2019 will see a host of hot new attractions set to open across Denmark with high flying Copenhill and Camp Adventure taking guests to new heights. It’s the last chance to see Rubjerg Knude lighthouse before it’s relocated and in Copenhagen there’s a choice of exciting new dining options plus the opening of the new Cityringen Metro in Copenhagen. National pride in Danish heritage is also likely to peak in 2019 as the country celebrates 800 years of its national flag, the Dannebrog. So take advantage of Ryanair’s new regional flights from Liverpool, Edinburgh and Southend to Copenhagen and new thrice weekly flights from Manchester to Aarhus with SAS to get active in Denmark in 2019. Here are the highlights:
Culture and attractions
As the oldest known national flag in the world, the Dannebrog (meaning the Danish banner) is a source of great national pride. Legend has it that it fell from the sky on 15th June 1219 in a battle with the Estonians.
Danish history will also be more accessible to visitors when the new Museum of Copenhagen opens its doors in the Spring of 2019. Moving to its new location on Stormgade 18, the museum will be a source of information on the city’s past, present and future and a reference point of its archaeology, enabling city planners to make the best use of the space within the city.
Meanwhile a series of modern art installations can be experienced at Copenhagen Contemporary exhibition centre, the city’s new art centre in the old industrial harbour of Refshaleøen. Showing creations by world renowned contemporary artists, the exhibition space is at the epicentre of Copenhagen’s new creative hub.
Meanwhile on the harbour of Copenhagen at Knippelsbro, the Kulturtårnet (the Culture Tower) is an old copper bridge tower which has been restored to offer a quirky, new cultural venue for art, music, podcasts, talks and gastronomy, with unique views across the city.
For another tower experience, see the iconic Rubjerg Knude lighthouse, on the North Jutland coast, before time finally runs out and the historic lighthouse is moved to a new location. The lighthouse was first built in 1900, at which point it was more than 200m inland and there were no large dunes around it. However, over time the sea has moved closer and the wind has blown large amounts of sand up from the cliff. By 1968 the sand was so high it was sometimes impossible to see the lighthouse from the sea, and the light was switched off. Since then, the lighthouse has been under attack from coastal erosion, and in danger of falling into the sea.
Getting around Copenhagen will be a whole lot quicker and easier in 2019 when the new cityringen Metro opens in July. Constructed in conjunction with the existing Copenhagen metro network the 15.5 km underground loop under downtown Copenhagen’s ‘bridge quarters’ and Frederiksberg will have 17 underground stations. Linking the Nørrebro and Vesterbro areas with the city centre, it will make all the great restaurants, bars and shops more easily available for visitors and the airport accessible from the centre in as little as 20 minutes.
A new attraction for visitors to Copenhagen in 2019 is set to be the opening of CopenHill, the new artificial ski slope and recreational running and hiking trail built on top of Copenhagen’s new Amager Bakke Waste-to-Energy Plant. Designed by Danish architect, Bjarke Ingels the building stands some 85-metres high, and on the roof top café at the top of the ski slope there will be a platform with incredible views of the Danish capital.
Ski equipment will be available to hire, and there will also be green walking and running trails where visitors can wander and explore. For those with a real head for heights on one side of the building there will be an 85-metre high climbing wall, the tallest in the world. At 10 m wide it will have grips and different obstacles on the way up and will be designed to look like a mountain wall with different outhangs and routes to be found on the way. Aimed at experienced climbers with the right certification the routes up the wall will be rated by difficulty, where climbing becomes harder the higher you go.
For an alternative climb visitors to Camp Adventure resort in Haslev, about one hour south of Copenhagen, can scale the centrepiece of the project, a 45-metre-tall hourglass-shaped tower, for a birds-eye view of the forest of Gisselfeld Monastery. Guests will be able to ascend from the forest floor up the 600-metre-long internal spiral ramp, to take in spectacular views from the observation tower in the treetops and find an amazing 360-degree view over the surrounding countryside. Furthermore, the walkway will include diverse design features – including looping pathways, an aviary, seating and bridges, resulting in a striking experience.
Food news
Combining a museum with a micro-brewery Ny Malt in Ebeltoft, on the East Jutland coast is transforming the old red chalked malt factory into a centre for culture, the arts, gastronomy and creative industries. The new meeting place will open in 2019 and throughout the year it will house the Museum Østjylland (Museum East Jutland) and the Ebeltoft Yard brewery, which will produce malt and brew beer.
