Copenhagen winter travel guide for first-time visitors

Is it worth visiting Copenhagen in winter?

Copenhagen is a wonderfully picturesque and atmospheric city to visit in winter, as long as you don’t mind the cold!

The famously colourful townhouses that line the city’s canals are just as pretty in cold weather, and there is a heartwarming cosiness to the restaurants and bars around Indre By, the historic centre.

And this is the time of year when the culture of hygge really comes into its own. There is a welcoming conviviality about Copenhagen that is accentuated when you’re wrapped up against the winter chill.

On crisp, cold days in Copenhagen I loved seeing people still sitting outside, sharing drinks, gossip and jokes in their padded coats and layers.

To give a sense of perspective, Copenhagen is on a similar latitude to cities like Dawson Creek on the Alaska Highway, Glasgow in Scotland and Moscow in Russia. Its distance from the equator is comparable to Ushuaia on the southern tip of Argentina.

Aside from the cold, this means you’re getting very few daylight hours. But part of the magic of Copenhagen in winter is how the city glows up after dark, from the festive lights in December to the twinkling installations of the Copenhagen Light Festival in February.

Copenhagen is cheaper in winter

Copenhagen is not cheap. You probably know this already. But I can certainly vouch for it personally after checking my bank balance after my latest trip to the Danish capital.

If Copenhagen feels a bit beyond your budget, a winter trip could make it more affordable. Hotels are much cheaper out of season, and we’re talking serious savings here compared to summer. Many activities are cheaper too.

What stays open in Copenhagen in winter?

Copenhagen is very much open for visitors in winter. Hotels, restaurants, cafés and most museums stay open throughout the season.

Most tours and activities continue through winter too, although some have fewer departures or shorter opening hours.

Some activities like canal cruises or cycle tours are occasionally cancelled if the weather is particularly bad. But the city is used to the cold. Boats, for example, are sturdily made, and many operators have covers and heaters built in.

One notable exception to the year-round opening is Tivoli Gardens, the world’s second-oldest theme park. It stays open through Christmas (which is a magical time to experience it) but typically closes for most of January and February.

For any activities you are planning, it’s best to check opening times in advance, especially over the festive season.

What’s the weather like in Copenhagen in winter?

We’ve already established that Copenhagen is cold in winter. But how cold exactly?

You can expect average temperatures of around 1°C to 4°C in Copenhagen in December. January and February are the coldest months, when average lows dip below freezing.

So, is Copenhagen too cold in December? That really depends on how comfortable you are in the cold. Personally, I love the cosy feeling of wrapping up in a coat, hat and scarf, and wandering round a pretty city when it’s like this.

What is the coldest it can it get?

Those averages don’t tell the whole story. Temperatures in Copenhagen can fall well below freezing during a cold spell.

The wind often makes it feel much colder than the thermometer suggests, especially when you are close to the water (which you will be a lot of the time in Copenhagen).

All this means a good windproof coat makes a big difference if you want to spend a few hours exploring outdoors.

Does it snow a lot?

You might see snow in Copenhagen in winter, but it’s far from guaranteed. Snow tends to fall from December into early spring, but it usually doesn’t settle on the ground for long.

So, while you might not get a snowy city break, there’s a good chance you will be treated to a beautiful dusting on the trees and rooftops.

You will often get clear and crisp days, but prepare for rain as well. Copenhagen has a coastal climate that brings damp and cloudy spells. Comfortable waterproof shoes for walking and a resilient coat will keep you nice and toasty.

Thankfully there is a whole lot to see and do indoors in Copenhagen if you get unlucky with rain, which I cover in detail below.

When is best to visit Copenhagen in winter: December, January or February?

So, you’re ready to book your trip. But when is the best time to visit Copenhagen in winter? Each winter month brings its own different charm. Here’s a quick comparison:

• December: Best if you want the full-on Christmas experience of markets, festive lights and cups of gløgg (a Scandinavian mulled wine). December is the busiest period in Copenhagen in winter, so be aware that accommodation prices won’t necessarily be lower.
• January: If Christmas festivities aren’t your priority then January gives you the calm after the party, and the best savings on accommodation costs after New Year. You can spend your days exploring museums, eating Danish food and relaxing in cosy cafés.
• February: It’s still very cold but there is more daylight for exploring. The Copenhagen Light Festival is a highlight and gives you a magical experience without Christmas accommodation prices, while bakeries are still serving their seasonal fastelavnsboller pastries.

The shoulder months of November and March blend into winter too. Christmas festivities are already under way by mid November. March brings longer days but still has a wintry feeling.

When I visited in March, I loved long days out walking and exploring the city’s neighbourhoods between dipping into cafés and bakeries.

