Vesterbro

Lonely Planet review

The gritty, urban neighbourhood of Vesterbro begins at the western side of Central Station with the city's most infamous thoroughfare, Istedgade. Istedgade is home to the rather depressing red light district, which begins close to Central Station with numerous sex shops and massage parlours that coexist rather unfortunately with many of the city's lower range hotels.

Since the police clamped down on official drug facilities, the junkies have taken to the streets here, which makes for a fairly shaming spectacle in a city so supposedly advanced in its social provision. However, persevere and you will find that Istedgade and Halmtorvet, to its south, are also packed with cool cafés, bars and restaurants, and funky fashion and design stores, which stand shoulder to shoulder with interesting shops catering to the local Pakistani, Turkish, Afghan and Middle Eastern communities.

Running parallel to Istedgade is Vesterbrogade, a mainstream local shopping street with supermarkets and midrange clothing and shoe stores, as well as one or two good restaurants and bars. If you turn right where Vesterbrogade meets Frederiksberg Allé, you come to Værndemsvej, Copenhagen's so-called food street, which these days has as many cool clothing stores as restaurants and food outlets.