4 Fun day trips from Copenhagen

Roskilde

The train ride from Copenhagen to Roskilde will only take you about 25 minutes, which makes for an easy day trip. Roskilde has a long history to explore on your visit, the city dates back to the Viking Age and is one of the oldest cities in Denmark. Along with its history, the city is also famous for the Roskilde Festival, one of the largest music festivals in Europe.

An important historic sight in Roskilde is the Cathedral which holds the graves of many generations of Danish kings and queens. Each monarch that is entombed here, has their own royal chapel, which reflect the times in which it was built. This explains why the Roskilde Cathedral reflects 800 years of European architectural history, and is part of why the Cathedral is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

To explore the city’s Viking history a visit to the Viking Ship Museum is a must in Roskilde. The museum befittingly sits on the shoreline and has five Viking ships from Skuldelev on display. As you explore the museum, you’ll learn how the Vikings changed the world with their ships.

Malmö

With Copenhagen sitting on the eastern shore of Denmark, you can easily fit in a day trip to Sweden on your visit. The city of Malmö, the third biggest Swedish city, is only a 45 minute train ride from Copenhagen. Make sure to bring your passport for the journey as border patrol will check it.

If you are only visiting Malmö for a day, you will want to focus your visit on the Gamla Staden area of the city, also known as the city’s Old Town. The central square of the city is Stortorget, which is surrounded by historical buildings, such as the Town Hall and Kockska Huset, one of the best preserved 16^th-century buildings in the city. Just around the corner from the main square sits the cobblestoned square of Lilla torg, where you can visit the market, cafes, half-timbered houses and shops selling handicrafts.

On the western edge of Malmö’s old town stands Malmö Castle, a red-brick fortress surrounded by parkland and a moat. The current castle was actually built by Danish King Christian III in the 1530s, to replace the castle built in 1434 by King Eric of Pomerania. Today, the castle is part of Malmö Museum and features several exhibitions as well as an aquarium.