A digital nomad’s guide to Copenhagen

I know what you’re thinking. “Copenhagen, a place for digital nomads?! I thought it was an expensive city?”

But I’m here to prove you wrong. Is it cheap? No. But are there ways you can “do” Copenhagen without spending your life’s savings? Yes. I’m going to share all my best tips with you - especially if you’re a digital nomad or freelancer who wants to work here for a bit, but if you just want to enjoy Copenhagen as the amazing city break it is, I’ve got you too!

Why Copenhagen?

Copenhagen is the beautiful capital city of Denmark, located in northern Europe. It’s pretty small by European city standards - which makes it SO easy to get around and if like me you work in a creative job, you’ll bloody love it here! The architecture, design, culture and food feels SO innovative, it’s infectious.

But the thing about Copenhagen… it does have a reputation for being expensive. I’m from London and to me, Copenhagen’s prices are pretty similar to London’s apart from in a few key areas, so I thought we could start by chatting about your accommodation, to put your mind at ease?

Accommodation

Copenhagen has so many amazing options when it comes to accommodation, from luxury hostels that put most hotels to shame (honestly, some of the best I’ve ever seen) through to mid-range rooms, luxe long stay choices and beautiful five star hotels like the iconic Nimb - every budget is covered in this city.

I stayed in Zuko Copenhagen, which I absolutely loved and it’s perfect for digital nomads.

I’ve had this hotel on my radar for years - literally years, so when I decided that Copenhagen was where I wanted to visit next for a work trip, it was at the very top of my list. I stayed in a loft room - their version of a studio with a kitchen, working/dining area, sofa space and a “loft” bedroom (with a secret staircase which pulls out of the wall).

Not only that, but Zuko Copenhagen has an amazing rooftop and co-working space too. It’s set up for short and long stay guests so it’s made for people like you and I, that work online and want somewhere creative to work. I filmed lots of TikToks and reels from my time at Zuko including a co-working space tour and a room tour, in case you wanted to check them out!

Other things you should know about Zuko?

Zuko is just outside of the city centre, but it’s a two minute walk from the nearest metro station - DR Byen. DR Byen is a five minute metro ride to Kongens Nytrov though, the metro station that’s right by Nyhavn and the main shopping road, Stroget, so it is so easy to get around. The M1 line (Dr Byen's metro line) has a handful of great stops on it, so it won’t take you long to whizz into the city.

There’s also a big Netto (supermarket) right by the DR Byen metro station which makes doing your food shop easy too. The next time I stay at Zuko - because I’ll 100% be back, I’ll use the kitchen more and cook in the room, as the kitchen is fully stocked and has everything you need.

What other accommodation options are there for digital nomads?

I’ve been to Copenhagen once before and I stayed at Absalon Hotel (which I also liked) but otherwise, according to Trip Advisor and the research I did online, this place looks really great too:

Next House Copenhagen - Next House is a luxury hostel unlike anything you’ve ever seen before. I can’t wait to stay here one day - there’s a cinema room, lots of lounge space, an indoor football pitch, a huge games room, mini golf, basically anything you could ever ask for. The rooms look great too, from eight person dorms to solo rooms (at the time of writing, I found dorm beds to be about £24-40 a night which for all the facilities and the location, seems like a great deal) so if you wanted a more affordable accommodation option, this could be a great shout.

Where did you work from?

Usually I go and find cool cafes or co-working spaces to work from but on this trip, I had that at my hotel! Even if you’re not staying at Zuko though you can visit for the day and use the co-working areas - it’s 199 DKK for a day pass (approx £23 as I write this) or you can buy 5 passes for 450 DKK (£52) which is such a good deal. So budget wise, if you were to stay at somewhere like Next House in a dorm room and buy a 5 day pass to Zuko, you could definitely stay and work in the city on a budget.

