Hygge is a Danish word. And a lifestyle feeling. Hygge is intimacy and ambience, a cosy contentment and a sense of well-being. And Copenhagen just oozes it.
You’ll feel hygge as you sip your coffee and gaze out to sea, as you enjoy some quality Nordic cuisine, or as you marvel at the wonderful local architecture. The Danes are a tidy folk, and it shows in their capital. Creating beauty is part of the national psyche. But what’s just as important (if not more so) is to discuss such creation and handle it with care. The city is also a fabulous playground for architects seeking new forms of communal living. And with funky attractions that range from chic container student homes to a waste incinerator with a ski slope on the roof, Copenhagen is Creativity Central. And that’s pretty “hyggely”, too.
A house in the city’s autonomous Freetown Christiania, which was founded as an alternative-lifestyle community back in the 1970s.
Copenhagen is the global capital of cycling. The city has more bikes on its roads than cars.
If you’re looking for cosy cafés and bars with ambience, you’ll find them easily here.
The Danes love shapes and colours. Even the bridges here are presented as works of art.
Music can also provide that wonderful hygge feeling. The natives of Copenhagen are world champions at living life well.
The Crystal building, by architects Schmidt Hammer Lassen.
The Torvehallerne in the city centre is a modern market packed with cafés, bars, restaurants and stalls.
Geoffrey Canilao’s Balderdash Bar is a popular address, especially among the cocktail cognoscenti.
Copenhagen offers numerous sea bathing facilities in the summer months – like the Kastrup Søbad in the south of the city.
Few cities experiment with architecture and new forms of living as extensively as Copenhagen does.
Lego comes from Denmark, and central Copenhagen is home to a flagship Lego store.
“THE DANISH CHAIR – An International Affair” is a permanent exhibition at the Designmuseum Danmark.
