In this solo podcast episode, host Kay Xander Mellish shares a practical, Copenhagen‑centric day‑long itinerary for tourists visiting Denmark. She begins with a morning stop at a local bakery for Danish pastries and coffee, then suggests a walking tour of historic city centers (e.g., Aarhus, Odense, Copenhagen) while postponing shopping. For lunch she offers two options: a park picnic with open‑faced sandwiches or a sit‑down meal at the affordable, panoramic restaurant Højtelegrafen. She recommends museum visits tailored to perceived gender interests—Viking artifacts for men and modern stained‑glass art (the Cisterna Museum) for women—while also highlighting the newly discovered Danish Museum of Immigration in Farum. In the late afternoon she proposes a boat ride past the underwhelming Little Mermaid statue, followed by evening entertainment such as Tivoli, a music festival, or the Copenhagen Zoo. Mellish notes she cannot advise on nightclubs, then promotes her "How to Live in Denmark" book, the podcast archive, and social media channels.
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Hello and welcome to the How to Live in Denmark podcast. I'm Kay Xander Mellish. It's spring in Denmark. The evenings are brighter. The Winds aren't quite as chilly, and the wild blue anemone flowers are bursting up through the grass. And the tourists are on the way. Understandably, Denmark attracts most of its tourists during the spring and summer, when you don't need to pack heavy winter clothing. Although maybe you do, it depends on the summer. Anyway, the tourists will be coming, and some of these tourists may be related to you. What do you do with them? They want the Danish experience. Based on my 14 years of showing parents, aunts, former colleagues, old college roommates, and friends of friends around Denmark, these are my tips. They're a bit Copenhagen-centric, but I think most of them can be applied throughout Denmark. And at the end, I'll tell you about an amazing new museum I just found last week. Here's the classic tourist day. First of all, Start your tourists in the morning with a trip to the local bakery where they can pick out their own Danish pastry. Or 2 pastries. Or 3. Now, I know it's called Wienerbrød— Viennese bread— but Danish pastries really are some of the best in the world. And get them some coffee or black tea. Carbs and caffeine will set your tourists up well for the day's busy program. Once your tourists are energized, now's the time to take them walking. Walk them around the old city center and past the largest, most visible historical monuments in your town. In Aarhus, you can maybe tour the Gallant Boo, and Odense, Hans Christian Andersen's home. In Copenhagen, you can take them up the Round Tower or to the Queen's Palace. Now, part of this trip may take them down a shopping street. Now, this is critical: don't let them shop yet, or they'll be carrying bags around all day. Or, if it's your mom, you'll be carrying bags around all day. So save the shopping for another time. After you've seen the city and the major sites, it might be time for an early lunch. If the weather is good, a picnic in the park is great. Denmark has beautiful parks. Maybe buy some traditional Danish open-faced sandwiches and some drinks. Sit in the sun. But if your visitors are elderly, or if they're rich and will be picking up the tab, a touristy restaurant with Danish food is another option. In Copenhagen, I always recommend Højtelegrafen. which is above the main post office on Strøget. It has a great view of the town, including a terrace for taking panoramic photos of the city, and inexpensive traditional Danish food. For people who won't eat traditional Danish food, there are also salads and hamburgers. Your tourists are now re-energized, so now is a great time for the local museum. I find that men are usually most interested in the Viking artifacts. You know, iron sticks with points at the end. While women are more excited about the art and glass museums. Being a woman, my personal favorite is the Museum of Modern Stained Glass Art in Copenhagen. It's also known as the Cisterna Museum because it's housed in an old underground water tank, which means it's the only museum in Europe with no natural light. So it's dark, and the floors are wet, and there's water dripping from the walls. Your voice echoes. But amid all this gloom is wonderful bright stained glass and all sorts of modern forms. It's really cool. Back to the tourists. If it's late afternoon after the museum, they're getting a little tired. I recommend a boat trip. Your guests can sit down with a chilled Danish beer and see the city from the water. In Copenhagen, these boat trips are a great way to see Denmark's most disappointing tourist attraction. The statue of the Little Mermaid. If you've seen it, you know the Little Mermaid is only about 4 feet tall. That's 1.25 meters. You probably own pillows that are bigger than the Little Mermaid. But all the boat trips go right by it, so your tourists can get the photos they need for their Instagram or Facebook feeds. If they want, they can climb out of the boat and onto the slippery rock where the mermaid sits for a photo together. That's best performed before too many beers have been consumed. You can round out the day at one of the local music festivals, or Tivoli if you're in Copenhagen. Tivoli is a tourist attraction that actually lives up to expectations. The Copenhagen Zoo is open late in the summer, and it's very nice now that they've temporarily stopped killing off their animals. I'm afraid I can't offer you any nightlife recommendations. Ask someone under 30 who doesn't have any kids. While I'm not an authority on nightclubs, I am a bit of an authority on museums. When I was unemployed many years ago, I made a project of going to every museum I could. But there was one I did not know about until just this week. It is the Danish Museum of Immigration. It's a whole museum about foreigners in Denmark. It's in Farm, which is a suburb of Copenhagen. They don't publicize themselves very well. I would never have known about them myself if I hadn't had to use the ladies' room at Farm City Hall. The museum covers 500 years of immigration into Denmark, from 17th-century German soldiers to 21st-century Syrian refugees. It's a well-designed modern museum with some excellent visual exhibits. That said, this museum about diversity and inclusiveness in Denmark is entirely in Danish. And that's the How to Live in Denmark podcast for this week. I'll be taking off a couple weeks for Easter, but feel free to explore the old podcasts on iTunes. There are now 33 of them. I think the sound quality has improved. In the beginning, I could barely turn on the microphone. Come and leave a comment with your own tourist tips on howtoliveindenmark.com, or join us on our Xander Mellish Facebook page. We're on Twitter @howtoliveindk. The 2 is a number. See you soon. See you soon. Remember, the How to Live in Denmark book is available for download on amazon.com. You can read it on any phone or tablet. All you need is the Kindle app, and the Kindle app is free. The book's not free, but it's not very expensive either. If you read the book and enjoy it, please leave a review on your local version of amazon.com. It helps other people find the book and find the podcast.
