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Nationalmuseet
If you want to learn more about Danish history and culture, you couldn't do better than spending an afternoon at Nationalmuseet, opposite the western entrance to Slotsholmen.
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Nikolaj Kirke
This 13th-century church is now the home of the Copenhagen Contemporary Arts Centre, which hosts around half a dozen exhibitions of contemporary art each year.
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Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek
The newly renovated Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek houses an excellent collection of Greek, Egyptian, Etruscan and Roman sculpture and art. It was built a century ago by beer baron Carl Jacobsen, an ardent collector. The museum's main building, designed by architect Vilhelm Dahlerup, is set around a delightful glass-domed conservatory, replete with palm trees, which houses a lovely café - the perfect escape from the Danish winter.
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Nyhavn
There are fewer nicer places to be on a sunny day than sitting at the outdoor tables of a café on the quayside of the Nyhavn canal. The canal was built to connect Kongens Nytorv to the harbour, and was long a haunt for sailors and writers, including Hans Christian Andersen, who lived there for most of his life at, variously, numbers 20, 18 and 67. These days Nyhavn is a tourist magnet of brightly coloured gabled town houses, herring buffets and foaming beers.
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Nyhavn Canal
The picturesque Nyhavn canal was dug to allow traders access to the heart of the city. Long a haunt for sailors and writers, including Hans Christian Andersen, who lived at house number 67. The canal is lined with gabled townhouses and trendy pavement cafes that get crowded whenever the weather is warm and sunny.
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Nørrebro
Straddling the city's lakes, with Nørreport to the south and Nørrebro to the north, these are two of the most intriguing areas of the city, with several cool shopping streets (Elmegade, Blågårdsgade, Ravnsborggade and Sankt Hans Torv in Nørrebro prime among them) where you'll find independent designers and fashion, as well as some of the city's best nightlife and bars.
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Nørreport
Straddling the city's lakes, with Nørreport to the south and Nørrebro to the north, these are two of the most intriguing areas of the city, with several cool shopping streets (Nansensgade in Nørreport prime among them) where you'll find independent designers and fashion, as well as some of the city's best nightlife and bars.
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Orlogsmuseet
Orlogsmuseet, occupying a former naval hospital on Christianshavn Kanal, has more than 300 model ships, many dating from the 16th to the 19th century - meaning that if you are, or someone you know is, the type to get high from tooling around with hobby glue, then you have stumbled upon the mother lode. The museum also displays figureheads, navigational instruments, ship lanterns and the propeller from the German U-boat that sank the Lusitania .
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Overgaden
Rarely visited by tourists, this tucked-away gallery mounts challenging exhibitions of contemporary installation art and photography, usually by younger artists.
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Planetarium
Copenhagen's Planetarium, 750m northwest of Central Station, has a domed space theatre that offers shows of the night sky using state-of-the-art equipment capable of projecting more than 7500 stars, planets and galaxies. The planetarium's 1000-sq-metre screen also shows Omnimax natural science films on subjects ranging from astronauts to Australia.
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Rådhus
Copenhagen's grand red-brick Rådhus was completed in 1905. Designed by the Danish architect Martin Nyrop, it reflects many of the trends of its period, displaying elements of 19th-century national Romanticism, medieval Danish design and northern Italian architecture, the last-mentioned most notable in the central courtyard.
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Rådhuset
This sturdy, national romantic-style town hall is the centre of political power in the city. On the right as you enter is a unique clock, the Verdensur, designed by the Danish astro-mechanic Jens Olsen and built in 1955 at a cost of around kr1000000 . It displays not only the time locally but also things like the solar time, sunrises and sunsets and even the Gregorian calendar. You can also climb the town hall tower for a great view of the city.
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Rådhuspladsen
The large central square of Rådhuspladsen is flanked on one side by the city hall (or rådhus) and on another by Copenhagen's modern municipal bus terminus, and marks the heart of Copenhagen. The bustling pedestrian shopping street Strøget begins at the northeast side of Rådhuspladsen, while the historic pleasure garden, Tivoli, glitters to the southwest.
