A few weekends ago, we decided to make a last minute trip to Denmark–you know, to get away from the cold and overcast weather and the expensive restaurants and stores of London.  Copenhagen has got to be one of my new favorite cities–it’s small for a European capital but it couldn’t have been more different than London. Here are six things I loved about København, Danmark.

Nyhavn

Nyhavn: I’ve been to a lot of places where I’ve seen pictures of the most iconic place/street, and then have expected the whole town or city to look like that, or be in that style. Copenhagen was the first place where the style of the iconic Nyhavn harbor carried throughout the city. It almost felt as if everything was built at one time, because all of the buildings look the same and they’re almost all the same height–kind of like “it’s a small world” land. That being said, Copenhagen was adorable. Pastel-colored houses and cobblestoned streets were around every corner.

Hygge: Hygge (pronounced hoo-gah) is the one word of Danish I learned while in Copenhagen (it’s a hard language!), and it’s my new favorite word. It doesn’t have a direct English translation, but the closest would be ‘cozy’. It’s basically the feeling that you get when you curl up under a blanket by the fire on a cold night, in an oversized sweater while drinking a cup of tea. It’s not just a term, but it’s a lifestyle–I’m convinced Hygge is why Denmark was just named the happiest country on earth, even though it’s insanely expensive to live there and for a lot of year it’s dark 17 hours a day and freezing cold.

Spa day at the aquarium

Fish Pedicures: This isn’t a Danish thing, and it’s definitely not something I planned on doing while in Copenhagen, but when we walked by the window we couldn’t help but go inside. I’d seen fish spas on TV (I’m pretty sure the Kardashians did it once), but I’d never seen one in the US (and as it turns out, a lot of states have banned them). Basically what you do is wash your feet really well, a spa worker checks for any broken skin or scabs (which need covered by a bandage), and you just dunk your feet in the tank for anywhere from 20 to 40 minutes. The fish go crazy and start eating all of the dead skin off your feet (which I definitely needed after months of walking around London), and, as gross as it might sound, it really works! It didn’t hurt at all either–the fish don’t have teeth–but it tickled like crazy!

The People: Everyone we met was super friendly (and they all speak English!). So nice and friendly–until they got on their bikes. I didn’t see anyone with a helmet (I saw several with noise-cancelling headphones though), and they tend not to care about the rules of the road–our tour guide put it best when he said “the biking vikings take no prisoners”. All near-death experiences with bikers aside, everyone was super nice–and so pretty! Maybe it’s because they don’t see that much sun so their skin is just really nice, maybe it’s because everyone is very tall and blonde, or maybe it’s because everyone dresses like a model out of an H&M catalogue.

Sweden: Just because we could, we decided to get lunch on Sunday–in Sweden. It was only a half-hour train ride to Malmo, Sweden’s third largest city, from Copenhagen, so we were able to just make a quick trip over. We probably should’ve realized that, like many European cities, most things are closed on Sundays, but we found a big shopping mall so we were set!

The entrance to Christiania

Christiania: Where do I begin with Christiania. A self-declared free city, Christiania is a community in Copenhagen founded in the 1970s that is most famous for its “green light district”, also known as Pusher Street. The rules? No photos (because what they’re selling still isn’t legal in Denmark), no running (it incites panic), no hard stuff, and have fun. The Danish government is well aware of what goes on but doesn’t really care–it’s a sort of crazy social experiment that while isn’t universally liked in Denmark, is still fascinating to visit.

And of course, there was the food–but that’s too long to fit into one post. Next up: what I ate in Copenhagen!

Location: Copenhagen, Denmark