Our first installment on Copenhagen was built around a typical tourist itinerary, which tend to focus on Indre By (the historical city center). This is the kind of thing that people want when they come to a new European city: cobble stone streets, beautiful old buildings, and a walkable society the likes of which North American minds can scarcely comprehend. And for good reason: these cities are incredible! Copenhagen definitely does not disappoint in this regard; it’s got the “beautiful, historic European city” thing is spades. But what I think people often miss in Europe is contemporary life. As an American expat living in Europe, the thing that keeps me here is not the beautiful, old buildings (although, they certainly don’t hurt) or the rich history; it’s what is happening right now.
Copenhagen is an interesting example of how the center of gravity for contemporary, social life is often not in the historic city center. I think this is true in varying degrees in many cities across Europe, but what I understand from speaking with my Danish friends over here, is that this phenomenon is particularly decisive in Copenhagen. If you move to Copenhagen, most people will tell you that the best place to live is not Indre By, but other neighborhoods that are a bit further afield, a bit less dense, a bit less historic, and a lot less photogenic.
Today we’re going to focus on two such neighborhoods, which have a reputation for the being the “cool / trendy” areas in Copenhagen: Frederiksberg and Nørrebro.
Frederiksberg
I mentioned this in the previous article, but for a couple of months in 2022, before I moved to Europe, while I was still applying to grad schools, I was living with the certainty that I would be moving not to London—which is ultimately what happened and where I am still based—but to Copenhagen! I even had a super vivid dream once about Copenhagen that was all in the style of a Viking-twist on Miyazaki films. It felt somehow prophetic at the time. Specifically, I would have been living here in Frederiksberg. So when I hit the streets of Copenhagen, this is the first place I came! I wanted to see what my life would have been like if I had gone through with my plan to move here.
To be honest, when I was actually making the decision of which program to select, I was much more attracted to the idea of life in Copenhagen than London—by A LOT. What brought me to London was a quantitative calculation on the scale of the opportunities that would be afforded to me by that path, not my interest in London itself. Of course, now I love London. But I have often wondered if I would have loved Copenhagen more. It’s a lot smaller than London, and a LOT safer. People who have lived in both places tell me that Copenhagen is boring by comparison, and that it would be a good place to live once they have kids. Honestly, it doesn’t sound all that bad to me. 🤷🏻♂️
Tangent: If you want a sense for just HOW SAFE Copenhagen truly is, get a load of this…
Here, when entering a shop or cafe, it is actually normal to leave your stroller parked on the sidewalk outside WITH YOUR BABY STILL IN IT. I’m told this quirky collective trust is fairly ubiquitous throughout Denmark, which is pretty cool… but ohmygawd I would never ever ever do that.
Anyway, Frederiksberg is technically its own municipality, separate from the rest of Copenhagen. It has its own mayor and everything! Like pretty much every place in Europe, it has been continuously inhabited for centuries, but it was not until the struggling farming community that had once stood here burned down in the late 1690s that this place began its metamorphosis. Between 1700 and 1703, King Frederik IV (of Denmark & Norway), built a palace here, and there was subsequently renamed after him. Around this anchor, a merhcant town began to grow, expanding from a population of 1,000 in 1770, to 3,000 in 1850. At the time, Copenhagen was small enough that Frederiksberg was a separate place, just outside of it—but today it is completely integrated with the cityscape, and is home to more than 100,000 people who all very much think of Frederiksberg as simply a neighborhood under the Copenhagen umbrella.
Today it’s a wealthy area, hip area that should very much be on everyone’s short list who plans to spend any extended period of time in Copenhagen. You can see Frederiksberg on the map below, and the pictures I snapped of it below. I especially love the shot of the two Danes coming out of the record store. The Danes are definitely cooler than I will ever be.
Nørrebro
Up next, we’ll move northeast-ish to the adjacent neighborhood of Nørrebro. Unlike Frederiksberg, Nørrebro is part of the Copenhagen municipality. However, you could be forgiven if you didn’t notice that you were passing from one to the other. Together they sort of form one big area of awesomeness. In my mind I think of them as being sort of clumped together, but I’m sure locals would interject here to make it clear that there are differences.
To be honest, the biggest difference for me was just that I happened to stumble upon a lot more cool/hip stuff over here in Nørrebro than I did in Frederiksberg, which felt a bit more low-key. But that could very well have just been luck. I did one walk through these areas in particular that sticks out in my mind. After getting an omelete and a flat white in a super cool little cafe called Tilda og Karl, Café og Spisested, I went for a sun-soaked walked through Nørrebroparken Ved Krogerupgade toward Superkilen Park.
This little slice of Nørrebro is where I really felt like I saw the coolness of Copenhagen first hand. The sun was shining and the Danes were out in force, soaking up the sunlight while they could. A steady but quiet progression of bicycles flowed down every street and path, each one advancing its own little storyline. The Danes—like many of their European peers—bike everywhere. It’s really cool. The two cyclists in Nørrebro that stand out the most in my memory were, (1) a girl riding through the park with a blow-up doll on the back seat of her bike 😂 and (2) a woman riding her bike with her daughter and a giant man (who I assumed it was her husband) in the front basket. Both were hilarious and endearing reversals of typical gender roles. I can see myself hanging out with these people.
Superkilen Park + The black square
At the bottom of the gallery above, you’ll see the inside of a building. These are from the Nørrebro Lokaludvalg (Community Council) and Nørrebro Bibliotek (Library). Both sit in the same structure on the a super cool little enclave called Superkilen Park. Some of the photos above were taken in a red skate park that sits on one side of the park, that is very cool to walk through, but what really enticed me here was a slice of Superkilen Park called The Black Square, which has these cool wavy white lines pained on the pavement. I had seen this place in travel shows like Somebody Feed Phil and had my heart set on visiting it while I was here.
When I arrived, there just so happened to be some sort of vintage clothes sale happening on top of it, which blocked my view of this little-known piece of street art, but also created a view that may have been even better: this park actually being used as a community gathering place. I would have spent some time shopping here if I’d had any money, but alas, I’m a baller on a budget. If you want to find cool clothes though, Copenhagen would be a good place to do it. Especially for a tall fellow like myself (the Danes are also known to be quite tall).
This concludes our foray into Copenhagen’s neighborhoods, but it does NOT conclude this series in Copenhagen.
Up next we’ll see some murals with a side of anarchy at the hippie commune in the middle of Copenhagen known as Freetown Christiania. This place is… interesting.
For track of the day, something that I was actually listening to in my headphones while I did this walk. It felt fitting to me.
