We arrived in to Copenhagen from Malmö using the popular, but expensive, Øresund Bridge joining Sweden and Denmark. It is a very impressive piece of engineering and that includes both a raised platform at the Swedish end of the bridge, and a tunnel at the Danish end.

As we reappeared in to the daylight, our first sights of Copenhagen were of an industrial waterway, many large ships and the city’s airport on the edge of the city.

We decided to head directly to the spot that we had identified as a good place to stopover for free with some amenities. We were in for one of the best finds of the trip! We headed towards Amager Strandpark and the marina.

Amager Strandpark Marina, Copenhagen, Denmark

The first parking area seemed to be a mix of cars, pickups and old decrepit motorhomes with a sprinkling of boats on trailers. We decided to continue on to the end of the road, and if this was all that was on offer, then so be it. But, a further quarter mile down the road we came to the carpark for Amager Strandpark. It was busy. There were just two motorhomes parked in this section, and the rest were cars. However, as we turned around, we were fortunate that a large estate car pulled out of a space, big enough for us to slip our campervan in between two other parked cars and hang the bikes partially over the pavement edge, leaving us in line with the other cars. The signage confirmed that the parking was completely free and there was no restriction about how long you stayed and no overnight camping restrictions either! Perfect! And it was beautiful. We were a mere 5-10m from the boats in the marina and less than 150m from the 4km long beach with swimming platform, hot showers and a WC. Plus by the time we had stretched our legs, the sun had started to shine and burnt the early morning fog away leaving a lovely warm day.

As we got our bearings for our surroundings we wandered around our new location, and because it was a weekend it was busy with small and large family groups spending time on the beach enjoying the warm weather.

When we returned to the campervan, we checked the maps and realised that we were only about 20 minute bike ride from the centre of the capital city, yet had an idyllic spot by the coast.

To say we loved the city is somewhat of an understatement. We enjoyed it so much that we decided to stay 3 days… unprecedented for us on this trip.

During our first few hours we quickly made friends with lovely couple called Frank and Agnieszka and their lovely daughter, Sofi-Rose. There were touring Scandinavia too. The lived in Berlin and were slowly heading back towards home. However, Sarah and I thought that we had seen no evidence that they intended to head back towards Germany any time soon. They seemed settled in their spot opposite us, next to the marina.

Nyhavn, Copenhagen, Denmark

While we stayed on our free camping spot we walked, spent time on the beach. We also ventured in to the city on our bikes to go and visit some of the local tourist attractions.

I had been in Copenhagen for work many years ago, but much of it was a blur as we were only in Denmark for less than 24 hours. I was really hoping that the city lived up to my memory of this colourful and vibrant city steeped in history and built around the water.

Artwork in Tivoli Garden, Copenhagen, Denmark

On our first venture in to the city we found the place to be quite small and easy to navigate. We stopped off at The Little Mermaid statue, the castle and spent some time walking around Nyhavn. This was one of our favourite places as it was colourful, bustling with people and the sounds and smells of laughter and food respectively really made the atmosphere. On our way back towards our portable home we stopped off at Tivoli Gardens as this was the place that I had visited in the early 2000’s. I was a little disappointed that it was expensive to enter, so we decided not to spend the budget on the old fashioned amusement park.

As it was late afternoon, we decided it was time to headlock to our beachside location to cook dinner. This caused much interest from local people, many of which thought that we were preparing food to be sold and were looking for some home cooked food. They seemed genuinely disappointed when we said it was our dinner. However, many stopped to talk to us to find out about our adventures, where we had been, where we were going next etc. they were all lovely and their English was perfect. Embarrassingly, my Danish was limited to saying please and thank you.

Over dinner and a glass of something nice, Sarah and I decided that we would return to the city, and that we would spend the money to go into Tivoli Gardens as it is better to regret the things that you do than the ones you turn down.

The next morning we packed some stuff in to our day packs and cycled in to the city following a different route through the suburbs. It was very interesting. There was not much high-rise, but the buildings were all in reasonably good order. Little rubbish and few cars. Copenhagen prides itself on how bike-friendly the city is. As we arrived at Tivole Gardens I was somewhat apprehensive as it had been my desire to go there and our budget was going to take a hit on a vague memory from  well over a decade earlier. However, I need not have worried, it was lovely. The park has many areas all with a different theme and many containing stunning plants and flowers. It was like a throwback to a different era altogether. We meandered around the park, enjoying the sights and sounds of people enjoying the wide range of rides and amusements. Away from the rides, it was a very tranquil place, we could have been absolutely anywhere… but we weren’t, we were in the middle of a European capital city.

A beautiful bloom in Tivoli Garden, Copenhagen, Denmark

On our last night, as if to top off our whole wonderful experience of Scandinavia, we were treated to a stunning sunset. The sky literally glowed. In a moment of creativity, I asked Sarah to stand on top of a small, man-made, hill so that I could shoot her silhouette. The shhot was great. In my last shot, I asked Sarah to jump, and this is the one take, one shot, one opportunity and nailed it!

Sarah showing her enthusiasm for our Scandinavian adventure, Amager Strandpark, Copenhagen, Denmark

We really enjoyed our stay, and we were sad to be making plans to leave Denmark. However, we knew that our journey across Germany was going to lead us into the Netherlands, where we were meeting up with our adopted Dutch family, and we were excited to see them. Following our short stay in Sittard, we would be on the final stretch back to the England and the West Country that we call home.