The 10 Best Neighborhoods in Copenhagen
Coming up in this guide: meat-packing, fish-eating, boat-watching, trip-taking, house-finding, district-selecting, and the 10 best neighborhoods in Copenhagen.
Because you’re reading this guide…
… you’re probably already thinking of moving to Copenhagen.
(and you probably don’t need much convincing from us to make the move)
But, just to make sure we’re on the same page here, there are plenty of perks of living in the home of hygge:
Highlights include:
- High levels of safety
- Clean streets
- Friendly people
- World-class public transport (including top-notch cycling infrastructure)
- Good work-life balance
- Excellent cafe and bar culture
- Lots of independent businesses
- Easy integration (cos pretty much everyone speaks English)
… and, overall, the city offers an excellent quality of life: this year, Copenhagen was the 4th-ranked city IN THE WORLD for overall quality of life in this Mercer survey. And it typically ranks high in similar studies and surveys.
So… yeah… Copenhagen is a great place to live.
And you probably already knew that.
But you might not yet know which part of the city you want to live in. So in this guide, your relocation-loving friends at Homelike have guided you through the top 10 neighborhoods in Copenhagen.
We’ve covered places for: all budgets, all people, and all atmospheres.
Got kids? Want to party? Moving alone? Want quiet? Want busy? Whatever you’re looking for and whoever you are, we’ve got you covered.
Oh, and one last thing: we’ve ALSO included some useful hacks on how you can quickly and easily find a nice place to live (in a city where it can be very difficult to find a nice place to live). Because, well, that’s what we do.
Discovering Copenhagen: The Top 10 Neighborhoods at a glance
Coming up, we’ve covered ten varied neighborhoods.
(and we think we’re the 10 best neighborhoods in Copenhagen)
Those neighborhoods are:
- Indre By (the city center): great for big budgets and regular sightseeing
- Vesterbro: for young hipsters who like coffees, cocktails, and parties
- Kødbyen (the Meatpacking District): even MORE ideal for young hipsters
- Nørrebro: affordable, central, multicultural
- Frederiksberg: pricey, full of families, and full of parks
- Østerbro: a combo between family-friendly, green, and trendy
- Christianshavn: one of Europe’s most unique and unusual neighborhoods
- Amager: a big island with a unique identity
- Islands Brygge: lots of trendy city-center waterfront fun
- Valby: a green but central residential area, with a welcoming community vibe
Next up, we’ve covered all 10 in much more detail. Let’s go!
1. Indre By (City Center)
Best for: living like a tourist, being in the heart of busy-ville, and seeing all the sights
The words ‘Indre By’ translate from Danish into English as ‘inner city.’
Centered around the big long body of water separating the city in two, the neighborhood is home to most of the city’s best-known attractions.
They include:
- The Little Mermaid: smaller than most tourists expect, this little statue was inspired by the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale.
- Tivoli Gardens: among the oldest amusement parks on the planet. Top attractions include gardens, games, a little aquarium, kid-friendly fun, and a wooden antique rollercoaster.
- The Rundetaarn: this big ol’ ancient tower offers impressive views of the city. It’s home to an observatory and a planetarium.
- Nyhavn Harbor: yep, this is the endlessly-photographed narrow cobbled harbor with all those mega-famous brightly-colored houses. When you’ve seen photos of Copehagen, this is the street you’ve seen.
- … and a load of museums and other historical sites (including The National Museum of Denmark, some popular galleries, Rosenborg Castle, and all the massive gardens surrounding that castle).
It’s also a big hub for shopping—top streets include:
- Pilestræde: for boutiques and fashion stores
- Købmagergade: partially pedestrianized, it’s the most popular shopping street in the city
- Larsbjørnsstræde: cozy, colorful, kooky, homely, and wholesome. You’ll find lots of independent venues here
For loads of high-end stuff, head to the very-central 5-storey ILLUM, the city’s best and most famous department store.
Overall, if you like busy bustle (and don’t mind high prices), you’ll love life in Indre By. If you don’t, you probably won’t.
Spoiler alert: if you do decide to live in Indre By, it can be tough to find an apartment. Demand is high, and many of the best places are snapped up by short-term travelers. To save time and stress, it’s usually easiest to get a serviced flat or serviced apartment.
2. Vesterbro
Best for: endless eating and drinking, befriending hipsters, and some of the city’s most happening spots
Bordering Indre By to the southwest, Versterbro was once a notorious red-light district—and it wasn’t a great place to live.
But these days, it’s been transformed and regenerated: and it’s one of the most hip, popular, and trendy neighborhoods in the city.
