Input needed for seven day Itinerary in Copenhagen.

I’ll also be in Copenhagen in May. Your itinerary looks similar to mine.

Some additional items that I have on my list: Church of Our Saviour tower; St. Alban’s Church; Frederik’s Church; Louisiana Museum of Modern Art; the Black Diamond (Library); City Hall; Kastellet (Citadel of Copenhagen); Tivoli Gardens; Botanical Garden; Dyrehaven (deer park)

I also have day trips to Odense, Malmo, and Lund on my list, but I’m 99% sure I won’t have time for any of them. I always like to have extra things planned.

If you’ll have the Copenhagen Discover card, most of your itinerary I believe will be covered.

Have a great trip!!

I'll be there for two days in June. My list includes the Statens Museum, Louisiana Museum, and Ordrupgaard. Everything else is a bonus.

OP - Frederiskborg castle is in Hillerød. Helsingor (Elsinore) is a different town with a different castle (Kronborg/Shakespeare castle). I visited both towns and castles on different days as half day trip from Copenhagen, and I really enjoyed both! This was September 2024 and I happened to be there during a historical heat wave. I'm in my late 40s.
I only had 4 days and I usually cram a lot of things during my trips since they are short. I move fast and walk a lot, but Copenhagen Discovery Card covered all my trains, metro and most museums/castles.
I just posted a trip report under Trip Reports. Maybe it can give you some other ideas on what to do.

My wife and I went there last year and loved it. Very similar itinerary. I think I posted a trip report. We found the Copenhagen card to be cost-effective - particularly because it covers transit as well. You're seeing a lot of sites - a five day pass would work great for you . The canal boat trip is great. We went on it too late in the day for the cheaper company (I forget the names). If you use your Copenhagen card to get the free trip, you have to "buy" the ticket at their office on Ved Standen. You don't get the discount from their departure point in Nyhavn. Other highlights, tips, and things that might interest you.

We woke up early one morning and nothing was open. We took the train to Kastellet park and just walked around (and, of course, saw the little mermaid nearby). St. Alban's and Geffion fountain nearby were beautiful. That ended up being one of our favorite mornings.

If you're going to Christiansborg palace in the morning of day 3 and don't mind a little splurge for lunch, make lunch reservations at Nyllist i Taarnet - the restaurant in the palace tower. It's beautiful, the food is good, and you get to skip the line for the elevator to the top.

Note that your Copenhagen card will pay for the train trip to and from Roskilde. If you go to the ship museum, consider pre-booking a a trip on one of the viking ships - it's only an hour or so, but it's fun.

We did Helsingor and Frederiksborg in one day together. We like Elsinore better than Rick Steves does. On the other hand, we wished we left more time to see the gardens at the latter. The little boat ride around the lake at Frederiksborg is included with your Copenhagen card. We used it to get from the gardens back to the nearby town.

Two other things that are worth seeing are Reffen (a massive assemblage of food carts and sometimes performers) and Tivoli Gardens. We didn't ride the rides at the latter, but it was worth going into just to walk around.

We stayed at Hotel Danmark (near Tivoli Gardens) - the room was tiny, but the staff was friendly and they had a wine hour just before dinner, and a nightcap hour. Both gave us a chance to interact with other people staying there.

We never went to Christianshavn, but some people like it (not our thing)

We did do the changing of the guard and it was very underwhelming. Unless a royal is in town (I think you can tell by the flag they fly), I'd skip it.

Our itinerary:

Day 1: Arrive and walk the city (incl. Round Tower) ending with a canal cruise. Dinner at Host (it's Michelin starred, but we were disappointed)
Day 2: Kastellet Park (last minute add), National Museum, and Christiansborg Castle. Dinner at Rufino Osteria (recommended)
Day 3: Frederiksborg / Kronborg (Elsinore). Dinner at Karla's (recommended)
Day 4: Roskilde - Viking Ship Museum and Cathedral. Dinner in Tivoli Gardens (way over-priced)
Day 5: Rosenborg Castle / Changing of the guard (underwhelming - skip it) / Reffen. Dinner at Iluka (again starred and again disappointing - I guess we're just not into those architectural meals).
Day 6: Laundry and shopping and walking about town. Lunch at Cafe Sorgenfri (really good). Dinner at Nr.30 (good, but pricey). We thought about going to Dragor this afternoon, but we were too tired for another side trip. Kinda wish we had.
Day 7: Leave for Norway.

If you want a somewhat unusual, but fun and cheap, meal, you should check out Folkehuset Absalon: https://absaloncph.dk/en/food/

I found info on this place in the Rick Steves guidebook and had a delightful evening with delicious food. The communal meal is set up in a former church/current community center. You sit at long tables with other people and the food is served family- style (something like summer camp!) My tablemates included two other Americans, an Australian man with his adult daughter, a Chinese woman studying in Denmark, and a Danish man. So interesting. It was a really enjoyable evening, in a neighborhood away from the tourists.

Hello,
Everything on your list looks great, and Copenhagen was just a very pleasant city to be in, regardless of itinerary. We had intended to do more day trips, but found we just really liked being in Copenhagen, and had no shortage of things to do.

Will agree with previous posts on how much the Copenhagen Card simplified life and transportation, and we ended up going in to some museums that we wouldn't have otherwise bothered going to, that ended up being fantastic. We did a lot of the things on your list, but for what it's worth, some of our favourite non-castle things were:

• Another vote for Church of Our Saviour tower...anyone travelling in Europe has probably climbed many towers/viewpoints, but the unique open-air staircase at the top was unique and very fun
  • Reffen Street Food Market - the ferry across, and being here at sunset and the atmosphere into the evening was maybe the highlight of our time in Copenhagen
  • And if you have the Copenhagen Card and are trying to get your money's worth, we really enjoyed the Danish Architecture Museum, The Danish Design Museum, the Carlsberg Experience, and the Cisterns were a great, quick stop (changes all the time, but the art we saw was fantastic, and the cisterns itself would be interesting regardless)

All the best,