Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Brussels (2019)
Dates: 29th Nov 2019 - 12th Dec 2019 (2 weeks)
Climate: On average, temperatures in all 3 cities ranged from 1 - 10 degrees, making it necessary for us to wear heat tech inner wear, gloves and thick winter jackets when outdoors. Thankfully, it only drizzled on a couple of days, and there was only mild snow on our very first day in Copenhagen. However, the sun set around 4pm daily, which was a factor to consider when planning our activities.
Expenditure: In total, each of us spent at least SGD $5,500 for the whole trip. We converted SGD $1,500 for cash expenditure during the 2 weeks, but definitely used our credit cards every now and then. Note that there are places in these 3 cities which do not accept cash. We chose to stay in gorgeous Airbnb apartments as we feel that hotels in Europe generally do not offer value for money.
Sequence: Copenhagen (Denmark), Amsterdam (Netherlands), Brussels (Belgium).
Transport: Singapore Airlines from Singapore to Copenhagen at midnight of 28th Nov, KLM flight from Copenhagen to Amsterdam, train from Amsterdam to Brussels, Singapore Airlines from Brussels back to Singapore (via stopover in Zurich)
Singapore Airlines direct flight to Copenhagen.
Metro from Copenhagen airport to town area took about 20 min.
Torvehallerne Market, largest covered market in Copenhagen, which we went to by taking the metro to Nørreport. The area is split into two air-conditioned market halls: http://torvehallernekbh.dk/
Freetown Christiana: A controversial closed community, that was immune to Denmark’s laws at one point. While we were at an area named Pusher Street, we actually saw drug pushers setting up makeshift stalls to sell their stuff to all sorts of characters crowding around them. Note that photographs are generally not allowed here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freetown_Christiania
Church of our Saviour: one of Denmark’s most famous churches, known for a helix spire with a winding staircase. We did not go up, but entered the building to look at the beautiful prayer hall: https://www.visitcopenhagen.com/copenhagen/planning/church-our-saviour-gdk410659
Strøget, Copenhagen’s largest shopping area. We were rather overwhelmed here actually, due to it being Black Friday. Incredibly vibrant, and therer were also charming Christmas markets offering highlights such as mulled wine, also known as Gløgg: https://www.visitcopenhagen.com/copenhagen/planning/stroget-gdk414471
Other important info to note for getting around Copenhagen:
It was surprisingly difficult to find places offering data SIM cards at/near airport, so we decided to depend on Wifi and a navigation app we like named maps.me (like Google Maps that doesn’t need online connectivity if you have downloaded the country map beforehand)
Important tip: Get the Copenhagen Card online. Can be physical card (pick up at airport) or a digital version in your phone. There are 1 day, 3 day or 5 day options for purchase. Covered our public transport and entrance fees for many attractions including museums and Tivoli Gardens.
Our Airbnb apartment was a 5min walk from Nørrebros Runddel station on a circular line. Try to always find accommodation within a radius of less than 5min from metro stations. We would go on to depend a lot on the Metro Circle Line M3 for the next few days, which is new and brings you to many popular attractions.
Metro station overview: Three stops along Stroget, Rådhuspladsen is City Hall side, with LGBTQ area next to it and Tivoli Gardens opposite it. Gammel Strand in the middle and Kongens Nytorv is the other end, walking distance to Nyhavn, Marble Church, Design Museum. Marmorkirken station also means Marble Church. M3 also covers Enghave Plads, which is the heart of Vesterbro area (beware, dead on weekends after 3pm!) and København H or Central station, transit to S Trains for Forgotten Giants.
Nyhavn, a lovely waterfront, canal and entertainment district in Copenhagen. Lined by brightly coloured 17th and early 18th century townhouses and bars, cafes and restaurants: https://www.visitcopenhagen.com/copenhagen/planning/nyhavn-gdk474735
We enjoyed a canal cruise in the area, covered under our Copenhagen Card. Informative 90min experience that covered a lot of attractions via the waterways of the city. We arrived early (10+ in the morning) when crowds were small.
Restaurant 108 for Michelin-quality lunch: https://www.visitcopenhagen.com/copenhagen/planning/restaurant-108-gdk1082918 (after walking along Nyhavn to Royal Playhouse)
Vesterbro area after lunch by bus, unfortunately the area was a fairly dead town, with most shops closed by 3pm. An area that has potential, but isn’t worth going to yet.
Enghave Plads station, where we explored nearby streets and ate at Sliders.
