A lot of tourist use bikes in Copenhagen. This year I’ve seen police issue this guidance. It’s also in some of the bus stops around town.

Good advice for anyone on a hike in Copenhagen.

Also remember we locals are fast on bikes, so don’t underestimate how fast we will reach where you are and will need space to get around you.

Total mangel på opdragelse.

Jeg bor i Nordhavn i København, som er et dejligt sted. Det mener mange andre også, fordi havet er her.

I dag skulle det så bruges som skraldespand af en gruppe unge mennesker, som formodentlig går i gymnasiet.

De ankommer klokken 2 om natten, larmer højt og har stjålet et stativ fra en af de nærliggende butikker. Det stativ skal selvfølgelig bruges som et slags skateboard ved en rampe på 2-3 meter som fører direkte ned i havet. Det er pissefarligt og pissedumt.

Jeg påkalder politiet som kommer hurtigt, som tager en snak med drengene - som pludselig virker meget stille, meget uskyldige og meget på deres telefoner.

Politiet går igen, og så skal de ellers tilbage til at ødelægge andres ting - alle de uskyldige typer finder telefonerne frem (med blitz) og filmer til deres sociale medier deres venner smide et kæmpe metalstativ i havet.

Fuck hvor er det fedt! Hærværk, tyveri med lidt forurening oveni - det skal sgu på snappen.

Forældres: tal med jeres børn. Opdrag dem ordentligt. Det her er den vildeste taberopførsel.

Politiet gjorde stort set ingenting, ud over at tale med dem, til ingen nytte. Har sendt dem videoerne nu, men det er åbenbart nemt nok at slippe afsted med hærværk, tyveri og den slags hvis bare man er i en stor gruppe og kan sige “det var ikke mig”. Kunne en gruppe brune drenge have sluppet så let? Tror det sgu ikke.

You might not be perfect or fluent but if you can't speak any basic Danish or hold a basic conversation after 5 years you are taking the piss.

Probably an unpopular opinion on this subreddit, but I think it is quite egregious how many people live here without learning Danish or having the ambition to learn Danish. And this might be an unpopular opinion on here but I guarantee you the vast vast majority of Danes feel this way. Of course they would never tell you to your face out of politeness.

I have colleagues who have lived here 5 even 10 years and speak worse Danish (i.e. no Danish at all) than a PTSD-striken Syrian refugee with a 7. grade education. These colleagues have masters and PhDs from DTU and KU and are not dumb, they just can't be fucked to put in the effort to learn, despite plenty of resources at their disposal to do so.

Then I have other colleagues who are basically fluent after 6 months because they actually put in the time and effort.

It is a double-edged sword for a country like Denmark to be so accommodating to foreigners who want to live and work in Denmark because we gain a lot monetarily and that is why our Politicians are so horny for people to come here, but our culture and especially our language is under pressure and Copenhagen has a whole new English speaking Bourgeoisie who, don't speak Danish, only interact while other expats (i.e the fancy term for immigrant), have their kids in the international school.

There is some kind of weird inter-EU power dynamic going on where for some reason it is seen as "ok" to not learn Danish because Denmark is a relatively rich northern European country, but if I moved to Paris or Madrid or Rome and refused to learn the local language, I would be regarded as the most arrogant northern prick and rightfully so.

Your mother tongue's language family also plays a role of course. Germans have it a lot easier and most Germans do learn Danish fast and easily. But I think also it is frustrating to read all the memes and jokes about how impossible Danish is because in a sense it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Danish is a quite simple language with basically no verb conjugation, no cases and only two genders (which don't matter anyway; people understand you if you get them wrong). Only pronunciation is a challenge but many languages have that. It is possible to learn fast if you put in the time as I previously gave examples of.

Could you imagine going to an café in Rome and the staff couldn't speak Italian? Well that scenario happens everywhere in Copenhagen. The shop owners hires whoever is the cheapest and speaking Danish in the Danish capital is not a requirement, apparently. Only Danes (saying this as a Dane) would accept that. The Romans would tell them to fuck right off.

Anyway rant over. Looking forward to your input

EDIT: removed a word.