Budgeting and food

The things I found to be most expensive in Copenhagen were drinks, bizarrely. Coffees can easily be £5-6 here and bottles of drinks - for example water, can be £4 (ouch). But, it is worth noting that Denmark’s tap water is some of the cleanest in the world and rightly so, they’re trying not to encourage plastic consumption so personally, I took an empty bottle with me in my suitcase and filled it up at the hotel and as I had a Nespresso machine in my room, I didn’t buy any coffees out either.

If you’re looking for a snack which is beyond delicious but really affordable for what it is, the danish pastries are unreal (goes without saying, right?). Generally they’re anything from £2.50 - £5 but when I say they can be a meal in themselves, they are absolutely next level.

I really wanted to try Hart Bageri whilst I was there (the bakery that’s featured in the TV show, The Bear) but I didn’t get the chance, but right around the corner from Zuko was a bakery called ‘Bake My Day’ which cooks up insane vegan options - I paid 32 DKK for a HUGE chocolate cinnamon bun (approx £3.50). There are also lots of “Lagkagehuset” in Copenhagen (if you live in London, Ole and Steen is the english version of their brand) so wherever you go, you have lots of amazing bread, danish pastry and cake options around the city.

The food markets are a great option food wise too. I loved Torvehallerne food market, which is right next to Norreport metro stop, on the M1 metro line. I could get there in under 10 minutes from the hotel and if I had been in Copenhagen any longer, I definitely would’ve returned because there was so much choice here.

Torvehallerne isn’t cheap - it has a ‘Wholefoods but better’ vibe about it but for what you get - very fresh produce, it didn’t feel too expensive.

I had a scoop of the best gelato I’ve ever had for 33 DKK (approx £3.60). I also had a smorresbrod at Hallernes Smørrebrød - a Danish version of an open sandwich which was absolutely delicious, from their Tivoli food hall and I paid 68 DKK and 78 DKK for two different ones - potato and crispy onions and roast beef.

We are talking £17 for an OPEN SANDWICH, but the portion for two was so big I had to take half of it back to the room with me (the photo is deceiving - the height on this thing actually made me laugh out loud when it was first handed to me) and as breakfast was included within my room rate, I was eating a big breakfast, a snack for lunch and a dinner in the evenings which kept the costs down.

My absolute favourite meal of the trip has to go to Gasoline Grill for one of their burgers because oh my GOODNESS, it was unreal. UNREAL.

I went to the iconic one which is housed in an old school petrol station: Landgreven 10, 1301 København, Denmark (in case you wanted to check it out) and although I had a 45 minute wait for this thing, I’d do it again in a heartbeart. The chips were also delicious and the gasoline sauce, which was like a mustardy, pickley, tomatoey vibe - ahhhh. I want this meal all over again!

Tip for you: if you walk five minutes around the corner to Kongens Have, which is like a royal park - it’s the perfect place to have a picnic with your Gasoline Grill burger. It was a beautiful warm evening when I did this so honestly, you couldn’t top it! The burger, chips, dip came to 145 DKK overall (£16.65) which is pretty much what you’d pay in London for something like this too.

So, what else did you love about Copenhagen?

For this particular trip, I wanted to visit somewhere that’d spark my creativity and as Copenhagen is such a beautiful city, it ticked every single box for me (even a morning of walking around the shops - especially homeware, DREAM. The aesthetics, ahhhh!). I flew with Norweigan from London Gatwick and the flight is around 1 hour 45 minutes, so it’s really quick and generally you can get a good price for flights to Copenhagen from London too.

It’s great for solo travellers because it feels so safe, the metro is easy to use and affordable, it’s not too big so it doesn’t feel overwhelming and basically, it ticks every single box.

Although I didn’t visit on this particular trip, I’d also recommend Tivoli Gardens and visiting the different neighbourhoods outside of the city centre (I still have a lot of them to try!). It’s a city you could spend 1-2 nights in and blast around, or work from longer term and see it slowly, which is another reason why I love it so much.

If you haven’t guessed, I bloody loved Copenhagen and I’m sure if you’re a digital nomad or freelancer, you’d love it too. And if you want to check out my other digital nomad guides, you can just here.