 new major bridges in Copenhagen alone, and at least one new major one is planned.

And because this is Denmark, and people love design, each bridge has its own special look. You can’t just put up a few bridge supports and a deck on top for traffic. You need style, and you need a colorful name.

Consider, for example, the multicolored Kissing Bridge in Copenhagen. It’s not named that because you’re supposed to kiss on the bridge, although you can if you like. It’s named that because it breaks in half on a regular basis to let ships through, and then it’s supposed to come together again like a kiss.

The Kissing Bridge has needed to visit a relationship counselor, however, because there have been constant problems getting it to kiss. It wasn’t quite aligned the way it was supposed to be.

It seems to work now, although it’s rather steep and a difficult ride for bicyclists, which is rather a shame, because it is a bicycle and pedestrian bridge only. There are no cars on it.

Bicycle Snake and Brewing Bridge

The Bicycle Snake and the Brewing Bridge a little further down the harbor are also just for cyclists and walkers, and so is the Little Langebro bridge.

The Little Langebro bridge is currently the newest bridge in town, just a couple of years old. This is a neighborhood I don’t go to often, and I remember coming home from a late night engagement to suddenly find a new bridge in front of me, all lit up and ready to serve.

Whoa! Unexpected bridge. It was like a dream.

August 30, 2022 by Kay Xander Mellish

Podcasts, Stories about life in Denmark

On the Road: Copenhagen Northwest, beyond the cherry trees

It’s springtime, and the cherry trees are about to bloom in Copenhagen Northwest, which is usually the only time people who live outside Northwest bother to go there.

Northwest is a working class neighborhood, so much so that the streets are named after working-class occupations.

While other Copenhagen neighborhoods have streets named after kings and queens and generals, Northwest has Brick-maker street, and Book-binder street, and Rope-maker street, and Barrel-maker street.

But there are other things to see in Copenhagen Northwest besides the cherry trees, which have become a bit of a crowd scene since they were reported on by a national news network.

Old city, new neighborhood

Like many industrial districts in a post-industrial society, Northwest has become a bit of a trendy neighborhood. I live here, and when I first moved here ten years ago it was hard to find a café to meet up in. Lots of cafés and restaurants now, lots of young people, lots of activity.

March 19, 2022 by Kay Xander Mellish

Stories about life in Denmark, Travels in Denmark

How to Live in Denmark On the Road: Copenhagen’s Harbor Bus, “Havnebussen”

One of Denmark’s cheapest and most colorful vacations is a few hours riding back and forth on Copenhagen’s big yellow harbor bus, or “Havnebussen”, a commuter ferry designed to transport ordinary citizens between downtown and the urban islands of Christianshavn and Amager.

For those of you who have no summer vacation plans yet, or who don’t have the cash to go very far, the harbor bus can take you from tourist trap to high culture to party culture, from shabby little wood shacks to neighborhoods of chic glass apartment houses with their own private beach.

All for as little as 14 kroner, or 2 euro, if you pay with Denmark’s popular rejsekort, or nothing, if you’re a tourist with a Copenhagen Card. (Beware – you cannot buy a ticket onboard, although you can pay with with the DOT Tickets app on your phone.)

You can start at any of the currently operational 7 Havnebussen stops, but let’s start at Nyhavn, in part because it’s the easiest stop to find if you don’t know Copenhagen well.

June 25, 2021 by Kay Xander Mellish

Podcasts, Stories about life in Denmark

Driving in Denmark: Doll-size parking spaces and unexpected U-turns

While a car is useful for exploring the Danish countryside, a car in one of Denmark’s larger cities can be a millstone around your neck.

The traffic is terrible, the fuel costs stratospheric, the parking spaces doll-sized. Bicyclists own the road and often ignore traffic rules.

If you’re just visiting, don’t feel you need to rent a car when you land at the airport.

Even if the home or business you’re visiting is in the suburbs, there’s a good chance you’ll save money by taking a cab – and most Danish taxis are Mercedes-Benz or Teslas. (There is no Uber or Lyft in Denmark.)

Watch out for bicyclists
If you do choose to drive in the city, be very careful about right turns.

Several Danish bicyclists are killed every year because a car or truck took a right turn and the bicyclist (who may be drunk, grooving out to music on his earbuds, or simply not paying attention) continued going straight.

There is no legal right turn on red in Denmark, and even on green, the bicyclist has the right of way.

November 27, 2020 by Kay Xander Mellish

Podcasts, Stories about life in Denmark

Practical tips for moving to Denmark

Denmark is a lovely place to settle down for a while, or even permanently if you are ready to do battle with the immigration authorities. While I’m no expert on Danish visas or immigration law, I can offer a few practical tips for moving to Denmark.

First of all, make sure you bring money. Denmark is an expensive place to live where you will own less stuff, but better stuff.

That said, there’s no need to bring much furniture, in particular if your furniture is nothing special.

You can easily purchase basic pieces from IKEA, either in Denmark or in IKEA’s homeland of Sweden, and there’s also the option of buying gorgeous Danish design furniture inexpensively at local second-hand stores and flea markets.

Clothing and beauty products
Bring lots of casual, warm, and waterproof clothing. You don’t need huge polar jackets – Denmark rarely goes below 0 Fahrenheit/-15 Celsius – but halter tops and suede loafers will see very little service.

When it comes to business clothing, blazers, sweaters, and trousers in subtle colors are usually your best bet. (Danes are not great fans of whimsy or eccentricity when it comes to clothing or jewelry.)

November 5, 2020 by Kay Xander Mellish

Older Posts

Kay Xander Mellish is a US-DK dual citizen. She grew up in Wisconsin, USA, but has lived in Denmark for more than a decade. Kay is a popular keynote speaker on Danish working culture and offers practical advice to international professionals navigating Danish work environments.

In addition, she helps Americans and Danes avoid misunderstandings and improve their cross-cultural teamwork.

Kay is the author of "The Danish Year" (2026), "How to Work in Denmark" (2022 and 2018), "How to Live in Denmark" (2017 and 2014), "Top 35 Mistakes Danes Make in English" (2016), "Working with Americans: Tips for Danes" (2019), and "Working with Danes: Tips for Americans" (2020). Her books are also available in audio format.