This guide covers six places in Copenhagen's medieval centre: City Hall, the National Museum of Denmark, the shopping street Strøget, the Church of Our Lady, the Round Tower and the old harbour of Nyhavn. They sit along one line from City Hall Square to the waterfront, so you can see them all on foot in a day, with the National Museum as the place to spend a few hours indoors.
Copenhagen City Hall
The red-brick City Hall on Rådhuspladsen was designed by Martin Nyrop, who won the architectural competition, and it was inaugurated on 12 September 1905. Nyrop took ideas from the town hall of Siena in Italy and mixed them with Danish National Romantic style. Its tower rises to 105.6 metres, which makes it one of the tallest buildings in this low-rise city.
Inside, the building is still the seat of the city council and mayor. Its best-known treasure is Jens Olsen's World Clock, an astronomical clock designed by a locksmith turned clockmaker. Olsen died ten years before it was finished, and it was started in 1955 by King Frederik IX together with Olsen's granddaughter. Its 12 movements have more than 15,000 parts, and its slowest gear turns once in 25,753 years.
- The gilded statue of Bishop Absalon, the founder of Copenhagen, just above the balcony on the main facade.
- The glass case with Jens Olsen's World Clock, in its own room inside the building.
National Museum of Denmark
The National Museum is Denmark's largest museum of cultural history, and its main building is the Prince's Mansion (Prinsens Palæ), a short walk from City Hall. The house dates from 1684, but the royal master builder Nicolai Eigtved rebuilt it in 1743–1744 for Crown Prince Frederik, the future Frederik V, and it is one of the earliest Rococo buildings in Copenhagen. The National Museum opened here in 1892.
The prehistory galleries are the reason to come. Here you can see the Trundholm Sun Chariot, a bronze horse pulling a gilded disc from the Nordic Bronze Age; the oak coffin of the Egtved Girl; the silver Gundestrup Cauldron from the 1st century BC; and the Huldremose Woman, a body preserved in a bog. The Golden Horns of Gallehus are shown as copies: the originals were stolen and melted down in 1802. The museum is not one of our scavenger hunt stops, but it is close to the start.
- The Trundholm Sun Chariot, one of the most famous objects ever found in Denmark.
- The colonnade of granite columns from the island of Bornholm along Stormgade, and the courtyard facing Frederiksholms Kanal.
Strøget
Strøget is not one street but a chain of them, from Frederiksberggade at City Hall Square through Gammeltorv and Nytorv, Vimmelskaftet and Amagertorv to Østergade and Kongens Nytorv. On 17 November 1962 the city closed it to cars as a trial, and the change was made permanent in 1964. At the time it was the longest pedestrian street of its kind, and it is still one of the longest pedestrian shopping streets in Europe.
Strøget is one of the stops on our scavenger hunt, and it works as the spine of this walk: most of the other places in this guide are on it or a few steps off it. Expect crowds in summer and at weekends, and look up: many of the shopfronts sit in 18th- and 19th-century houses.
- Gammeltorv and Nytorv, the two old squares halfway along, and Amagertorv with its paving in patterns of coloured stone.
Church of Our Lady
The Church of Our Lady (Vor Frue Kirke) is the Lutheran cathedral of Copenhagen, on Frue Plads just north of Strøget. The site has a long run of bad luck: the medieval church burned in the great fire of 1728, and its successor was destroyed in 1807, when British guns bombarded the city and its tower caught fire. The present church, a calm Neoclassical building by the architect C. F. Hansen, was consecrated in 1829.
Inside it looks more like a gallery of sculpture than a church. Bertel Thorvaldsen, the most famous Danish sculptor, made the white marble figures of the risen Christ above the altar and the twelve apostles along the nave, with St Paul in place of Judas. In 2004 the church hosted the wedding of Crown Prince Frederik and Mary Donaldson, now the King and Queen of Denmark. It is one of the scavenger hunt stops.
- Thorvaldsen's Christ in the niche above the altar, with arms open.
- The baptismal font in the form of a kneeling angel holding a scallop shell, also by Thorvaldsen.
The Round Tower
The Round Tower (Rundetårn) on Købmagergade was built for King Christian IV between 1637 and 1642 as an astronomical observatory. It is part of the Trinitatis complex, together with Trinitatis Church and a hall that held the university library. The design is usually credited to Hans van Steenwinckel the Younger, although there is no firm proof.
There are no stairs to the top: a spiral ramp makes seven and a half turns around the hollow core, so that horses and carriages could bring books to the library and heavy instruments to the observatory. In 1716 Tsar Peter the Great rode up it on horseback, and his wife Catherine is said to have followed in a carriage. The tower is one of our scavenger hunt stops, and the view from the platform covers the roofs and spires of the old town.
- The gilded rebus on the upper facade, with Hebrew letters for the name of God, dated 1642.
- The library hall above the church, now used for exhibitions and concerts, which you pass on the way up.
Nyhavn
Nyhavn, the New Harbour, is a canal that King Christian V had dug from 1670 to 1675, partly by Swedish prisoners of war, to bring ships to the square of Kongens Nytorv. Fishermen sold their catch here and ships unloaded cargo; the rows of painted townhouses grew up around it, and the oldest, No. 9, dates from 1681. Hans Christian Andersen lived at No. 67 from 1845 to 1864 and later at No. 18.
Today the north side is lined with restaurants and the canal is a harbour for old wooden ships. The memorial anchor at the end near Kongens Nytorv honours more than 1,700 Danish sailors and officers who died in the Second World War; it was put up in 1951, and a ceremony is held there every 5 May, Denmark's Liberation Day. Nyhavn and Nyhavnsbroen, the bridge across its mouth, are both stops on our scavenger hunt.
- The plaque on No. 67 marking Andersen's home, and the lightship Gedser Rev from 1895, now a museum ship.
- Inderhavnsbroen, the cycle and foot bridge from 2016 that links Nyhavn to Christianshavn.
How to see them in one walk
Start at City Hall on Rådhuspladsen and visit the World Clock. Cross to the National Museum, a few streets to the east beside Frederiksholms Kanal, and give it a couple of hours. Then walk up to Strøget and follow it east: turn left at Nytorv for the Church of Our Lady on Frue Plads, carry on to Købmagergade for the Round Tower, and rejoin Strøget at Amagertorv. Strøget ends at Kongens Nytorv, and Nyhavn opens right behind the memorial anchor. Finish with a walk along the canal and over Inderhavnsbroen if you want a view back.
See Copenhagen with World City Trail
Our Copenhagen scavenger hunt turns the old town into a game you play on your phone. The route links 10 stops, from City Hall to Frederik's Church, and City Hall, the Church of Our Lady, the Round Tower, Strøget and Nyhavn are all stops, along with Christiansborg Palace, the Royal Playhouse and the Old Stage, Nyhavnsbroen, Amalienborg Palace and Frederik's Church. At each stop you solve a puzzle and learn a story, at your own pace.
There is also a self-guided walking tour and an outdoor escape game in Copenhagen, for people who prefer a different format.
Play the Copenhagen scavenger hunt →
Take the self-guided walking tour of Copenhagen →
Play the outdoor escape game in Copenhagen →
Facts checked in October 2026.