Monday in Copenhagen

This website offers an extensive list of things in Copenhagen open on Mondays:

https://mypathtotravel.com/best-things-copenhagen-on-monday/

The article provides some descriptive information about each of the sights/activities; just scroll down.

Denmark has a great many holidays and observances in May. One falls on a Monday and three fall on a Sunday (which conceivably could affect Monday sightseeing hours). Therefore, when you've decided which of the mentioned possibilities sound most interesting to you, you should go to their websites and check to be sure they will actually be open on the specific Monday you'll be in Copenhagen.

May 1 Wednesday -- Labor Day/May Day (Private Sector Holiday)
May 5 Sunday -- Liberation Day (Observance)
May 9 Thursday -- Ascension Day (National holiday)
May 12 Sunday -- Mother’s Day (Observance)
May 19 Sunday -- Whit Sunday (National holiday)
May 20 Monday -- Whit Monday (National holiday)

You will find plenty to fill 8 hours in Copenhagen without museums! We have visited many times, as our daughter lives there, and we always find something new and interesting to do.

A canal boat tour is a fun introduction to the city. There are free walking tours that leave from the plaza in front of City Hall (Københavns Rådhus). We also loved seeing City Hall and taking the tour.

If Rosenborg Castle is closed, the gardens are still accessible as well as the Kings Garden park where it is located. Both are beautiful to walk through.

That still leaves time to walk through the center of the city, get some coffee and a pastry, or smørrebrød at a cafe.

There are so many places in Copenhagen that are open on Monday. First is Tivoli Gardens, the iconic amusement park that makes a child out of everyone. It's fascinating and fun, and wonderful to just walk through and look at all the creative exhibits and gorgeous displays. You can get some great food here, and I highly recommend Cakehagen for some coffee and a delectable pastry.

And the National Museum is just amazing with incredible exhibits. There was the prehistoric skeleton of an auroch, circa 8600 BC and a life-size hand-carved statue of St. George on his horse killing a dragon. It came complete with sound effects, which I didn’t know until some guy pressed a button, the dragon roared, and I jumped out of my skin. He thought that was hilarious. But seriously, there were so many gorgeous things to see there.

You could also visit Roskilde, home of Roskilde Cathedral and the Viking museum. It’s an easy 30 minute train ride from Copenhagen. I was in awe of this cathedral when I went in. From the gorgeous frescos to the incredible sculptures, it was beautiful. Roskilde cathedral was built in the late 1100’s, although there had been several previous churches on the same site. just about every king and queen of Denmark is buried here. There were over 20 tombs in the cathedral. One of the crypts off to the side had eight tombs in it. Four of them contained the remains of more kings and queens, but there were four small ones that contained children. Three of them were for children who are age 4, six and eight, but the smallest one was for an unnamed infant.

And the Viking Museum is a very short walk away. I liked the cathedral more, and I doubt that I got as much out of it as someone who really knows wood and carpentry, but seeing the history of the Vikings and the ships they built was really interesting. There are five huge Viking ships over 1000 years old that were discovered in The Roskilde fjord and then painstakingly excavated and pieced back together. They also have working replicas of the five ships on display in the water, and that was really interesting to see. I really loved walking along the harbor and seeing the ships, and all the other things they have on display, like rope making, carpentry, etc. they take pains to use the same tools that the Vikings used 1000 years ago.