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Ripley's Believe It or Not!
Whacky Ripley's Believe It or Not! museum displays the expected collection of unexpected oddities from around the world (such as a six-legged calf) replicated in wax figures and tableaux. Revelling in its own outlandish clichés, this place gets packed with young folk. The Hans Christian Andersen 'museum' next door really isn't worth the entrance fee though.
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Rosenborg Slot
To the southeast of Nørreport proper is the beautiful early-17th-century Rosenborg Slot with its fairy-tale moat-and-garden setting. It was built between 1606 and 1633 by King Christian IV in Dutch Renaissance style to serve as his summer home. A century later King Frederik IV, who felt cramped at Rosenborg, built a roomier palace north of the city in the town of Fredensborg.
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Ruinerne under Christiansborg
A walk through the crypt-like bowels of Slotsholmen, known as Ruinerne under Christiansborg, offers a unique perspective on Copenhagen's lengthy history. In the basement of the current palace, beneath the tower, are the remains of two earlier castles. The most notable are the ruins of Absalon's fortress, Slotsholmen's original castle, built by Bishop Absalon in 1167.
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Rundetårn
The Rundetårn is a splendid vantage point from which to admire the old city's red-tiled rooftops and church spires. This vaulted brick tower, 35m high, was built by Christian IV in 1642 and used as an astronomical observatory in conjunction with the nearby university. Although the university erected a newer structure in 1861, amateur astronomers have continued to use the Rundetårn each winter, which gives credence to its claim to be the oldest functioning observatory in Europe.
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Sankt Ansgars Kirke
There is a cluster of sights along the upmarket street known as Bredgade, home to many of the city's top antique dealers and auction houses. Sankt Ansgars Kirke, next door to the Medicinsk-Historisk Museum, is Copenhagen's Roman Catholic cathedral. It was built in 1841 in the neo-Romanesque style and has a colourfully painted apse.
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Sankt Petri Kirke
Another handsome place of worship in the Latin Quarter is Sankt Petri Kirke, a German church that dates from the 15th century, making it the oldest church building in the city.
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Slotsholmen
Slotsholmen is the seat of national government and a veritable repository of historical sites. Located on a small island and separated from the city centre by a moat-like canal, Slotsholmen's centrepiece is Christiansborg Slot, a large palace that is home to Folketinget (the Danish parliament) and various government offices.
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Statens Museum for Kunst
Denmark's national gallery, Statens Museum for Kunst, was founded in 1824 to house art collections belonging to the royal family. Originally sited at Christiansborg Slot, the museum opened in its current location in 1896. Statens Museum is the largest art museum in Denmark, thanks to an enormous, light-filled modern extension constructed in recent times.
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Strædet
Running parallel to Strøget to the south is Strædet, perhaps the most beautiful shopping street in the city. It is less grand than Strøget, but Strædet's two streets, Kompagnistræde and Læderstræde, are far more charming and packed with less mainstream shops.
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Strøget
The pedestrian shopping street Strøget runs through the city centre from Rådhuspladsen to Kongens Nytorv. Strøget is the city's main shopping thoroughfare and consists of five continuous streets.
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Teatermuseet
Occupying the Hofteater (Old Court Theatre), which dates from 1767 and drips with historic character, is Teatermuseet. Performances have ranged from Italian opera and pantomime to shows by local ballet troupes, one of which included fledgling ballet student Hans Christian Andersen.
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Thorvaldsens Museum
Thorvaldsens Museum exhibits the works of famed Danish sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen (1770-1844). Heavily influenced by mythology, after four decades in Rome, Thorvaldsen returned to Copenhagen and donated his private collection to the Danish public. In return the royal family provided this site for the construction of a remarkable, frescoed museum to house Thorvaldsen's drawings, plaster moulds and beautiful statues.