What to pack for Copenhagen in winter

Packing for Copenhagen in winter is all about ensuring you will stay warm. This means bringing plenty of layers! Ideally you want to be able to seamlessly shift between wrapping up for walks by the water and stepping into a café or museum.

Oh, and please don’t forget to bring a coat. Honestly, that sounds obvious, but I got halfway to the airport at 6am and realise I had forgotten to pick up my 3-in-1 jacket on the way out of the door. I ended up buying two new coats on the way to be sure!

Here’s an idea of what I packed for cold weather in Copenhagen:

• Hat, scarf and warm gloves, plus sunglasses for bright winter days.
• Comfortable, waterproof shoes with decent grip for walking around the city and its parks.
• A warm, waterproof and windproof coat. I like 3-in-1 jackets for their interchangeability.
• Hiking trousers for comfortable sightseeing whatever the weather, plus thermal leggings for particularly cold days.
• Plenty of layers: thermal tops, t-shirts (long and short sleeve), jumpers and hoodies.
• Underwear and warm socks.
• Camera. I cannot recommend my Canon G7 X highly enough for a trip like this. It is conveniently compact and takes beautiful photos.
• Refillable water bottle.
• Bank card (no need for cash in Copenhagen).
• Travel adaptor and charging cables.
• Lip balm and moisturiser.
• Laptop, charger, headphones and portable stand if you’re combining the trip with work.

Working remotely in Copenhagen in winter

My first trip to Copenhagen was on a workation, which is essentially a remote working vacation. It’s a great city to work from as it is clean, modern, has fast connectivity and is very easy to get around.

Winter is a nice time for a workation in Copenhagen for many of the reasons outlined above. It’s more affordable, and January through to March is probably the quietest time of the year in the city, so you can dip between work and exploring at a less hurried pace.

Coworking in Copenhagen

Copenhagen also has a great range of places to work remotely, whether it’s a cosy café, accommodation with a workspace or a coworking community.

I visited some of the city’s coworking options to check them out, which you can read about in our guide to coworking spaces in Copenhagen. These are some of the best options:

• Republikken: sociable, creative coworking space within a few minutes’ walk of Central Station, with a labyrinth of workspaces from quiet booths to large open-plan offices, a community vibe and flexible pass options.
• Talent Garden: bright, modern coworking space set in a historic naval building in Holmen, a relaxed part of the city on the waterways, with a friendly atmosphere, communal lunches and day passes available.
• Zoku: award-winning hotel designed for travelling workers, with a dedicated coworking space and rooftop terrace with city views.

Copenhagen winter events

The winter season is when Copenhagen hosts some of its most special annual events and festivals. These alone could be a great reason to choose a Copenhagen winter trip.

In this section I’ll take a look at some of the best events to experience during winter in Copenhagen.

Christmas markets in Copenhagen

🗓️ When: November–December (dates vary between markets)
📍 Where: squares around Indre By, especially Nytorv, Gammeltorv and Højbro Plads, plus other locations across the city
🎄 What: festive markets with stalls selling gifts, crafts, gløgg and seasonal food

Copenhagen’s Christmas markets are the among the biggest crowd-pleasers in winter, with the city coming to life in the crisp cold of the festive season.

Decorated market stalls are spread around the plazas in the city’s historic centre, and there is generally a cheerful bustle without the overwhelming crowds you find at some European Christmas mega-markets. This is a soul-warming setting to do your Christmas shopping while stopping for hot drinks and seasonal treats.

Christmas at Tivoli Gardens

🗓️ When: mid-November to early January
📍 Where: Tivoli Gardens, between Copenhagen Central Station and the historic city centre
🎡 What: illuminated gardens, Christmas decorations, festive stalls and amusement park rides

Tivoli Gardens is one of Copenhagen’s quirkiest attractions, standing as the world’s second-oldest operating amusement park. The park was first opened in 1843 and still features a wooden rollercoaster built in 1914. At Christmas time the park is brought to life with illuminations, decorated trees and market stalls.

If you stay around after dark you can get a view of the city lit up from some of the taller rides, like the Star Flyer, which swings you 80 metres above the ground. Perfect for a full day or long afternoon out on a Copenhagen winter trip.

Copenhagen Light Festival

🗓️ When: three weeks in February, sometimes beginning in late January
📍 Where: all across the city centre, illuminating streets, squares, waterways and bridges
💡 What: illuminated installations, light sculptures and colourful projections after dark

February may be Copenhagen’s coldest month, but in many ways it is also the brightest, thanks to the winter light festival. If you walk through the city after dark you will see twinkling, colourful illuminations along a carefully crafted inner-city route, with more installations outside the city centre.

The displays are created by local and international light artists and designers. It’s especially impressive around the harbours and the famous Nyhavn waterway.