Live here, and you’ll be surrounded by quirky venues, endless events, strange cafes and bars, and a whole load of gentrification: Vesterbro is THE coolest spot in Copenhagen.
Highlights in and around the area include…
- Bars:
- Warpigs Brewpub: a massive open-plan venue, expect craft beer, barbecued meats, and a super-popular outdoor patio.
- Curfew: a tucked-away speakeasy-style cocktail bar.
- Mikkeller Bar: world-famous, sparse decor, some of the best craft beer on the planet.
- Cafes:
- Café Dyrehaven: a hip yet unpretentious old-school wooden-clad place, this serves up Scandinavian brunch-style classics to a combo of young couples and lifelong locals. A genuine must-visit.
- Prolog Coffee Bar: small, cozy and very very Danish, some locals will tell you this is the best coffee in the city.
- Mad & Kaffe: this massively-popular place specializes in small-plate tapas-style portions of both local and international breakfast dishes.
- Restaurants:
- Kødbyens Fiskebar: one of the once-industrial-now-trendy venues so popular in this part of the city, expect excellent servings of simple yet carefully-flavored seafood. Another mustn’t-miss.
- Paté Paté: sitting inside an old paté factory(!), this cozy joint offers a combo of Spanish, French, and Moroccan eats. Great salads, great risottos, and a whole load of healthy stuff.
- Tommi’s Burger Joint: expect low prices, big flavors, massive burgers, and unpretentious meals. Best burgers in the city? Probably.
Vesterbro is also one of the best neighborhoods in Copenhagen for getting around. Here, you get quick and regular public transport links to all other parts of the city… and the neighborhood is also home to the city’s main railway station.
Top tip: if you’re gonna live in Vesterbro, find an apartment slightly away from the railway station. This part of the city can be a little noisy—and although it’s certainly not unsafe, it’s one of the least-safe parts of the city. Overall, yep, living here is expensive. But if you can afford the lofty rents, it’s absolutely worth the money.
4. Kødbyen (Meatpacking District)
Best for: more partying and playing, lots of late-night techno, quirky food, and kooky art
Another of the best neighborhoods in Copenhagen for young people.
This weirdly-named area is actually the eastern part of Versterbro: and is sandwiched between the city center and the rest of the district.
And it’s arguably the trendiest part of the entire area…
… so some of the venues we’ve mentioned above, they actually sit in this district.
Aside from all the great eating, drinking, and cafe-hopping, you can also expect:
- Nightlife venues: including Baggen (a popular techno hub), Jolene Bar (a no-frills place with eclectic DJs), and many once-warehouses-now-breweries. This is trendiness turned up to the max.
- Various arts venues: such as Gallery Poulson (inside an abandoned slaughterhouse, it focuses on young artists and provocative content), the Center of Photography (offering a bunch of Nordic photos), and the V1 Gallery (featuring the strange and the emerging).
Fun fact: as you probably guessed, this area was once home to many local meat-based businesses.
4. Nørrebro
Best for: reasonable rents, a multicultural atmosphere, and a wide range of food
Bordering Indre By to the northwest, this is one of the best neighborhoods in Copenhagen for multicultural vibes.
… no matter who you are and where you’re from, you’ll feel welcome here.
Densely-populated and packed with stuff, you can expect a varied combo of excitement. Highlights include:
- Trendy coffee shops
- Low-price kebab joints
- Tucked-away high end eateries
- Independent businesses and thrift stores
- Assistens Cemetery (popular and leafy, it’s home to gentle walks, and the grave of Hans Christian Andersen)
- Small and unusual late-night bars. Highlights include the invitingly-dimly-lit BRAW Bar and the dingy-but-brilliant Mucki Bar
Because Nørrebro has a multicultural makeup, it offers a wide range of international eats. Highlights include Danafrika (for west-African fayre), Sultan (excellent shawarmas and cut-price Middle-Eastern food), and Nha Trang Restaurant (Vietnamese stuff—try the spring rolls).
If you want a nice balance of affordability and centrality, Nørrebro is a great place to live. It’s not super-cheap, but it’s much more affordable than many of the city’s other central districts. Top tip: make sure you explore the iconic Jægersborggade, a popular Nørrebro street with a massive concentration of shops, cafes, and galleries.
5. Frederiksberg
Best for: families, upmarket homes, and a whole load of greenery
Sitting between Vesterbro and Nørrebro, Frederiksberg is one of the best neighborhoods in Copenhagen for families:
You get upscale homes, quiet vibes, many conveniences (with all the stores and amenities you could ever need—including gyms, a hospital, good public transport, a big shopping mall, great green spaces, and international schools*).
*top international school options in and around the area include Prince Henrik School, European School Copenhagen, and the Montessori International Preschool.
