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Absolut Ice Bar
Admittedly, some might call this an absolute rip-off, but this deep frozen bar is still worth a (one) visit if you have never been to any of the others in Sweden and Norway. Everything, including the glasses is made from the purest Swedish river water. On entering you are given an Arctic cape to protect you from the temperature that can reach -12°C, and warned not to lick the walls…
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Bang Og Jensen
Formerly a pharmacy, this grungy café serves fabulous brunches and treats all day and Danish eye candy all night, when DJs play and so do the patrons of this very cool spot.
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Bankeråt
One of the most characterful bars in all Copenhagen features taxidermic animals in outlandish get-ups in the windows and pickled customers in outlandish get-ups at the tables. Nurse a drink, a hangover and artistic pretensions, but don't expect much from the food.
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Bar Rouge
Aimed squarely at the cocktail set who like getting dressed up to hear smooth lounge sounds, this bar is a haven from the sometimes exuberant but immature drinking dens of the Latin Quarter. It might be a good idea to reserve a table.
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Barbarellah
The current epicentre of Nørreport's nightlife scene is this corner bar-lounge-restaurant, named after owner Barbara (who also produces the art that hangs on the walls and is for sale, along with the furniture and even the clothes the barmen wear). The food is flame-grilled Parillada-style, the interior is lit by bewitching psychedelic light projections and DJs play at weekends. Almost unbearably cool.
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Bibendum
Copenhagen's best wine bar is situated in a cosy, rustic cellar on trendy Nansensgade and serves over 50 wines - from Argentina, Spain, France and Italy - by the glass. Intimate but relaxed, and blessedly free of wine snobs, although the staff are extremely knowledgeable.
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Bjørgs
This L-shaped café-bar is a good people-watching venue and is a popular after-work drinks haunt. It also serves simple burgers and salads.
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Boutique Lize
This used to be a clothing store but when it was transformed into this spartan but popular cocktail bar a couple of years back, it just seemed easier to keep the old name. Lize has some of the cheapest cocktails in town and is packed on the weekends.
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Café Europa
With an unbeatable location, this modern continental-style cafe sets up its tables right on Højbro Plads on sunny days, making it a great place to get comfortable, nestle in and do a spot of people-watching.
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Café Stelling
Designed by Arne Jacobsen, this light, airy corner café is tucked away in the northern side of the old square. Jacobsen's austere design contrasts with the monumental, Florentine palace-style bank next door and, completing what is one of the most extraordinary architectural ensembles in town, a late-Renaissance Chinese restaurant on the corner.
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Club Emma
One of the city's largest nightclubs is housed in a wonderful 19th-century town house beside Magasin du Nord. There is a lounge-cocktail bar, open-air terrace (the only place you are allowed to smoke) and several dance floors with live music and DJs. The entry age goes from 18 on Thursdays to 19 on Fridays and 22 on Saturdays.
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Cosy Bar
A very popular late-night place for gay men, with DJs playing Tuesday to Saturday and a serious attitude to picking up, and quickly.
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Fox Bar
On weekend evenings the lobby of the experimental designer hotel Fox becomes a super sleek, über-design hangout, with hilariously laid-back seating, psychedelic décor and a less successful restaurant, Fox Kitchen, which offers strenuously molecular food like parsnip ice cream and flavoured foams.
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Gefärlich
This deeply groovy bar-club-restaurant-lounge-café-hairdresser-clothing store-art space (really) has made a major splash on the Nørrebro nightlife scene. It gets packed on weekends, with the incriminating evidence usually posted on MySpace by midweek.
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Grill Bar
Horrendously expensive it may be (over kr100 for a cocktail!), but that's the price you pay to spend an evening among Copenhagen's beautiful people in this gorgeous two-storey lounge bar owned by the people behind the former restaurant/bar Konrad. There's a DJ on weekends and they serve reasonable contemporary international food throughout the day and evening.
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Halvandet
We can't guarantee this groovy urban beach/lounge bar will be open every summer, but it has drawn a chilled-out party crowd to this rather remote part of town since '03 every summer. You'll find it a little beyond the Opera House, out in the old docklands (Holmen). The food is rudimentary grills and salads, but the vibe and the music are unbeatable, especially if the weather is cooperative.
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Ideal Bar
Ideal Bar is just that - the ideal place to enjoy a few fabulous cocktails in style. Situated in the Vega complex, the music is slightly subdued, but the decor is stylishly 50s and the crowd is every bit as cool (in a good way). Every night is themed to keep the boredom at bay.
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Jailhouse
Want to earn your stripes? This two storey, jail-themed restaurant-bar is one of the most popular venues on the Copenhagen gay scene. Bring your ball and chain.
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K-Bar
This laid back lounge-cocktail bar is tucked away behind Amagertorv. The 'K' stands for Kirsten, who mixes a mean mojito to a young-ish, weekend-all-week and pre-club crowd.
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Laundromat Cafe
This playful corner café was the brainchild of Icelander Fridrik Weisshappel who decided to turn the old Morgans juice bar into a café-cum-laundrette, with washing machines just round the corner from the bar. Throw in 4000 secondhand books (all for sale) to decorate the bar and you have one of Copenhagen's most distinctive and enjoyable venues.
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Library Bar
The Plaza Hotel's small bar mimics a classic London gentleman's club, with leather chairs, an open fire and shelves lined with books. Bowler hats not essential.
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Masken
You'll find a pretty mellow, easy-going atmosphere in this mainstream gay bar, with cheap beer and good snacks. It's mainly a hang-out for gay men, but Thursday is Ladies Night.
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MJ Coffee Cafe
A leading player in the booming Copenhagen coffee house scene, MJs serves a superb home blended cuppa, along with soups and smoothies in an advantageous people-watching corner spot.
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Nørrebro Bryghus
This two-storey brewery with a lounge bar and good, midrange restaurant kickstarted the microbrewing craze in Denmark a few years back (master brewer Anders Kissmeyer looks after the beer side of things), and the concept remains as fresh and alluring as ever.
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Oak Room
If we had to nominate one place to go for a memorable, flirty, drunken Copenhagen evening right now, it would have to be the Oak Room. This sweaty, minimalist, invariably packed two-room cocktail bar is close to trendy Elmegade and just around the corner from Rust.