The big news on the restaurant scene in Copenhagen will be the opening of several new and exciting restaurants in the Refshaleøen area of the city.
Firstly, in January 2019, Matt Orlando, the former head chef at Noma and the creator of Amass will open Broaden & Build. The organic brewery and casual eatery will explore a creative collaboration between a chef and a brewer, where flavour and sustainability are the driving force. It will be located in the house of the former Royal Theatre’s scenery storage unit and will share the space with the new breweries – Emipirical Spirits distillery.
Next to Broaden & Build and also eagerly anticipated is the re-opening in Refshaleøen of Rasmus Munk’s extraordinary Alchemist restaurant a year after closing the original restaurant. In this new and larger space, Munk will be able to realise much of the vision he originally dreamed of in stimulating all the senses to create a complete sensory dining experience. Taking gastronomy into a whole new sphere he’s created a new style of cuisine which he’s called ‘Holistic Cuisine’. Inspiration for the concept came following a trip to Japan, where he realised what skilful sourcing of quality ingredients truly means and the other stimulus has been his introduction to the art world.
This will manifest in a number of ways from two ‘sensory experience rooms’, featuring artists, actors, and other creatives with installations changing two-three times a year, to an art installation inspired by Danish-Icelandic Artist Olafur Eliasson’s art piece Multiple Shadow House. In this piece diners will see the glass wall between the service kitchen and the dining room covered by a film that creates a living shadow art piece when the chefs move around in the kitchen. To ensure coherent creative storytelling from the beginning to the end, Rasmus Munk has invited the playwriter, Louise Rahr to overlook the experience.
Meanwhile, the trend for street food courts continues to gather pace with the expansion of Copenhagen Street Food from its original location on the Paper Island (Papirøen) to a new site also in Refshaleøen called Reffen. Also Boltens Food Court will be opening in 2019 in a renovated building near Kongens Nytorv in the centre of Copenhagen, with 19 international restaurants, including two vegan offerings and five bars, including a Carlsberg Brooklyn Bar. It will cover three floors of the old timbered building.
For those eagerly awaiting the new Nordic Michelin Guide, it has now been revealed that the launch will be taking place on Monday 18th February in Aarhus.
Getting there
Three new Ryanair flights add to the choice of airlines serving Denmark in 2019. Twice weekly flights from Edinburgh to Billund, Liverpool to Copenhagen and Southend to Copenhagen are starting in April 2019. Prices start from £25.99 per person one way.
SAS has also announced the launch of its thrice weekly flight from Manchester and Aarhus. Starting in April the flights will operate Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Prices start from £60 per person one way.
EasyJet commenced twice weekly flights from Gatwick to Aarhus from 2nd November 2018. Prices start from £35.20 per person one way.
Paul Johnson is Editor of A Luxury Travel Blog and has worked in the travel industry for more than 30 years. He is Winner of the Innovations in Travel ‘Best Travel Influencer’ Award from WIRED magazine. In addition to other awards, the blog has also been voted “one of the world’s best travel blogs” and “best for luxury” by The Daily Telegraph.
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12 Comments
Denmark is one of my favourite countries and Copenhagen one of my favourite cities. It’s always been easy to get around as the bus service is superb and a new line added to the Metro should make it even easier.
With new sights arriving I think that first-time visitors will need at least a week to get through them all.
Will any of Copenhagen’s new attractions be included on the Copenhagen Card?
I feel that I am due another visit to help them celebrate the flag’s 800th Birthday.
I’ve got mixed feelings about the new street food market. There was such a raw energy about the original venue on Papiroen Island. It was just so environmentally friendly. Repurposing the original newsprint bobbins as tables was sheer genius as was creating paper mache insulation, kept in place on the walls and ceilings with chicken wire. I enjoyed sitting in a deck chair on the canal side with a lager and a Colombian vegan burger watching the shipping go by. I now there was s short-term lease on the island but it will be a shame to see the original street food market go.
Still I’ll be happy to give the new site in Reffen a try.
By the way I’m not vegan but I loved those burgers. Another favourite was Duck It. I just hope they – and their duck fat chips – are moving to the new site.
Yes, this is a golden age of Scandinavian cuisine. Considering that much of the countryside is frozen under snow fall for a few months the Danes have had to be innovative to overcome Nature’s restrictions, though of course they have got miles and miles of access to the sea. I’d love to get a table at The Alchemist, I think “Holistic Cuisine” is going to become very popular over the coming years.
With the arrival of the new Museum of Copenhagen and the Copenhagen Contemporary exhibition centre the city is just going to be jam-packed with culture.