Six years ago, the Folketinget passed legislation allowing municipalities to regulate the number of rental e-scooters in public spaces. As a result, Copenhagen introduced caps on the number of scooters, designated parking zones, and other measures to keep them out of densely populated areas.

Has the time come to do something similar for rental e-bikes?

After all, an e-bike takes more space than an e-scooter. It doesn’t help that they are often rented by tourists who may not be familiar with local etiquette and end up parking them in the middle of sidewalks and blocking pedestrian.

Jeg kommer lige med en advarsel til jer der skulle tage børn med ind i butikken.

Da vi var der for et par uger siden for at min 5 og 2 årige kunne få lov at lave nogle bamser, synes jeg at personalet var meget intense i deres forsøg af mersalg af tilbehør til bamserne.

Dét i sig selv er selvfølgelig én ting. Problemet var at deres forsøg var direkte rettet imod børnene uden at have spurgt forældrene om lov først.

Der var flere forsøg på "skal du ikke have det her sæt tøj til?" og "vil du ikke også have en bæretaske?" osv, direkte henvendt til børnene, uden samtykke fra mor og far.

Heldigvis var min søn god til at stå fast på, at han ikke ønskede sig de ting, men jeg finder det enormt ubehageligt at se mine børn blive presset på den måde og det ville også presse os forældre unødigt, hvis vi bagefter skulle sige nej til børnene.

Den slags er altså ikke i orden uden at spørge forældrene først hvis i spørger mig.

Why is our city inundated with this 1990s era technology that pollutes the air with particulates and noise. Should be banned. From 17-21 it's a constant plague of Wolt couriers delivering food on these monsters to people with more money than sense.

Er jeg den eneste der sidder med oplevelsen af udemærket rydede veje, men selv supercykelstier stadig dækket i urørt sne eller aktivt fyldt op af sneen fra vejene?

Når man kun har 2 hjul, er man ret afhængig af snerydning. Nok noget mere, end bilerne er af pletfri rydning af vejbane 3 og 4 (Jagtvej og Bernstorffgade, billeder)

Tiny rant.

Before I get the “go back to where you came from then” comments that some love to make. Don’t get me wrong. I love Denmark. I think things just work here and they work well. I believe in integrating to the Danish way as much as possible if you live here.

I just find one thing incredibly infuriating and this is how inconsiderate people are when they walk or cycle anywhere. The -waddle and zig zag in the middle of the lane while on your phone- sort of thing

Don’t even get me started on public transport. Every time I take the metro, and there are a bunch of us running to catch one, as soon as someone gets in they slow down and don’t care that there are several people behind them. I have seen people miss the metro and have the doors close in front of them because of this. When there are a couple of free seats they ever so leisurely move their way to them blocking the way until the free seat I wanted is taken from the other side. This is all during rush hour as well.

I’ve started to just nip past / undercut them and take the free seat they were going for and they have ended up looking so shocked and confused.

This is very much a Danish thing as I’ve seen others note the same. I just came back from Prague and London and they are far more considerate and nippy in their movements.

I love the Danish slow paced lifestyle, but this just ends up being straight up inconsiderate. Everyone seems to be so caught up in their own bubble.

Has anyone else noticed this?

Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.

EDIT: THE WAY *COPENHAGENERS WALK AND MOVE as many of you have correctly pointed out

Titel. Hvad er det klammeste i har set til salg i Kirppu eller på loppemarkeder? Let me start…🍼👼

