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A lot of people come to Denmark through the Copenhagen airport (Københavns Lufthavne, airport code CPH). Whenever I arrive someplace new I always sort out how to get where I'm ultimately going, but it can be bewildering to figure out, especially if you're jet-lagged and really don't feel like thinking very much. So this post will try to help the weary traveler sort out what is going on when you arrive in Copenhagen and how to get to the city center in the smoothest manner possible. (Note that many of the links in this post go to pictures I took while in the airport to help give some visual clarity.)

Terminals

There are quite a few ways to get to Denmark. There are the typical airplane and train methods, as well as a ferry or two, which isn't surprising for a country with so much shoreline. Most everyone arrives in Denmark through Copenhagen, so I'm focusing there, though it is possible to arrive through other ports of entry.

Flying

The Copenhagen Airport, Københavns Lufthavne, is a European hub and is the main hub airport in Scandinavia. It is located in Kastrup, on the island of Amager, just to the south of downtown Copenhagen. It is quite close to the city and has frequent, direct, and fast (15 minutes) connections into the city on both metro and train. There are three terminals which are all connected, so if you end up not where you need to be, you may have a little hike, but you can walk all the way through to the one you need. The metro and trains to the city (and Malmö, Sweden) are in terminal 3. My next post will dive into getting from the airport to the city center.

Before I start blogging a lot about where to stay, what to do, etc., you need a little orientation to the neighborhoods of Copenhagen. There are a lot of travel guides out there which explain different aspects of the various areas of the city, but I like to have a clear map of where things are. I just generally love maps actually. There are a fair number of official districts (bydele) in the city, like many cities, but postal codes are grouped into a smaller list of areas for addresses. I'll start with these areas since that is a simpler breakdown and when you look at an address for a place, you'll at least have a rough idea of where it is located.

My whole life a pancake was a pancake. There might have been other pancake-like objects, like crepes, but they most definitely were not pancakes. As I've traveled though, it is clear that the definition of "pancake" is regional and American pancakes are their own, special thing. They are also very delicious and something of a novelty over here in Europe. Generally in Europe a pancake is very thin and large in diameter. In Ireland they are served up one at a time by sprinkling lemon juice and sugar on them and rolling them up. Here in Denmark they are totally a dessert and never for breakfast. Then again, the dessert/breakfast line is verrrry fuzzy for me and Americans tend to have a lot more sugary sweet for breakfast generally. But I digress. The main point here is that American pancakes are fluffy, eaten stacked, and are most definitely a classic breakfast. They also seem hard for people to master who haven't been exposed to them their whole lives. I have a number of Danish friends who are quite frustrated but determined to make American pancakes.