The Danes pride themselves on their design and architecture and the existing Museum of Architecture jutting out over a canal was already a must-visit place.
With these two new additions Copenhagen is world-class for Museums – and it’s not often that a library makes it on to tourists itineraries. Drop into the remarkable Black Diamond library for a look round and it’s fabulous coffee shop.
I’m not surprised that the number of flights to Aarhus is increasing. There’s a lot happening there. In fact it’s got two street food markets and a lot of interesting developments along the waterfront.
But one word of warning. The bus from the airport to the city departs when all the luggage from the incoming flight has been collected. If you go for a cup of coffee you’ll miss the bus and the next one will be about 40 minutes after the next flight lands.
Take it from me that could be hours and a taxi to the city centre is very expensive.
You’ve just got to love the Danes. The CopenHill project sums up their ability to make the most of things. The fact that it is built on top of the Amager Bakke Waste-to-Energy Plant shows that they take environmental issues seriously. Danes will usually find a way to design a problem into a solution.
If you haven’t read “The Year of Living Danishly” get hold of a copy. As well as giving a real insight into the Danish psyche it is a hilarious read.
If only we could merge Swedish IKEA functionalism with Danish Lego creativity the world would be in good order.
There’s a mischievous part of me that would like to see the Rubjerg Knude lighthouse staying put on the the North Jutland coast. It would be quite a reverse art installation. Man put it there but Nature didn’t want to play and moved the sea away. There’s quite a message there about the power of nature. This time it is nature that is creating the art installation and there’s nothing that mankind can do about it.
I’ve got a real bad case of FOMO – Fear Of Missing Out. I’ve got a few friends who did Copenhagen for long weekends. Whenever we went out all they talked about was how cool Copenhagen was and some of them even started to use some Danish design ideas to decorate their flats and houses. Then they got into Aarhus and loved that too. Now they’ve got the Danish bug and are venturing out beyond the big cities. It’s definitely time that I took a flight to Denmark and caught up on them. I need to be able to join in the conversations in the pub.
What a wonderfully elegant city. My mother used to live in Denmark as a teenager and after reading this post I’m now thinking it would make an awesome place to celebrate her birthday. Or maybe I’m just using her as an excuse because I really want to go myself?!
It’s good to know there are now more direct flights from different UK locations as I think Denmark is always loved by those who visit, and it seems to have a lot going for it. I’ve had a couple of friends who went just before Christmas and they all said they wished they had had over a week to fully enjoy it, rather than the 4 days they had booked for as a long weekend. A good fact to learn for a pub quiz with their national flag being the world’s oldest. There’s so much that’s new for 2019, they are really pushing a drive for innovation and experience, which I think is great for both those that live there, like with the metro, and holidaymakers with lots of new things to do and explore.
Getting around Copenhagen will be a whole lot quicker and easier in 2019 when the new cityringen Metro opens in July. Constructed in conjunction with the existing Copenhagen metro network the 15.5 km underground loop under downtown Copenhagen’s ‘bridge quarters’ and Frederiksberg will have 17 underground stations. Linking the Nørrebro and Vesterbro areas with the city centre, it will make all the great restaurants, bars and shops more easily available for visitors and the airport accessible from the centre in as little as 20 minutes.
A new attraction for visitors to Copenhagen in 2019 is set to be the opening of CopenHill, the new artificial ski slope and recreational running and hiking trail built on top of Copenhagen’s new Amager Bakke Waste-to-Energy Plant. Designed by Danish architect, Bjarke Ingels the building stands some 85-metres high, and on the roof top café at the top of the ski slope there will be a platform with incredible views of the Danish capital.
Getting around Copenhagen will be a whole lot quicker and easier in 2019 when the new cityringen Metro opens in July. Constructed in conjunction with the existing Copenhagen metro network the 15.5 km underground loop under downtown Copenhagen’s ‘bridge quarters’ and Frederiksberg will have 17 underground stations. Linking the Nørrebro and Vesterbro areas with the city centre, it will make all the great restaurants, bars and shops more easily available for visitors and the airport accessible from the centre in as little as 20 minutes.
A new attraction for visitors to Copenhagen in 2019 is set to be the opening of CopenHill, the new artificial ski slope and recreational running and hiking trail built on top of Copenhagen’s new Amager Bakke Waste-to-Energy Plant. Designed by Danish architect, Bjarke Ingels the building stands some 85-metres high, and on the roof top café at the top of the ski slope there will be a platform with incredible views of the Danish capital.