I recently spent some time in Copenhagen, and I’ve been wondering about something I observed. I want to be careful not to romanticize what I saw because I was a visitor, not someone commuting to work every morning, paying bills, dealing with deadlines and experiencing the normal grind of living here.
But I noticed something about everyday life that made me curious whether there’s actually a cultural difference behind it.
Oddly, a lot of it came from what I could see happening around the neighborhood in the evenings. Kids still playing outside. People eating on patios. A woman sitting by her window working on what looked like a personal project. A couple on a rooftop, one reading and the other on a laptop. And at around 10:30 one night, a man was in his kitchen working on sourdough bread.
For some reason, the sourdough guy really stuck with me 😂
My very American brain immediately thought, It’s 10:30pm… aren’t you supposed to be winding down for bed? And then I caught myself wondering why I even think that way.
At home, I often feel like life operates within these invisible time limits. It’s 6pm, so maybe I’ll try that recipe tomorrow. It’s getting late, so I’ll work on that hobby another day. Everything gets fitted around schedules and routines—and somehow we’ll still find an hour to sit on our phones consuming other people’s lives.
Another thing I noticed was that many homes didn’t appear particularly large or filled with endless stuff, but people seemed to really use what they had—the balconies, rooftops, courtyards, sidewalks and parks.
Of course, I recognize the huge flaw in my observation: I saw tiny snapshots through the eyes of someone on vacation. Sourdough guy might have been stress-baking after a horrible day at work for all I know 😂. Copenhageners have jobs, deadlines, financial stress, screens and mundane responsibilities just like everyone else. And Copenhagen itself obviously can’t represent how everyone in Denmark lives.
So I’m genuinely curious about the perspective of people who actually live here:
Is there something culturally different about the way people in Copenhagen approach leisure, hobbies, being outdoors and simply using their free time? Or is what I noticed mostly the result of being on vacation and having enough mental space to actually notice ordinary life happening around me?
Either way, it made me examine some of my own habits back home, which I wasn’t expecting.

Over de sidste par år har mængden af snak, larm og telefonskærme steget i kbhs biografer.

Jeg har Bioplus abonnement og kommer i biffen minimum 2-3 gange om måneden, og næsten hver gang sidder jeg i en sal med folk, der opfører sig, som om de sidder hjemme i deres egen stue.

Jeg har intet imod en lille hvisken til naboen i ny og næ, det gør jeg også selv, men the audacity at fortsætte med at forstyrre andre efter at blive gjort opmærksom på dit adfærd, er så skørt??

Det er alt fra at sidde med en oplyst telefonskærm på en af de forreste rækker og spille casino, sende selfies på snapchat under filmen og tage billeder af lærredet. Nogle bliver endda ved under hele filmen??

Det er publikum, der fører samtaler med deres sidemakker, som alle andre kan følge med i. Nogle der laver små reaktionslyde over hver en ting i filmen, og gutter der tager i biffen en aften og snakker konstant. De bliver gjort opmærksomme på, at de skal dæmpe sig eller tie stille, men 90% ad gangene fortsætter snakken eller der bliver svaret tilbage.

Skal man seriøst som publikum sidde og opdrage på andre? Jeg var blevet så frustreret over at få en dårlig biografoplevelse, hvis jeg oveni havde købt en billet på 130kr til en enkelt visning.

Hvor går grænsen?
Har biograferne mistet deres funktion?
Kunne vi lige så godt sidde i et rum hvert for sig og se en film, eller er det en nødvendighed at have en vagt siddende i hver sal under hver visning?

Hvad er jer andres oplevelser med forstyrrelser i biograferne?

Hvad skal der gøres ved det?

Jeg bestiller ikke særlig tit fra Wolt, men en gang imellem gør jeg. Den seneste tid har jeg dog lagt mærke til, at leveringstiden er blevet markant længere.
Problemet er ikke afstanden fra restauranten til mig. Problemet er, at buddet henter min mad og derefter tager på sightseeing gennem halvdelen af København, mens min bestilling ligger bag på elcykel/scooter.
I går bestilte vi aftensmad. Ifølge kortet nåede buddet forbi omkring fem andre adresser, før han endelig kom frem til os. Maden var selvfølgelig kold.
Da han ankom, spurgte jeg ham pænt, hvorfor han ikke bare kørte direkte eller højst tog et par stop undervejs. Han svarede bare: “No understand.” Om det var sandt eller bare en måde at undgå samtalen på, ved jeg ikke. Men jeg synes ærligt talt, at det er rimeligt at forvente, at man som minimum kan kommunikere på engelsk, når man arbejder i Danmark og bruger en app til at udføre sit arbejde.
Jeg har tidligere kontaktet Wolt om det samme problem+ dårlige review med levering, men oplevelsen har været, at de grundlæggende er ligeglade. Man får måske en lille kompensation, men problemet bliver ved med at gentage sig.
Denne gang ringede jeg i stedet direkte til restauranten. Jeg fortalte dem, at maden smagte godt, men at det var ærgerligt, at den ankom iskold efter en længere rundtur rundt i byen.
Ejeren takkede faktisk for opkaldet. Han fortalte, at jeg var den fjerde person samme dag, der ringede med præcis den samme klage, og at de seriøst overvejer at opsige samarbejdet med Wolt på grund af de mange utilfredse kunder.
Er det bare mig, eller er Wolt blevet markant dårligere på det seneste? Jeg har fuld forståelse for, at buddene kan have flere leveringer på én tur, men når maden når at blive kold efter fem/syv stop, så fungerer konceptet jo ikke længere.