Other big highlights include:
- Tree-lined streets
- High levels of safety
- Family-friendly restaurants
- High-end boutiques and eateries
- The funfest of the Music Museum
- The hands-on Børnemuseet (painting, crafting, and more)
- Modern homes, and a big district size (so there are plenty of homes to choose from)
- … and Frederiksberg Gardens (with canals, lakes, a palace, and picnic spaces). And it’s right beside the city’s zoo, which is popular with families.
As you probably worked out by now, Frederiksberg can be a pricey place to live. So it’s mainly made up of high-earning middle-class families.
6. Østerbro
Best for: raising kids, finding a job, and a massive number of green spaces
Directly bordering Nørrebro to the east, Østerbro is another popular family-friendly district.
The greenest neighborhood in Copenhagen, it offers a lovely combo of parks and waterfront areas (basically the entire eastern side of the neighborhood is bordered by water).
Top outdoor spots include:
- Fælledparken: the biggest park in the city, it’s home to soccer pitches, play areas, walking trails, a skatepark, fountains, and the huge Bænkene Lake.
- Sortedam Lake: popular for running, family walks, and feeding swans and ducks.
- Svanemølle Beach: popular and clean, and ideal for swimming and picnicking. It has a promenade for swimming right out into the sea.
- The Experimentarium: yep, you’re right, this science museum isn’t a green space: but it’s great for kids, and full of interactive fun.
- … and because you get so many waterfronts, parks, and quiet streets, Østerbro is an ideal district for regular cycling and running.
It’s also one of the best neighborhoods in Copenhagen for cafes. Expect to find sweet treats (like the ice creams at Olufs and the pastries at Leckerbaer), and great coffees (two popular favorites are April and Original Coffee).
… and, last of all, because you’ll find many embassies and businesses here, it’s a good district for finding a job.
Overall, if you’re a young professional (or have a family) and don’t know where to start your new-home search: Østerbro is a good place to begin.
7. Christianshavn
Best for: canals, colors, hanging with young people, and exploring a self-proclaimed autonomous area
A small area of little islands, Christianshavn is most famous for being home to Freetown Christiania (a smaller section of the bigger Christianshavn).
One of the most unique communities in the world, it’s a self-proclaimed autonomous district, made up of strange homes, stranger galleries, and lots of arty areas. A bohemian largely-car-free zone, it’s home to artists, murals, an independent school, around 850 people, and lots of yoga and meditation.
Though Freetown Christiania gets all the fame, the rest of Christianshavn also has plenty to enjoy—and it might just be the most loveable zone in the city.
Highlights include canals, colorful houseboats, and what some say is the city’s best pocket of cafe culture.
Top cafes include:
- Parterre Christianshavn: great clean juices, and lots of healthy food
- Abegrotten: laid-back and relaxed, it’s a classic knockabout Freetown Christiania venue
- Lagkagehuset: for some of the most famous pastries in the city
And popular eateries here include:
- Reffen: an outdoor courtyard offering a bunch of global street food, it also features events, DJs, and nightlife. It’s only open in warmer months.
- Christianshavns Færgecafé, one of the city’s best spots for eating traditional Danish fayre. Popular with locals and travelers, it sits right on the water.
- Hos Nicola: a super-informal Italian place with the best pizza in the city, they only have one tiny dining table.
… make sure you also check out old-school classic Danish bar Høvlen. Frozen in time, it’s super-welcoming and super-charming.
Because Christianshavn is a popular place to live (and because it’s pretty small and pretty non-residential), it can be tough to find an apartment here. So, many of the people who live here: they choose to move into a serviced apartment or a serviced flat.
8. Amager
Best for: atmospheres for everyone, living on a big island, and a combo of retro and modern vibes
A huge district, Amager is around the same size as the other nine neighborhoods we’ve brought you COMBINED.
Separated from the rest of Copenhagen, it’s actually an island of its own—and it has a unique mishmash identity lots of people love:
- You get pockets of lifelong locals, old homes, and age-old eateries.
- But you also get hyper-new housing developments, modern architecture, and growing businesses.
… so, in terms of overall diversity, there is no better part of Copenhagen. You get diverse vibes, diverse people, diverse homes, and diverse hangouts.
Though it’s the most densely-populated of Copenhagen’s islands, it’s also home to many outdoor highlights. They include:
- Amagerstrandpark: the city’s biggest beach, this clocks in at around 4.5km (3 miles), and features watersports, sunbathing spots, a lagoon, and many places to eat and drink.
- Kongelundsfortet: an old waterside fortress, this offers gentle walks, it sits underneath the flight path of the city’s runway, and it’s close to some popular camping spots.