Ski equipment will be available to hire, and there will also be green walking and running trails where visitors can wander and explore. For those with a real head for heights on one side of the building there will be an 85-metre high climbing wall, the tallest in the world. At 10 m wide it will have grips and different obstacles on the way up and will be designed to look like a mountain wall with different outhangs and routes to be found on the way. Aimed at experienced climbers with the right certification the routes up the wall will be rated by difficulty, where climbing becomes harder the higher you go.
For an alternative climb visitors to Camp Adventure resort in Haslev, about one hour south of Copenhagen, can scale the centrepiece of the project, a 45-metre-tall hourglass-shaped tower, for a birds-eye view of the forest of Gisselfeld Monastery. Guests will be able to ascend from the forest floor up the 600-metre-long internal spiral ramp, to take in spectacular views from the observation tower in the treetops and find an amazing 360-degree view over the surrounding countryside. Furthermore, the walkway will include diverse design features – including looping pathways, an aviary, seating and bridges, resulting in a striking experience.
Food news
Combining a museum with a micro-brewery Ny Malt in Ebeltoft, on the East Jutland coast is transforming the old red chalked malt factory into a centre for culture, the arts, gastronomy and creative industries. The new meeting place will open in 2019 and throughout the year it will house the Museum Østjylland (Museum East Jutland) and the Ebeltoft Yard brewery, which will produce malt and brew beer.
The big news on the restaurant scene in Copenhagen will be the opening of several new and exciting restaurants in the Refshaleøen area of the city.
Firstly, in January 2019, Matt Orlando, the former head chef at Noma and the creator of Amass will open Broaden & Build. The organic brewery and casual eatery will explore a creative collaboration between a chef and a brewer, where flavour and sustainability are the driving force. It will be located in the house of the former Royal Theatre’s scenery storage unit and will share the space with the new breweries – Emipirical Spirits distillery.
Next to Broaden & Build and also eagerly anticipated is the re-opening in Refshaleøen of Rasmus Munk’s extraordinary Alchemist restaurant a year after closing the original restaurant. In this new and larger space, Munk will be able to realise much of the vision he originally dreamed of in stimulating all the senses to create a complete sensory dining experience. Taking gastronomy into a whole new sphere he’s created a new style of cuisine which he’s called ‘Holistic Cuisine’. Inspiration for the concept came following a trip to Japan, where he realised what skilful sourcing of quality ingredients truly means and the other stimulus has been his introduction to the art world.
This will manifest in a number of ways from two ‘sensory experience rooms’, featuring artists, actors, and other creatives with installations changing two-three times a year, to an art installation inspired by Danish-Icelandic Artist Olafur Eliasson’s art piece Multiple Shadow House. In this piece diners will see the glass wall between the service kitchen and the dining room covered by a film that creates a living shadow art piece when the chefs move around in the kitchen. To ensure coherent creative storytelling from the beginning to the end, Rasmus Munk has invited the playwriter, Louise Rahr to overlook the experience.
Meanwhile, the trend for street food courts continues to gather pace with the expansion of Copenhagen Street Food from its original location on the Paper Island (Papirøen) to a new site also in Refshaleøen called Reffen. Also Boltens Food Court will be opening in 2019 in a renovated building near Kongens Nytorv in the centre of Copenhagen, with 19 international restaurants, including two vegan offerings and five bars, including a Carlsberg Brooklyn Bar. It will cover three floors of the old timbered building.
For those eagerly awaiting the new Nordic Michelin Guide, it has now been revealed that the launch will be taking place on Monday 18th February in Aarhus.
Getting there
Three new Ryanair flights add to the choice of airlines serving Denmark in 2019. Twice weekly flights from Edinburgh to Billund, Liverpool to Copenhagen and Southend to Copenhagen are starting in April 2019. Prices start from £25.99 per person one way.
SAS has also announced the launch of its thrice weekly flight from Manchester and Aarhus. Starting in April the flights will operate Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Prices start from £60 per person one way.
EasyJet commenced twice weekly flights from Gatwick to Aarhus from 2nd November 2018. Prices start from £35.20 per person one way.
Denmark is one of my favourite countries and Copenhagen one of my favourite cities. It’s always been easy to get around as the bus service is superb and a new line added to the Metro should make it even easier.
With new sights arriving I think that first-time visitors will need at least a week to get through them all.
Will any of Copenhagen’s new attractions be included on the Copenhagen Card?
I feel that I am due another visit to help them celebrate the flag’s 800th Birthday.