Rainbow Square, next to City Hall Square, honours the LGBTQ movement. Drinks at a cosy bar named My Fair Ladies, serving drinks named after divas like Idina Menzel: https://www.myfairladies.dk
Rosenborg Castle, home to 400 years of royal history. After exploring the grounds and halls, at 11.30am, we followed the royal guards as they marched from an exit of the castle to Amalienborg Palace. Very fun experience marching alongside them through areas like Strøget: https://www.visitcopenhagen.com/copenhagen/planning/rosenborg-castle-gdk410582
Amalienborg Palace, Marble Church (biggest dome in Scandinavia), Design Musem, three places we visited in succession due to their proximity from each other: https://www.visitcopenhagen.com/copenhagen/planning/amalienborg-palace-gdk492887
Gasoline Grill, interesting burger kiosk at a petrol station: https://www.gasolinegrill.com/
Round Tower: fascinating architectural highlight. No stairs! Located in a vibrant area too: https://www.visitcopenhagen.com/copenhagen/planning/round-tower-gdk410741
Illums Bolighus, massive Danish design store, one of many highlights at the bustling pedestrian shopping area of Strøget: https://www.illumsbolighus.dk/
Oscar Bar & Cafe, classy restaurant bar for the LGBTQ community, located at Regnbuepladsen 9, a short walk from the City Hall Square: http://oscarbarcafe.dk/
Nørrebro Park, a skate park with contour lines, perfect for Instagram: https://iaincameron.dk/norrebro-park-copenhagens-colourful-urban-park/
Grundtvig’s Church, which we visited after a bus ride, but unfortunately could not enter due to it being closed on Mondays
Tivoli Gardens, one of Copenhagen’s most popular tourist attractions. We spent many hours here, soaking in the Christmas vibes and eating at the amazing variety of eateries. Established in 1843, and yet still incredibly charming despite the lack of intellectual property characters like Universal Studios or Disney theme parks. We recommend entering in daylight, and staying till night falls, as well as visiting during the Christmas period. We deliberately visited on a Monday too, to avoid weekend crowds. Admission was covered under our Copenhagen Card, but you have to pay separately for rides: https://www.tivoli.dk
Note: If you plan to also visit the NY Carlsberg Glyptotek art museum next door, you may want to visit Tivoli on a non-Monday, as the art museum is closed on Mondays.
Bulk of the day was spent outside the city, hunting for forgotten wooden giants by Thomas Dambo: https://thomasdambo.com/works/forgotten-giants
There are 6 of these giants hidden in forested areas of Copenhagen’s suburbs. We had time to find 3, depending solely on public transport options such as the S train and buses (do prior research using Google maps). A significant amount of walking/trekking was required too.
Based on online research, driving is a more popular way to find these giants, but we decided against it as we did not want to rent a car for just 1 day and worry about the unfamiliarity involved. Our navigation app maps.me also reflected the location of the giants, helping us to find our way in the wilderness.
Sequence of 3 giants found: Little Tilde, Thomas on the Mountain, Teddy Friendly.
Chose to find Little Tilde and Thomas on the Mountain first, as they are 20 min walking distance apart. Little Tilde takes about 10min walk from bus stop. And then skirt around the lake, cut through a sheep farm area and climb up a steep sloop overlooking a field to find Thomas on the Mountain.
Then this is the longest walk of about 25 min from mountaintop to civilization. Hop on the same train to go further in the train route to another suburb Høje Taastrup to find Teddy Friendly. The train station for this is a larger terminal and the bus to take is right above the station. Bus will bring you to a Technological Institute. Teddy Friendly is only about 5-10 min walk from bus stop depending on which bus.
Now, if you missed the bus specified by Google Maps, you can look for other buses that take similar routes. Cos bus intervals may be as long as 40 min.
NY Carlsberg Glyptotek, a massive art museum beside Tivoli Gardens. Spent a couple of hours appreciating the statues and surroundings, before Thai takeaway dinner near Airbnb apartment.
For future treks to find the remaining 3 giants:
If we had one more hour of day light, we could have covered a 4th, Sleeping Louis, on our way back (sun set around 4pm at this time of year). Cos it’s also the same train line, and some 20 min walk one way from bus stop drop off.
The other two giants are harder to get to. The one under the bridge is a whopping 35 -40 min walk from nearest train stop. No bus or clear walk track. However if you cover this, you may as well walk a little more to Arken Museum of Contemporary Art. Either giant or museum, you will need another 40 min to walk back to train station.
The last giant on the hill is a 8 min bicycle ride from Louis. But a 30 min walk one way southwards. Again, no train or bus routes.
KLM Airlines flight from Copenhagen to Amsterdam.
Tip: Buy 24 hours or 3 days tram / bus passes. One trip on tram costs 3.2 euros, whereas a day pass costs 8 euros
Jordaan area for Airbnb apartment. A charming Tiong Bahru-ish place with cozy restaurants and cafes. 4min walk to Westermarkt church (our landmark and tram stops), which is in turn near the iconic Anne Frank House.
Anne Frank House, one of Amsterdam’s most famous tourist spots. We were impressed by how tasteful the experience was. Poignant but essential. We bought tickets in advance as this is a very popular place: https://www.annefrank.org/en/
Grand Café Restaurant 1e klas in Amsterdam Centraal Station for dinner, as we were entitled to a Klook promotion. Classy venue.
Future consideration: Staying in hotels near Amsterdam Centraal is a good idea, as the pick up points for many day tours are within the station
Note: Tram ride from Westermarkt to Centraal or vice versa takes only about 5 min.
