Copenhagen – always worth a visit.
24.08.2026Hardly any other city combines Scandinavian reserve, bold architecture and public spaces as convincingly as Copenhagen. The specialist magazine archdaily has just published a comprehensive architectural guide to the Danish capital, featuring 44 iconic buildings spread across four city districts – reason enough to take a closer look at some of the most impressive highlights. Also: where to enjoy a culinary experience and how travellers from Switzerland, accustomed to a high standard of comfort, can best get there.
The world capital of people-centred architecture
Copenhagen has long been regarded as a global benchmark for well-proportioned, liveable architecture. Today, the city is increasingly linking this reputation with new demands for climate adaptation, circular construction and dense, mixed-use neighbourhoods. In 2025, the Copenhagen Architecture Biennial took place here for the first time, under the theme “Slow Down” – an exploration of how architecture can respond to global pressures for change by rethinking the pace of transformation. In 2026, the 13th edition of the 3daysofdesign festival was also dedicated to the theme “Make This Moment Matter”, calling on the international design world to break free from digital noise and mass production. A fundamental principle characterises contemporary Danish architecture: infrastructure should always also serve as a communal space – be it a power station transformed into a ski slope, or a multi-storey car park with a playground on the roof.
A tour through four city districts
The Archdaily guide takes you on a focused tour through four areas of the city: the historic centre including the harbour, the northern expansion featuring Nordhavn, Østerbro and Bispeparken, the “western social fabric”, and the southern axis comprising Amager, Ørestad and Sydhavn. Renowned Danish practices such as BIG, Henning Larsen and JAJA Architects are represented, as are international names such as OMA and WilkinsonEyre – a sign of just how much Copenhagen’s urban development is now also being shaped by external influences.
CopenHill: When a power station becomes an adventure hill
Hardly any other building encapsulates the Danish architectural philosophy better than CopenHill – officially known as Amager Bakke – in the south of the city. Designed by Bjarke Ingels and his firm BIG, the waste-to-energy plant processes around 440,000 tonnes of waste annually and supplies hundreds of thousands of households with electricity and district heating – whilst its striking, wedge-shaped roof features a 450-metre-long ski slope open all year round, as well as the world’s tallest climbing wall. Ingels himself calls the concept “hedonistic sustainability”: a sustainable city should serve not only the environment but also people’s everyday lives. From the viewing platform at a height of 85 metres, the view stretches across the entire city and all the way to Sweden.
From grain silo to landmark, from bridge to work of art
The Silo in the Nordhavn harbour district demonstrates just how consistently Copenhagen redevelops existing structures rather than demolishing them: The Copenhagen-based practice Cobe transformed a disused grain silo from the 1960s into a residential high-rise with a distinctive, slightly cantilevered façade – a prime example of the practice of “building on existing structures”, which is becoming increasingly common in the country. Equally poetic, albeit on a much smaller scale, is the Cirkelbroen Bridge by the Icelandic-Danish artist Olafur Eliasson in the historic centre: Five circular platforms of varying sizes, which look like a row of boats, guide pedestrians and cyclists in a winding path across a Copenhagen canal – a gift from the Nordea Foundation to the city.
Playgrounds, libraries and unspoilt nature on your doorstep
Copenhagen’s architectural ambition is evident even on a small scale. Park’n’Play by JAJA Architects transforms an ordinary multi-storey car park in the Lüders neighbourhood into a colourful, terraced structure with a playground and lounge areas on the roof. In the Tingbjerg district, Cobe has realised the Tingbjerg Library and Culture House, an inviting cultural and library building designed to serve as a social anchor project for a neighbourhood with particular development needs. And in the south-east of the city, on Amager’s southern axis, the practices ADEPT and LYTT Architecture have reimagined the 35-square-kilometre Nature Park Amager – Copenhagen’s largest nature reserve, just a few minutes’ walk from City Hall Square – with a series of understated viewing points crafted from dark-stained wood: a birdwatching tower, a walking boardwalk and several “Blue Basen” by the water invite visitors to experience mudflats, moors and forests right on the city’s doorstep, without disturbing the protected natural environment.
Also right at the forefront when it comes to cuisine
Anyone already in Copenhagen should also savour the city’s culinary delights. With 31 Michelin stars spread across 21 restaurants, Copenhagen ranks among the destinations in Europe with the highest concentration of starred restaurants outside Paris. At the top of the list is the three-star Geranium, run by Rasmus Kofoed, spectacularly situated on the eighth floor of the Parken football stadium, offering a purely vegetarian, seafood-based menu comprising around 20 courses. Also boasting three stars are Jordnær in Gentofte and, as the latest addition, Kadeau, which brings the cuisine of the Baltic Sea island of Bornholm to Copenhagen. The legendary Noma returned to its traditional location in Christianshavn in August 2026 with a new concept – twelve thematically changing “seasons” – right next to a ‘garden village’ designed by BIG, consisting of greenhouses and small pavilions.
Convenient travel from Switzerland
Copenhagen is quick and easy to reach from Switzerland. SWISS and SAS operate several non-stop flights a day from Zurich to Copenhagen; the flight time is just around 1 hour 45 minutes; from Geneva, it takes around 2 hours 20 minutes. For a particularly pleasant travel experience, Business Class is well worth it, with priority check-in, lounge access and a free middle seat on short-haul flights. It remains comfortable once you reach your destination too: Copenhagen-Kastrup Airport is directly connected to the city centre via a driverless metro in around 15 minutes – and if you’d like it even more convenient, book a private transfer straight to your hotel.
Conclusion: The perfect time to visit
In Copenhagen, calm returns once the tourist attractions – which can sometimes be a little overcrowded during the holiday season – have quietened down. In late summer and autumn, the city demonstrates that good architecture, public spaces and culinary delights need not be at odds with one another, but can in fact enhance each other. For those with an interest in architecture and art, there could therefore be hardly a better time to visit.