The lake houses
Alternative architecture in colours resembling nothing.
Bruno Jargot — CC BY-SA 2.5 · Sean Da Ros — CC0 · Sean Da Ros — CC0 · Sean Da Ros — CC0
Christiania is Europe's strangest neighbourhood: an abandoned military barracks squatted by hippies (1971) and declared a Freetown with its own laws — and after half a century of conflict with the state it still stands with a thousand residents: self-built houses in colours and shapes resembling nothing else along the old rampart lakes, workshops, gardens, graffiti lanes, vegetarian cafés and a venerable concert hall. Its famous exit sign — You are now entering the EU — sums up its mood — and the visit is an hour's walk among the artistic houses on the water (some masterpieces of alternative architecture studied by universities), the craft market and the famous vegetarian restaurant Spiseloppen. Honesty is owed: Pusher Street at its entrance was an open cannabis market for decades — the residents demolished it themselves (2024) after gang violence, and photography there is strictly forbidden. The quarter since is calmer and more family-fit by day — still an option for the curious, never an obligation.
Alternative architecture in colours resembling nothing.
Residents' workshops and vegetarian cafés.
Prinsessegade, 1422 Copenhagen
The Church of Our Saviour & its Spiral SpireThe Church of Our Saviour is Copenhagen's strangest tower: a gilded spiral spire5 minutes walk4.5
Nyhavn — the Coloured HarbourNyhavn is the Copenhagen postcard the world knows: a 17th-century canal (the New11 minutes walk4.8
The Royal Library GardenAn enclosed courtyard between the Royal Library and parliament buildings in the 15 minutes walk4.8
Amalienborg Palace & the Changing of the GuardAmalienborg is the Danish royal family's actual home — Europe's oldest continuou15 minutes walk4.4
The Ruins under ChristiansborgBeneath the floor of the palace that today holds the **Danish parliament** is an16 minutes walk4.3By day yes, with care: since the cannabis market's demolition (2024) the quarter is calm and official tours safe — but it remains an alternative neighbourhood in mood, symbols and sometimes smell. A conservative family finds it an hour's curiosity, not a destination — the hesitant have the rampart gardens next door and Our Saviour's spiral spire on the same street instead.