No neighborhood shows off Copenhagen’s new sheen and ambition more impressively than Orestad. Five years ago, it was basically a barren flatland on the route to the airport. Today the district is a futuristic, master-planned community of state-of-the-art architecture. The elevated Metro whisks you past the soaring blue tower of the Cabinn Metro Hotel designed by Daniel Libeskind; the solar-panel-clad Crowne Plaza Copenhagen Towers; and, perhaps most notable, the Copenhagen Concert Hall (Emil Holms Kanal 20; 45-35-20-30-40; dr.dk/koncerthuset) designed by Jean Nouvel. The glowing blue cubelike exterior contains several concert spaces, including an auditorium with a jagged, orange interior that looks carved from desert rock.
7 p.m.
2) BEETROOT FOR DESSERT
Young chefs are championing Nordic ingredients, pushing Copenhagen to the forefront of Northern European gastronomy. If you can’t get into Noma, the only new restaurant in town to get a Michelin star this year was A.O.C. (2 Dronningens Tvaergade; 45-33-11-11-45; restaurantaoc.dk), where the chef Ronny Emborg, a veteran of El Bulli, jazzes up rustic Danish ingredients like lumpfish roe, veal and cranberries. Highlights include roasted lamb served in walnut oil with crunchy razor-thin apple slices and tiny forest mushrooms. For dessert, try the red beetroot ice cream, which comes on a bed of black licorice pellets. Four courses are 550 kroner, or about $92 at 6 Danish kroner to the dollar. The curvy, cavernous white complex of rooms is filled nightly with black-clad couples and suited businessmen.
10 p.m.
3) REBIRTH OF COOL
Grow your goatee and don your beret: a jazz legend has returned to Copenhagen. During the 1960s and early ’70s, the Jazzhus Montmartre club was one of the high temples of the European jazz scene, drawing legendary talents like Miles Davis and Dexter Gordon for extended stays. The club closed in 1976, then made periodic efforts to reopen in other locations but eventually fell silent in the 1990s. It’s now back in its original location (Store Regnegade 19A; 45-70-15-65-65; jazzhusmontmartre.dk), and its comeback has been greeted with great fanfare. The stage in the revamped airy, white space has already attracted marquee names like the saxophonist Bill Evans and the pianist Abdullah Ibrahim.
Saturday
10:30 a.m.
4) PEDAL INTO THE PAST
With 9 in 10 Danish adults owning a bike, according to the Cycling Embassy of Denmark, an organization that promotes biking, Copenhagen is among the most bicycle-crazy cities on the planet. That means sightseeing on the saddle is a snap. Pedal to the lush and grassy Assistens Kirkegaard cemetery (burial place of Hans Christian Andersen and Soren Kierkegaard), where many Danes picnic and lie out under the summer sun. Or cruise to the city center to admire the exterior of the stately Amalienborg Palace (Slotsplads; 45-33-40-10-10; www.ses.dk/en.aspx), where Queen Margrethe II lives, and the Dutch Renaissance-style stock exchange (Borsen), with its dragon-tail spire. For a knockout view of the city’s orange-tile roofs and green copper domes, climb up the gilded candy-twist spire of Vor Frelsers Kirke (Sankt Annae Gade 29; www.vorfrelserskirke.dk/english), a 17th-century church in the historical Christianshavn district. Baisikeli (Turesensgade 10; 45-26-70-02-29; cph-bike-rental.dk) has rentals from 50 kroner for a half-day.
2 p.m.
5) SMORREBROD SUPREME
The fried herring may taste like something from an old-school Copenhagen tavern, but Aamanns Etablissement (Oster Farimagsgade 12, 45-35-55-33-10; aamanns.dk) opened last year as a modern take on the fading institution, complete with minimalist décor, homemade akvavit and microbrew beers and sodas. Besides herring (115 kroner), served a number of ways, the frequently changing menu may include smorrebrod (165 kroner) — traditional open-face sandwiches — made with pork breast, with apple, salad greens and balsamic vinegar.
