Touring Copenhagen By Bus And Boat

I’m a little bit in love with Scandinavia. After just four days in the Danish capital, Copenhagen, and a brief trip to Malmo in Sweden we are rather smitten. It didn’t start so well though. A heavy downpour dampened our first morning in Copenhagen as we waited for our open-top bus and boat tour.

After sheltering in a nearby newsagent, we gladly boarded the open-top bus when it arrived. Run by  Stromma, the hop-on, hop-off tour has three different routes and we had a 48 hour ticket to use on both bus and boat. The bus had a retractable roof which was well and truly closed so although not being able to take advantage of the open-top facility, at least we were dry (and warm).

Due to the rain, the top deck was very busy and the windows had become steamy making it was tricky to see out. So we moved downstairs where it was far more roomy and the views were still good. We were provided with red headphones to plug into sockets on the ceiling and listen to the audio guide available in eight different languages – I was able to have a listen while my daughter enjoyed riding on the bus and looking out the window while my husband officiated.

We first went on the purple tour which went a bit further out from central Copenhagen, passing the city’s unusual-looking opera house designed by Danish architect Henning Larsen.

We stayed on the bus as it changed onto the red route, taking us to some of the main attractions. We passed Amalienborg Palace, the winter home of the Danish royal family, and the Gefion Fountain on the harbour front which depicts the mythical story of the creation of the island of Zealand which involved the Norse goddess Geifjun turning her sons into Oxen.

We then got off the bus to take a closer look at the famous Little Mermaid sculpture which sits on a rock on the harbour.

The bronze statue was created in 1913 after Carl Jacobsen, son of the founder of Carlsberg, saw a ballet performance of the Little Mermaid by local writer Hans Christian Anderson (yes, before Disney, there was Hans). The statue was designed by sculptor Edvard Eriksen and was supposed to be modelled after the ballerina in the leading role, Ellen Price, but she refused to pose nude so Eriksen’s wife did instead. I was a little bit underwhelmed by the Little Mermaid but my daughter seemed impressed, insisting she went closer onto the rocks to see it. Most people were already as close to the edge as they could get but the rocks looked bit slippery after the rain so I took pictures from afar.

Having got off the bus for a photo opportunity, we realised we were at a boat stop for our combination tour. Being able to flip between the two modes of transport was a really good option and soon a wide, low boat arrived and we were welcomed on. Now, this is the way to see Copenhagen!

Denmark is made up of a collection of small islands with Copenhagen on one called Zealand. The city is intersected by waterways which are perfect for navigating by boat -although you will get frequent warnings to sit down and duck as you go under a series of bridges (hence the strange-looking shape of the boat).

On the Stromma boat tour, there was an enclosed area in the warm and dry (with radiators too) as well as seats outside. As with the bus tour, there was an audio guide which gave some interesting facts to the attractions. Some of the buildings we passed were the Danish Architectural centre and the Danish Parliament.

The audio guide informed me that Denmark also owns Greenland and the Faroe Islands and although they are autonomously ruled, they have two representatives in the Danish parliament. Denmark also once owned Ghana and was active in the slave trade although it was the first country to ban the trade in 1803.

We decided to get off the boat in the picturesque area, Nyhavn (new harbour), for lunch, bringing to an end our bus and boat tour.

Having recently been on a similar tour in London (minus the boat), I do think it is a great way to see a city and this certainly gave a great overview of Copenhagen. It would be even better without rain but it was never going to be perfect conditions considering we went early December. With the 48 hour pass, we could have gone again on the bus and boat the next day to take a closer look at the attractions – making the tickets worth their value. Having an audio guide was very helpful but it isn’t quite the same as having a real-life commentator like the London tour I went on. But, it was good to dip in and out and gain some insights into the beautiful city of Copenhagen and my daughter loved the rides on both a bus and boat and looking out at the sights.

The Stromma hop-on, hop-off bus and boat tour costs 245DKK (£23) per adult for a 48 hour pass. Children under five are free and for those aged 6 -11 it is 125DKK (£12). The company also does a range of different tours including a guided boat tour.

*We were given complimentary tickets for the bus and boat tour for the purpose of this review but, as ever, all views are honest and my own. 

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