Europe

A Cultural Night Out in Copenhagen
#Copenhagen hosts many #events over the year, but the biggest cultural one is Kulturnatten, held every year in October, could be easily the best, and most #unique, time to experience the Danish capital, all over an extended weekend.

Copenhagen was never on top of my travel bucket list. Its tagged as an expensive place, and the uninspiring weather didn't exactly encourage me. But when I read about Kulturnatten, I changed my mind.

Kulturnatten, or Culture Night, is supposed to be Copenhagen’s biggest annual cultural event. It is a night where museums, art galleries and public institutions open up their premises until midnight or later. Yes, many cities around the world have similar late night openings for cultural institutions. And no, Kulturnatten is not a once in a lifetime mind broadening experience. But I found it was the best and most affordable way to explore Copenhagen as a tourist.

I found it was the best and most affordable way to explore Copenhagen as a tourist
The entire city was awake all night, alive with mellow energy. There were even kids playing past twelve - perhaps more in the spirit of autumn break that would start the next day.

It was vibrant but not too chaotic, pretty well organised, but not tediously orderly. I bought a Culture Pass from Copenhagen Central Station, which was basically my ticket for Kulturnatten. It cost me 90 Danish krone (around 12 Euro). I could access most, if not all museums and major landmarks with that ticket, and public transport was included. My only limitation was time: there were too many things that I wanted to do.

The entire city was awake all night, alive with mellow energy.
There was a 'Gaming Cafe' for board game enthusiasts. I learnt something about winning at Roulette using math tricks. There were many music concerts, a Great Gatsby themed party, light installations, workshops at the Design Museum, human towers, and much more. Torvelhallerne, Copenhagen’s food market, had transformed into a massive world food fair. I enjoyed a good amount of homemade mulled and elderflower wine from the many vendors that lined up with spartan stalls outside major cultural hotspots. I seemed to walk endlessly into the night, despite Copenhagen being such a compact city.

Copenhagen’s food market, had transformed into a massive world food fair.
My other affordable alternative to buying a ticket everyday was Copenhagen Card (a 24 hour pass for 48 Euros), but I already had the Culture Pass, and this was perhaps my closest chance to experience a Copenhagener’s night out.

City of Bikes
Visiting Copenhagen and not experiencing its cycling culture would be a wasted opportunity. Of course, it has its own bike sharing system Bycyklen (with the usual online registration and hourly fee, which I always find as a complicated option for tourists). I opted to go for An Urban Tour with Cycling Copenhagen, simply because I wanted to explore the local neighbourhoods and not worry about n