Sometimes it feels like we’ve already rifled through Scandinavia and adopted all its best bits in London: the minimalist decor, the hygge vibes, the fika coffee and cake rituals. However, a two-week break criss-crossing between Denmark and Sweden, revealed these two friendly, easy-to-navigate countries have kept enough secrets to themselves to make for a brilliant holiday.
We started in Copenhagen, discovering a city that is happy with where it is in life. It will make you merry on shots of Akvavit at street food market Reffen, then offer you a chilly river dip, sauna and excellent coffee the next morning. Copenhagen is also incredibly child-friendly and packed with museums and galleries.
Sweden’s second city, Gothenburg, which is often rated one of the happiest places to live in the world, was the ideal next stop. Quirky yet functional, it is easily walkable and packed with attractions, from Universeum, a museum with an indoor rainforest, to the unique Lisberg theme park, fuelled by the city’s hallmark Hagabullen — enormous cinnamon buns.
When?
In August Scandinavia is usually fairly warm and sunny, though you may experience rain in Copenhagen. We loved it in spite of the wet weather. Gothenburg offers long days and warm weather in spring, summer and autumn. In winter, when it’s snowy, hotel rates are cheaper.
Stay
In Copenhagen, pitch up at Bryggen Guldsmeden (rooms start at £106 a night, guldsmedenhotels.com). The vibe is Balinese city break: it’s a very special bolthole from the city, with a lush courtyard with a warm pool, sauna and steam room. Bedrooms have four-poster beds and a decor combining Crittal-windowed Shoreditch with Indonesian spa: solid wooden Scandi furniture mingles with bright prints, leather sofas and bare brick walls. It’s an eco-hotel that really means it, with refillable water bottles, recycling receptacles and an array of iloveeco’s brilliant toiletries — including body oils, moisturisers, bamboo hairbrushes and crystal deodorant.
Breakfast is utterly perfect: all-organic and very Danish. An open kitchen prepares everything from sesame salads, to pastries, homemade yogurts and chilli scrambled eggs, served on Anthropologie-esque crockery. Freshly-baked breads come with thin slabs of dark chocolate to melt on top.
Group tables see local workers mingle with out-of-towners, and placemats read, ‘take all you want, eat all you take, love food, hate waste’.
The hotel has a really social lounge area with hanging swings, a fab gym with free boxing lessons, and was a 20-minute walk to the centre, or five-minutes from the Metro, in the Island Brygge area where locals swim in the Havnebadet, or harbour bath.
In Gothenburg, the quirky new Grand Curiosa Hotel (from £112 a room, hotel.liseberg.se) at Liseberg is quite the talking point with its helter-skelter alternative to taking the stairs, the curiosities which line its corridors and a vast and delicious breakfast. There’s no pool (a water park opens next year) but it’s just steps away from the city’s brilliant theme park, a few doors down from the unmissable Universeum museum and a ten-minute (very frequent) tram from the centre.
Eat
You can’t go wrong at one of the stylish food markets dotted around Copenhagen, packed with excellent-quality world cuisines: we loved pasta at il mattarello in Torvehallerne, and spicy ramen at Tivoli food market. The former shipyards in Reffen now house a street market packed with cuisines from Kurdish stews to Korean chicken via Mexican burritos, and a beer hall. Take the bus and you’ll pass Noma, which is still open for select events, if that’s in budget.
Overall, the city’s restaurants are dripping with Michelin stars and superb cooking, although the prices are less appealing. Smorrebrod open sandwiches in cafes everywhere are an excellent lunch.
In Gothenburg, Feskekorka is a must: a converted church and now fish market. Go for the oysters or the herring and fish soup if you’re keen to go native.
Craft beer is a major thing in this city — even serious fans will be impressed by 3 Små Rum. Go for fika – coffee and a snack - in one of the many cafes in the historic Haga area, and stroll Skanstorget’s streets for hip fresh pasta, Mexican and Spanish eats.
Do
Copenhagen is as flat as its plentiful rye bread crackers; it’s very walkable, or you can hire a bike and join the millions of locals whizzing along safe cycle lanes. The metro and bus system is fast and easy too; a one-day travel pass is around £8.
The city has a density of world-leading museums that even puts London to shame. Pick your favourite from the Nationalmuseet with its Vikings and mummies, the Krigsmuseet war museum, modern art in the ancient Nikolai Kunsthal church, the excellent Enigma museum of communication (all ages will love the playable old games consoles in the basement, and the really imaginative large kids’ area), and Experimentarium, a three-floor, imaginative kids science museum. The latter spans lifesize marble runs and a huge miniverse for under-fives including a bear hospital with X-rays for the animals.
Buy the Copenhagen card (£97 for 72 hours, cheaper for fewer days) which is great value, especially as two kids go free with it; there’s access to some 70 museums and unlimited use of public transport.
Hit the Nyhavn waterfront with its photogenic tall pastel homes belying the fact this area was built by prisoners of war in the 1600s, when King Christian V wanted easier access to his palaces. It’s touristy, though, so for a quieter and more genuine Copenhagen hit, stroll to the Norrebro and Vesterbro neighbourhoods, where you can’t swish a mermaid’s tale without hitting a cool bar and one-off boutique.
Of course there’s Tivoli Gardens — the chic, pretty version of a theme park, with a century-old rollercoaster. It’s beautiful in the evenings, although the 10pm light show isn’t much.
A canal tour takes you along the inner harbour, Slotsholmen canal and the city’s famous Little Mermaid sculpture, which locals hate (it’s been decapitated, de-armed and splattered with paint over the years) as much as tourists love it.
Our kids loved the playgrounds they found all over Copenhagen — there are more than 130 — especially the ‘traffic playground’ with carefully set-up streets with roundabouts, a petrol station, traffic lights and excellently-maintained (free) bikes. Many of the playgrounds are staffed (hello, parental coffee break) with indoor crafts, outdoor bikes, fruit and vegetable patches, gardening tools, litter pickers, and petting zoos.
Gothenburg feels more laid back — it’s smaller, easier to stroll, and slightly cheaper too. The vast (free) botanical gardens are well worth a wonder, with Kew-style glasshouses and playgrounds too.
Take a canal ride — we used The Paddan Tour from Stromma — to get a great sense of the history of this city, where in 1619 king Gustavus Adolphus pointed to the ground and declared, “Here, the city shall lie”.
We spent the best part of a day at Universeum museum, which includes walkable jungles and a shark tunnel, ecosystems from around the world as well as very interactive exhibitions on the human body, space, and matrixes. On the roof, the vast ‘Wisedome’ cinema hosts a 3D screen that encircles you, with environment-focused films.
Many Swedes flock to Gothenburg for one thing: its Liseberg theme park. We arrived at opening time, thanks to its proximity to our hotel, and were kicked out at closing time, and wished we’d had more time. There are about 50 rides, including the scariest coasters anyone could wish for, an entire rabbit-themed land where younger children can easily spend an entire day. It’s clean, manicured, and not at all mercenary: ‘Your kids passed their driving test? Here’s a free photo license!’, ‘You dropped your ice cream? Have another!’
If you have time, take a trip out into the Gothenburg archipelago islands — take a public ferry from the city centre and spend a day chilling out on a beach, Swedish-style.
Stroll Haga Nygata for arty souvenirs and in warehouse space Artilleriet for Scandi interiors to take home — for you’ll want to be reminded of every memory made in Copenhagen and Gothenberg.