LGBTQ tip: Pink Point is a useful info kiosk for the community, located right in front of Westermarkt. We picked up a map and spoke to the owner to find out more about bars and clubs. There is also a homomonument nearby, consisting of three triangular structures to honour the LGBTQ community.
Zaanse Schans windmills + Volendam cheese makers + ferry ride to Marken to learn about wooden shoe making. Comprehensive Klook day tour that we highly recommend. Meeting point was Amsterdam Centraal Station.
Canal boat tour for Amsterdam Light Festival. We bought tickets at a tourist kiosk, for the boat company Lovers. A charming 90min ride around the city’s canals in the evening, with pitstops to appreciate light installations by international artists, based on the theme Disrupt.
Prik, gay bar located at Spuistraat 109, for drinks
MOCO Museum, a relatively small museum hosting an exhibition of works by contemporary and street artists including Banksy, Yayoi Kusama, Kaws and Jeff Koons: https://mocomuseum.com
Van Gogh Museum, much bigger, permanently dedicated to the life and work of Van Gogh. Buy tickets online so you only need to queue once to enter. 11am to 2pm is peak hour: https://www.vangoghmuseum.nl
Both museums are located in Museum Square. Another popular museum in the area is Rijksmuseum, but we did not have time for that due to spending hours in the two museums listed above.
Club Church, located at Kerkstraat 52. An eye-opening themed night at this dance club.
Giethoorn, which we visited using a Klook day tour. A picturesque little village, 1.5 hours drive from Amsterdam. It has canals instead of streets and boats instead of cars. We had a lovely time strolling along the canals, and enjoyed a boat tour too. Highly recommended for December, but we were warned that the place is overcrowded and unpleasant in summer: https://www.klook.com/en-SG/activity/8628-giethoorn-one-day-tour-amsterdam/
The Good Companion, for comforting seafood dinner, walking distance from our Airbnb in Jordaan area: https://www.thegoodcompanion.nl/
Paradox, coffeeshop for marble cake (less upmarket)
Kessens, a hipster cafe serving breakfast, walking distance from our Airbnb apartment: http://www.kessensamsterdam.nl/
Bloemenmarkt, a supposed floating flower market, which was basically a row of shops selling similar tulip products. Too touristy for our liking.
Picked friend at Central Station, who would spend a couple of days with us in Amsterdam.
Amsterdam Genetics, coffeeshop for red velvet cake (more upmarket)
Rice Table for dinner, along main road leading to Westermarkt
Pancakes Amsterdam Westermarkt for breakfast: https://pancakes.amsterdam/locations/3/pancakes-amsterdam-westermarkt (very near Anne Frank House)
Amsterdam Centraal’s Wurst & Schnitzelhaus for lunch, before boarding train to Brussels
Thalys train to Brussels. Tickets bought online before the trip: https://www.thalys.com/be/en
Grand Place for Christmas light show on the hour, part of the Brussels Lights Festival. This is the historic central square of Brussels: https://www.brussels.be/grand-place-brussels
La Brouette, traditional brasserie for dinner, located right at Grand Place: https://taverne-brouette.be/en
Airbnb right in the heart of district centre, walking distance to Grand Place
Ghent and Bruges, which we visited using a Klook day tour that took 10 hours (including bus time). Both are charming cities in northwest Belgium, famous for their medieval architecture. Our guide provided comprehensive commentary in both cities, which offer many opportunities for photo-taking: https://www.klook.com/en-SG/activity/26000-ghent-bruges-day-tour-brussels/
Breakfast at Aksum Coffee, located in a glitzy row of establishments named Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert: https://visit.brussels/en/place/Galeries-Royales-Saint-Hubert
Mannequin Pis, the famous peeing boy statue of Brussels. Popular with tourists, but definitely not a must-visit. The lanes of shops and eateries in the area were more interesting to us: https://www.brussels.info/peeing-boy/
The Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, for an interesting Dali x Magritte exhibition: https://www.fine-arts-museum.be/en
Laurent Gerbaud Chocolatier for late pastry lunch (owned by founder of Tiong Bahru Bakery): http://www.chocolatsgerbaud.be/
Wittamir area, for chocolate brands such as Godiva and Taschen bookstore
Rue Neuve pedestrian street for shopping, Primark being a highlight for us: https://stores.primark.com/nl_nl/belgie/brussels/13-15-rue-neuve
Starbucks Rogier, futuristic building: https://www.tripadvisor.com.sg/Restaurant_Review-g188644-d13274778-Reviews-Starbuck_Rogier-Brussels.html
Japanese food for dinner at Kabuki restaurant, near our Airbnb: http://www.restaurant-kabuki.be/
Took Intercity train to get to airport. Due to early flight, we had to get tickets for the 4.41am train. Thankfully, Brussels Central Station opens at 4am. Bought our tickets for 8 Euros the day before.
Flew back to Singapore with Singapore Airlines, via Zürich, Switzerland.