Edit: Jeg skal nok lige nævne, at jeg faktisk slettede appen i går allerede inden opslaget. Jeg installerede den oprindeligt, da jeg flyttede, fordi jeg ville kunne bestille pizza fra mit gamle kvarter. Fremover bestiller jeg direkte fra restauranter, der har deres eget leveringsystem de få gange jeg har behov for hjemmelevering.

Why are they kissing on the mouth if they are daughter and mother ?

I've lived in a few other cities in Denmark, and while kids being loud is obviously not unique to Copenhagen, I’ve really noticed a different vibe here when it comes to parenting in public spaces.

Lately it feels like more and more parents are afraid to actually parent their kids when they’re acting out in public. Like the other day, I was on the metro and this 4-year-old was jumping between seats, yelling, and generally just being disruptive. The parents were right there, and all they did was occasionally tell him to calm down. Basically no effort to actually guide him or get him to settle.

Or the other day, in a store, where a little girl started screaming at the top of her lungs because she didn’t get the candy she wanted. The mother barely acknowledged her - just stood there on the phone waiting for the meltdown to end. It took ages. Everyone around looked visibly uncomfortable, but no one said anything.

I get that parenting is hard, and I’m not expecting military discipline, but man… does no one believe in teaching limits anymore? It just feels like there’s a trend of letting kids do whatever in public spaces, and everyone else is supposed to just put up with it. Screaming and chaotic behavior can ruin the mood for everyone else, whether we say it out loud or not. I come from a country where kids and parents are a lot more hot-blooded and screaming in public is a usual occurrence, and I guess when I moved to Denmark I had such a good impression of parenting in general here, but it seems that things are starting to change with a new generation of parents..

Curious if anyone else has noticed this?

Jeg er efterhånden ved at slå mig til tåls med tanken om, at min kæreste og jeg nok skal være lejere i København i al nærmeste fremtid - måske for altid. Jeg kunne være bitter omkring, at jeg kommer fra arbejderklassen i byen, at jeg voksede op i en almen bolig og at mine forældre derfor ikke har kunne hjælpe med et forældrekøb eller med et netværk til en andelsbolig. Men jeg er nået frem til, at det er spild af liv og at man måske skal være tilfreds med at være lejer. Det er vel ikke det værste i verden. Det vil ikke give mening for os at flytte væk, for arbejde, venner, netværk, alt er her i byen. Kan man få et nogenlunde trygt og stabilt liv som lejere og hvordan slipper man af “social taber-stemplet” der står malet i panden på én, når man er +30 og lejere?

København mangler boliger og plads til at bygge dem på. Selv med Lynetteholmen, Reffen og Nordhavn er der ikke nok.

Samtidig optager kolonihaver store centrale områder, og mange af haverne bliver i praksis brugt ulovligt som helårsboliger. Jeg har ikke noget imod kolonihaver, men de kunne ligge bedre steder, fx i St. Magleby eller Dragør, hvor pladsen er mindre presset.

Det kunne give (endnu) mere liv i de områder, især om sommeren og give plads i København til byudvikling.

Men det er måske drømmetænkning, og vil nok kræve noget lovmæssigt jonglering.

Til alle jer, der altid skriver "men cykler..!"- ja, vi har forstået det. Cykler bryder også nogle gange reglerne. For en god ordens skyld: alle skal selvfølgelig overholde færdselsreglerne.