Vinterjazz

🗓️ When: throughout February, sometimes beginning in late January
📍 Where: Copenhagen jazz clubs and concert halls, along with other venues across the country
🎷 What: live performances by local and international musicians in venues large and small

If you are visiting Copenhagen for the light festival you may be pleased to find that the timing coincides with Vinterjazz, a nationwide music festival with much of its programme hosted in the capital city. Live jazz performances are hosted from the smallest intimate clubs to the largest concert halls, including some events that are free to enter.

Is Copenhagen good for New Year’s Eve?

Copenhagen is a fantastic place to spend New Year’s Eve, with the city coming to life with spectacular firework displays courtesy of city-dwellers, special dining events and unique traditions.

The main organised fireworks display kicks off at 11pm in Tivoli Gardens. Outside of that, Copenhagen’s residents take matters into their own hands, with private firework displays popping off all over the city. Some of the best viewing points are by the waterways where you can see shimmering reflections in the water; The Lakes and Queen Louise’s Bridge are especially good vantage points.

Rådhuspladsen, the City Hall Square, fills with crowds at midnight to see the famous old tower clock strike midnight and usher in the new year.

Throughout the evening, restaurants across the city host special dining events with traditional multi-course menus and a programme of entertainment and celebrations. You might see a customary Kransekage, a stacked “wreath cake” that’s wheeled out in Denmark for special occasions like this.

And when it’s all done you can party well into the small hours at one of the city’s many night clubs.

Things to do in Copenhagen in winter

There is so much to see, do and experience on a Copenhagen winter trip. In this section I compile a few of our favourites.

Eat lots of heart-warming Danish food!

Places that experience a lot of cold weather tend to counter it with a cuisine that warms the very core of your soul. And the Danish do this better than most.

In Copenhagen, this might mean:

• Stopping at a bakery for a famous pastry. Head up to the Østerbro neighbourhood and you will find Juno the Bakery and its legendary cardamom buns, which are worth going out of your way to try. But honestly, the quality of bakeries is so good all across the city that you can’t go wrong with trying any random one you see. A pastry and coffee is a lovely warm escape from sightseeing.
• Ducking into an old Danish tavern for lunch. I came in from the cold to a cosy, intimate atmosphere of convivial conversations and creaking floorboards in Café Halvvejen, an 18th-century cellar-level tavern in the historic centre. Sitting at the bar for a plate of four different types of herring washed down with a local ale soon thawed me out. One of the herrings is lun stegt sild, a kind of warm fried herring in a vinegar brine.
• Having traditional Danish comfort food for dinner. I had the most incredible warming dinner at Det Lille Apotek, Copenhagen’s oldest operating restaurant – minced steak served with mashed potato with bacon, herbs, onion cream and more trimmings. Also try a roast pork or duck for a satisfying fill.
• Eating out in buzzing Nørrebro. Copenhagen’s university district has a lively social scene, and in the southern section of the neighbourhood you will find rows of bars and trendy eateries that are bustling with conversation any time of year. Drop into BRUS and you can have some of the best hipster comfort food in the city, in particular the highly indulgent burgers.
• Sipping gløgg in between sightseeing. Throughout the winter season you will find the spiced mulled wine at food halls, markets and taverns across the city. A mugful of gløgg will soon get you in the spirit if you’re feeling the cold.

Visit the city’s museums

If you buy only one thing ahead of your trip, make sure it is a Copenhagen Card. The official city card gives you a pass to dozens of attractions, including all the best museums.

Before I arrived in Copenhagen my friend who had just visited was raving to me about Designmuseum Denmark, a mesmerisingly colourful introduction to the city’s creative side. Turns out this is one of many wonderfully quirky museums around the city.

Add the likes of the Viking Ship Museum in nearby Roskilde and the Danish War Museum to your list for entertaining insights into Denmark’s past and traditions, from the riveting to the harrowing to the unbelievable.

And there are so many more to explore across the city. I couldn’t help but appreciate the magnificence of royal residences like Rosenborg Castle, Amalienborg Castle and Christiansborg Palace.

So, if your Copenhagen winter trip is unfortunately a washout with rain, you still won’t run out of engaging things to see and do.

Take a winter canal cruise

Seeing Copenhagen’s unique architecture from the water as you slowly drift past gives you a different and more deliberate perspective of the city landscape. And the tour operators are not put off by the elements, as canal tours carry on all the way through winter.

You will need to wrap up as warm as you can for a Copenhagen Electric Canal Tour. I very much appreciated the blankets they handed out when we boarded, but you’ll still need more layers. Order a hot drink before you board as well, and you’re all set!

As your boat glides out into the main harbour and winds through the canals, a guide will give you the entertaining backstory of the sights along the way.