4 p.m.
6) DESIGNING DANES
Is Copenhagen the next Antwerp? Like its Belgian counterpart, Copenhagen’s storybook center is filling with upstart fashion labels. Nordic whiteness and lightness go out the window at Bllack Noir (Ostergade 52, Illum department store; 45-33-18-27-89; noir-illuminati2.com), which opened in February with a collection of very dark hot pants, drainpipe jeans and baby-doll dresses. Across the sartorial spectrum, Baum Und Pferdgarten (Vognmagergade 2; 45-35-30-10-90; baumundpferdgarten.com) sells romantic, colorful and very feminine creations like ruffled floral dresses and gold sequin belts. And to make a statement, visit Henrik Vibskov (Krystalgade 6; 45-33-14-61-00; henrikvibskov.com), a Danish designer known for avant-garde wear like garishly striped jumpsuits with brassy buttons and black lab-coat-like dresses.
7 p.m.
7) JACKETS NOT REQUIRED
Danish hospitality comes to the fore at Madklubben (Store Kongensgade 66; 45-33-32-32-34; madklubben.info). It says so on the menu: “The staff has been selected for their cheerful spirits and contagious laughter, not their intense studies of all the wine and cheeses of the world.” The kitchen is similarly unpretentious, whipping up affordable Nordic-modern dishes for 30-something media types and young professionals who pack into the low-ceilinged, minimalist white space. The menu recently included a pan-fried hake with mussel sauce and lumpfish roe with crunchy cucumber bits and oyster mayonnaise foam. Four courses for 250 kroner.
10 p.m.
8) NORREBRO BY NIGHT
Working-class Norrebro has long been one of the city’s most ethnically mixed neighborhoods. It’s becoming a diverse party spot as well. Underwood Ink (Ryesgade Tredive A; 45-35-35-55-53; www.underwood-ink.com) feels like the living room of an eclectic intellectual, with bookshelves packed with international literature (for sale), paintings by obscure European artists (ditto) and tables piled with bottles of microbrewed Danish beers like sweet-spicy Porse Guld. A few blocks away, world-music geeks, nongovernmental agency types, neo-hippies and grad students swig Cuban Cristal beer at Global (Norre Alle 7; 45-50-58-08-41; globalcph.dk). The cozy space has an elevated stage that showcases wide-ranging acts like Mali’s Bassekou Kouyate and the Serbian Gypsy trumpet legend Boban Markovic.
Sunday
10 a.m.
9) NATURE CALLS
There’s no better cure for too much pork and beer than a vigorous walk in the crisp Nordic air. Copenhagen’s three adjacent lakes are a favorite of cyclists, joggers and strollers, with picturesque trails lined with shady trees and reeds. For a copious brunch buffet, Den Franske Café (Sortedam Dossering 101; 45-35-42-48-45; denfranskecafe.dk) has tables inside and out overlooking a pleasant corner of the lakes where swans and ducks gather; 109 kroner.
Noon
10) MODERN PAINTERS
Denmark is famous for its furniture designers (Arne Jacobsen, Finn Juhl, Jacob Jensen), but painters and other artists also deserve their due. The Statens Museum for Kunst (Solvgade 48-50; 45-33-74-84-94; smk.dk) is Denmark’s national gallery. While Brueghel, Rembrandt and Picasso are the draw, the museum offers a vivid introduction to Danish modern art. Head to Room 228 for century-old paintings by Vilhelm Hammershoi, and Room 201 for post-World War II Pop and kitsch works including Peter Land’s surrealist statue “Untitled (sitting man, with dots on blue carpet).” For contemporary works, make your way to Kunsthal Charlottenborg (Nyhavn 2; 45-33-13-40-22; kunsthalcharlottenborg.dk), which opened in 2006 and remains the city’s largest contemporary art space. Shows rotate, but the annual Spring Exhibition is a must-see gathering of video, painting, sculpture, photography and art installations that’s generating headlines of its own.
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