- Kalvebod Fælled: a huge nature reserve, this wetland area features local and migrating birds, along with sheep, cows, and deer. It’s popular for family walks and long runs.
- Kastrup Søbad: located close to the Amagerstrandpark, this boardwalk leads all the way from the beach, and into a manmade circular seawater pool.
Another family-friendly funfest in Amager is the National Aquarium of Denmark. Interactive and engaging, it features events, talks, hands-on-the-animals experiences, sharks, otters, and a submarine-style area.
Because it’s densely-populated, Amager offers lots of residential areas… and these residential areas are very varied and diverse. You’ll find small homes for small budgets, big upmarket homes for high-earning families, and everything in between.
Most Amager residents like the neighborhood because it’s a good place to live if you want lots of conveniences and amenities without the busy bustle of the city’s very center:
You’ll find:
- Gyms
- Schools
- Stores and malls
- The city’s airport
- Great international and non-international schools (the northeastern part of the neighborhood is particularly good for schooling)
- … and everything else you could ever need.
In summary, Amager is one of the best neighborhoods in Copenhagen for finding a long-term life—no matter who you are. But, as you probably noticed, it’s especially good for families.
9. Islands Brygge
Best for: hanging with young people, summertime sunbathing, and lots of events
The northwestern part of Amager island, Islands Brygge is only a little place—but it’s massively famous.
Once an industrial area, it’s now home to harbor baths, waterfront homes, modern architecture, grassy picnic spots, and lots of varied eats.
For finding regular summer fun, it’s one of the best neighborhoods in Copenhagen. Over the summer, you’ll find a hefty range of events here: including concerts, markets, kid-friendly stuff, pop-up food fun, comedy, theater, and more.
… and for finding those events, a good place to start is the iconic and much-loved Kulturhuset.
In some ways, Islands Brygge feels like a little village in a big city—and it’s particularly popular with high-earning young people who like modern vibes and upmarket hangouts.
Other highlights include:
- Swimming
- Sunbathing
- Beach volleyball
- Over-the-water skyline views
- Lots of waterside eating and drinking
- And easy access to all other parts of the city (although Islands Brygge sits on the waterfront, it’s right in the middle of all other neighborhoods we’ve brought you).
… all that said, living in the neighborhood comes at a price, and it can be quiet in colder months. So if you’re here long-term, it’s usually best to live somewhere nearby (like Christianshavn, or any other part of Amager).
10. Valby
Best for: community vibes, living long-term, and a quiet neighborhood surrounded by busier ones
The most residential area we’ve brought you, Valby is a small neighborhood bordering both Frederiksberg and Vesterbro.
Though it’s mainly made up of family homes (and some great family attractions), it’s close to the center—you can be in Indre By on foot within an hour, and by public transport within around 20 minutes.
Valby serves up a nice mixture of modern vibes and old-school charm, along with a cozy community feel: if you want to feel like you’re ‘really’ living in Denmark (without moving to some tiny village), this is one of the best neighborhoods in Copenhagen.
You’ll find many green spaces in and around the area, including the hefty Søndermarken Park: Popular with families, it’s home to walking trails, picnic spots, GoMonkey Søndermarken, and lots of ancient trees.
Other cultural highlights here include:
- The Valby Kulturhus: offering community-based events and exhibitions, it also features street art, board games, a cafe, and a lovely homely vibe.
- Vestre Kirkegård: bordering the neighborhood to the south, it’s the city’s most famous cemetery.
- The Cisternerne: a strange underground events space, with some of the oddest art you’ve ever seen.
- The Carlsberg Brewery: where you can take tours, and learn all about the iconic beer.
- … and many other green spaces (J.C. Jacobsen’s Garden is particularly popular—and Frederiksberg Gardens is very close-by).
The 10 Best Neighborhoods in Copenhagen: Final Thoughts
Alright—that’s us done here. They’re the 10 best neighborhoods in Copenhagen!
Overall, you’ll love living in the city—and it comes with a hefty recommendation from us.
Yep, Copenhagen is famous for hygge, waterfronts, and colorful homes: but it also offers so much more. So, get yourself there!
As we’ve covered, in some parts of the city, it can be tough to find a place to live (especially if you don’t want to spend endless hours hunting, searching and negotiating)…
… so, to make things quick and easy, many foreigners move into serviced apartments and serviced flats. All of ours are homely, cozy, fully-furnished, perfect for working and living, and ready to move into today. So: you get zero stress, zero fuss, and plenty of comfort.
(and these homes sit across various parts of the city—including all the neighborhoods we’ve brought you).
Thanks for reading, thanks for choosing Homelike, and enjoy getting all hygge-happy in Copenhagen!