Canal tours typically take an hour, departing from Christianshavn. I took the chance explore to this part of the city and its pretty waterways on foot before the cruise started. And after disembarking, you could have a wander through the anarchic commune of Freetown Christiania and stop for another coffee.

If you’re visiting during November and December, you have the option to take a themed Christmas canal tour, which includes hot drinks and special Danish Christmas treats.

Go on a cycle tour

Lisa and I love to take walking tours on our city breaks and workations, as it’s a great way to get to know the place when you arrive. But with expectations of colder weather in Copenhagen, I booked onto a 3-hour highlights bike tour instead. My theory was that a bit of pedalling would keep me a bit warmer!

This turned out to be an excellent tour, and the obvious advantage of cycling over walking is that you can cover a lot more ground and see more sights. For example, this tour includes seeing the Little Mermaid statue and the Kastellet fortress, which are a couple of kilometres north of the historic centre.

It’s a lot of fun whizzing around on two wheels seeing the castles, waterways and quirks of Copenhagen. The pace is nice and steady too; you don’t need to be an Olympic cyclist to come along. Still wear plenty of layers and a hat though, as there’s only so much warmth that a bit of leisurely pedalling can generate!

Copenhagen is synonymous with cycling. It’s a very green city and it seems that everybody cycles everywhere, which is great to see. Locals tend to fly around at high speeds, and stopping suddenly is a good way to become rather better acquainted than you intended. So, the safety briefing at the beginning of the tour is worth your full attention, even if you’ve been riding your whole life.

Wander through green spaces in wintry charm

Copenhagen has some wonderfully atmospheric green spaces. In the historic centre, the King’s Garden surrounds Rosenborg Castle with neatly tended gardens and broad lawns where people hang out picnicking even in cooler weather.

And when you get out into the surrounding neighbourhoods, you can take longer wanders through larger parks like Frederiksberg Have. I went there early on a chilly morning, and it just felt refreshingly mindful to watch red squirrels scrabbling between the bare trees and mist hanging over the ponds and streams.

Following your winter morning stroll with a coffee and freshly baked Danish pastry is one of the purest comforts that money can buy, and it will only set you back a few kroner. In Frederiksberg, Daniali & Schiøtz Bageri is the perfect local spot to warm your limbs and fuel up for some more sightseeing.

Get your party on with a bar crawl and make new friends

Copenhagen’s nightlife doesn’t stop for winter. The city’s bar scene is as lively as ever in the colder months.

Buy Danish chocolates as a Christmas gift!

If your Copenhagen winter trip is before the festive season then you have yourself a great opportunity to stock up on gifts. As mentioned above, the markets are a great place to start, but you can have a lot of fun exploring the city’s shops regardless.

Copenhagen’s sweet delicacies make for good gifts. On a food tour I tried some amazing chocolate-covered liquorice by Danish gourmet brand Lakrids by Bülow, and it was pure delicious decadence! My friends and family thought so too when I brought back a few tubs as gifts.

Other festive gifts you might want to bring back from Copenhagen include Danish butter biscuits, traditional woven Christmas hearts, little nisse figures and Danish-designed candleholders.

Where to stay in Copenhagen in winter

Our full guide on where to stay in Copenhagen goes into lots of detail on the best neighbourhoods and accommodation options. In this section I’ll share a few top picks for a winter stay.

Budget accommodation in Copenhagen

Cheap places to stay in Copenhagen are hard to come by, but affordable options do exist, and winter is the best time to make savings. Let’s dive in.

Hostel–hotel hybrids

Hybrid hostel-hotels are becoming increasingly popular in Copenhagen, combining budget dormitories with classic hotel-style rooms under one roof.

I stayed in one of these at Meininger Hotel, which is within five minutes’ walk of Central Station. I had a very comfortable stay and was happy with the extensive facilities, including a huge well-equipped kitchen.

Steel House and Next House are two other excellent hostel–hotel hybrids in the trendy Vesterbro area of Copenhagen, which are run by the same owners and have an urban-chic vibe combined with a sociable atmosphere.

If you are looking for pure backpacker budget vibes, then Nyhavn63 Capsule Hostel is a great low-cost option right on the city’s most famous section of canal.

Mid-range accommodation

If you want to stay close to the attractions in Copenhagen’s historic centre without spending a fortune, then Motel One or Scandic Nørreport will give you some of the best rates.

Fancier hotels for a special treat

To push the boat out a bit more for a magical winter trip, 1 Hotel Copenhagen is a superb upscale hotel in Indre By, the historic centre.

And finally, for the ultimate festive treat for a Copenhagen winter trip, you could stay at Nimb Hotel, a five-star boutique hotel inside the grounds of Tivoli Gardens. Imagine waking up in luxury and then walking out into a 19th-century amusement park glittering with Christmas decorations.