I’ve got mixed feelings about the new street food market. There was such a raw energy about the original venue on Papiroen Island. It was just so environmentally friendly. Repurposing the original newsprint bobbins as tables was sheer genius as was creating paper mache insulation, kept in place on the walls and ceilings with chicken wire. I enjoyed sitting in a deck chair on the canal side with a lager and a Colombian vegan burger watching the shipping go by. I now there was s short-term lease on the island but it will be a shame to see the original street food market go.
Still I’ll be happy to give the new site in Reffen a try.
By the way I’m not vegan but I loved those burgers. Another favourite was Duck It. I just hope they – and their duck fat chips – are moving to the new site.
I know that this piece is all about what is new and happening but I’d like to give a big shout out to the Viking Ship Museum.
It is just the best museum that I’ve ever been to. It is so hands-on that it has just redefined the word museum.
You can hew timber and smelt iron to contribute to making another Viking Ship. For a few Euros more you can even row a Viking ship out on the sea.
And there’s a dressing-up box too.Great for Viking selfies.
This place just doesn’t seem to have heard of Health and Safety so you can just really get stuck in.
And there was me naively thinking of a long weekend in Copenhagen.
From all of this it looks as if we’ll need a week’s holiday rather than a quick weekend.
Yes, this is a golden age of Scandinavian cuisine. Considering that much of the countryside is frozen under snow fall for a few months the Danes have had to be innovative to overcome Nature’s restrictions, though of course they have got miles and miles of access to the sea. I’d love to get a table at The Alchemist, I think “Holistic Cuisine” is going to become very popular over the coming years.
With the arrival of the new Museum of Copenhagen and the Copenhagen Contemporary exhibition centre the city is just going to be jam-packed with culture.
The Danes pride themselves on their design and architecture and the existing Museum of Architecture jutting out over a canal was already a must-visit place.
With these two new additions Copenhagen is world-class for Museums – and it’s not often that a library makes it on to tourists itineraries. Drop into the remarkable Black Diamond library for a look round and it’s fabulous coffee shop.
I’m not surprised that the number of flights to Aarhus is increasing. There’s a lot happening there. In fact it’s got two street food markets and a lot of interesting developments along the waterfront.
But one word of warning. The bus from the airport to the city departs when all the luggage from the incoming flight has been collected. If you go for a cup of coffee you’ll miss the bus and the next one will be about 40 minutes after the next flight lands.
Take it from me that could be hours and a taxi to the city centre is very expensive.
You’ve just got to love the Danes. The CopenHill project sums up their ability to make the most of things. The fact that it is built on top of the Amager Bakke Waste-to-Energy Plant shows that they take environmental issues seriously. Danes will usually find a way to design a problem into a solution.
If you haven’t read “The Year of Living Danishly” get hold of a copy. As well as giving a real insight into the Danish psyche it is a hilarious read.
If only we could merge Swedish IKEA functionalism with Danish Lego creativity the world would be in good order.
There’s a mischievous part of me that would like to see the Rubjerg Knude lighthouse staying put on the the North Jutland coast. It would be quite a reverse art installation. Man put it there but Nature didn’t want to play and moved the sea away. There’s quite a message there about the power of nature. This time it is nature that is creating the art installation and there’s nothing that mankind can do about it.
I’ve got a real bad case of FOMO – Fear Of Missing Out. I’ve got a few friends who did Copenhagen for long weekends. Whenever we went out all they talked about was how cool Copenhagen was and some of them even started to use some Danish design ideas to decorate their flats and houses. Then they got into Aarhus and loved that too. Now they’ve got the Danish bug and are venturing out beyond the big cities. It’s definitely time that I took a flight to Denmark and caught up on them. I need to be able to join in the conversations in the pub.
What a wonderfully elegant city. My mother used to live in Denmark as a teenager and after reading this post I’m now thinking it would make an awesome place to celebrate her birthday. Or maybe I’m just using her as an excuse because I really want to go myself?!
It’s good to know there are now more direct flights from different UK locations as I think Denmark is always loved by those who visit, and it seems to have a lot going for it. I’ve had a couple of friends who went just before Christmas and they all said they wished they had had over a week to fully enjoy it, rather than the 4 days they had booked for as a long weekend. A good fact to learn for a pub quiz with their national flag being the world’s oldest. There’s so much that’s new for 2019, they are really pushing a drive for innovation and experience, which I think is great for both those that live there, like with the metro, and holidaymakers with lots of new things to do and explore.