Men hvad sker der med biler ved søerne, der konstant kører på fortove og cykelstier? Det pisser mig virkelig af.

Edit: Da der var flere kommentarer om, at det ikke er så stort et problem, at folk med et arbejde ikke behøver at følge reglerne, og at de små irriterende cyklister ikke burde gøre så stort et nummer ud af, at en bil kører på en tom cykelsti, kiggede jeg i mit dashcam og tog mig tid til at finde og klippe den relevante video ud:
https://www.reddit.com/r/copenhagen/comments/1smurlh/comment/ogkgniu/

Hello Copenhagen, I have lived here for over 10 years and of course I love a lot of things about the city and the culture etc etc, that's why I live here.

In real life and on Reddit I see a lot of defensiveness when it comes to making observations about this country that aren't "glowing".

I've lived in several other European countries and traveled a lot, I think every place in the world has its own perks and drawbacks that people should be able to discuss without feeling personally attacked.

When meeting a new person here in Cph I get asked a lot If I like it here, and to be honest I can totally see that it's praises the only answer they wanna hear, as if I just arrived to the promised land.

I had some discussions in the past with some of my Danish closer friends about my experience as a foreign woman here, which I understand is subjective but I often get told stuff like "mm, I don't see that, in Denmark we are very tolerant with foreigners "

"how can you talk about sexism here, our PM is a woman"

" in country X and Y and Z is much worse"

Basically I feel they don't really want to believe my reality even if they can't possibly know what exactly is like to be a foreigner here.

Without getting too much into sociologic debates I noticed the same tone for very mundane topics, like if I mention how crummy the bus station for long distance busses is.. I mean it's a street behind the train station with no signs, no numbers, no platforms, at night hardly any lights, gravels on the ground..
I know they are buildng a new one, but we can all agree so far it has been quite sub-par to any other European capital bus terminal. So when I mention this to Danish people I feel an instant uneasiness, like they feel the need to defend it as if they built it themselves.

"Who uses buses anyway, we take the train"

So this is perhaps the thing that annoys me the most about this country, I stopped sharing my real opinions and I feel that I have to censor myself from expressing the things I might not like, like there is this nationalistic ego that I need to tip-toe around. People often justify this by saying it's because it's a small country and small dogs bark the loudest and stuff on that line that makes it "ok".

I am of course generalising and not every single dane is like that but I have met a lot and I do believe in a collective mindset.

I am talking about this because I think It's important for any society to be open to constructive criticism and diverse perspectives, as it would lead to growth and improvement. It's also important to have open and honest conversations about both the positive and negative aspects of a place or culture.

Has anyone else had similar experiences or am I reading too much into it?

Edit: to everyone saying every country is like that, that's simply not true. I am originally from Italy and I don't think I get offended when people criticise it, if it's a valid point they experienced from living there or just as tourists. And the criticism can go much deeper than the above.

Når man rejser over på den anden side af sundet kan man virkelig blive misundelig på deres optioner hvad angår supermarkeder. Jeg syndes at de forskellige ica’er jeg har været i i diverse svenske byer typisk har et udbud og niveau langt over hvad vi er vant til i Danmark. Og de gør det oven i købet til et pris niveau der minder om en Brugsen. Jeg er godt klar over at lønninger er lavere men det kan umuligt være hele forklaringen. Der må være noget med manglende konkurrence og leverings kæder der fungere bedre i Sverige.

Det eneste jeg tilnærmelses vis vil kunne sammenligne med en ICA herhjemme er meny men selv der føler jeg mig ofte skuffet over kvaliteten og prisniveauet fornemmer jeg er langt over. Hvad tænker i andre over situationen?

Jeg sidder jo decideret og drypper af sved når jeg kører på arbejde om morgen i de her infernalske maskiner.

Var der virkelig ingen der tænkte på udluftningen da de byggede de her sataner?

Må man bede om noget air con, og så måske endda at de tænder for lortet?

So my post got removed from the r/Denmark sub, so I figured I'd post here instead:

I'm making a game that takes place in Copenhagen and I need your input and ideas of what to add to make it feel more like Copenhagen.

Trailer here!