I wrote a while ago about fiction books based in Copenhagen or Denmark and today I thought I’d write about a selection of books which give you an insider view of Copenhagen. Although I have lived here a very long time I still enjoy reading these types of books, especially if they feature interviews or essays about the city. If you a new to the city these books are the perfect way to delve a little deeper into life here.

So here are 10 books to read about Copenhagen (in no particular order except size for the photo!)

Number 1 Wallpaper City Guide: Copenhagen

The Wallpaper Guides are a perennial guides to cities that not only look good on your shelves but also feature cool rather than fashionable places in the city. Concentrating on landmarks, hotels, 24 hour guides, urban life, architecture, shopping, sports and escapes outside the city they are perfect for both travellers and new locals.

Number 2 CitiX60 Copenhagen

This funky little guide features recommendations in the city from 60 local creatives. I found this guide refreshing as it doesn’t serve up the same old ‘hidden’ places as other guides. Just a question how many guides does a place have to be featured in before it is no longer a hidden gem?

Number 3 Copenhagen Green: The Guide

Copenhagen is a pretty green city but there are many more places to enjoy the outdoors and ‘green’ lifestyle than the usual spots. This guide will introduce you to a whole new aspect of the city.

Number 4 88 Sights in Copenhagen

The strapline of this book say it covers ‘the well known, less known and completely unknown’. It does exactly that and there are some fascinating places in the book that would otherwise remain hidden to you. A book to help you really explore the city. Look out for this book in various bookshops in the city, I got mine in the bookshop in Magasin.

Number 5 The 500 Hidden Secrets of Copenhagen

This is possibly my least favourite of the books here, simply because a lot of the places in the book are not really hidden. Nevertheless it lists fives of many different types of places in the city from food places to historical castles. It is a worthwhile addition to your bookshelves as a reference book to help you find places you need. But skip the 5 Danish phrases section as there are grammatical errors in the bit.

Number 6 Secret Copenhagen

Now here is a book that lives up to its title. I had heard of literally a fraction of the places in this guide and I am certainly going to explore the secret Copenhagen more with this book as my guide.

Number 7 Destination Copenhague

This is a beautiful little book of mainly photographs of the city with addresses of places featured. I love it as it really is ‘my’ city in the pages here.

Number 8 The Monocle Travel Guide: Copenhagen

This is also a guide with lists of places to visit, shop etc but also features a section of fascinating essays about the city and also some really interesting walking tours. This is a book to understand more about the culture of the city as well as places to go.

Number 9 Lost in Copenhagen

I simply love the typography of this series of city guides. This guide is the most hipsterish of the selection here as is shown by the fact the only two neighbourhoods it features are Vesterbro and Nørrebro. The interviews in the book really show you another side to the city  including ones with a Christiania resident, fashion designers, DJs and food bloggers, amongst others.

Number 10 Startup Guide Copenhagen

This is part of a series of guides about the startup scene in a number of cities and is the book to have if you are looking at starting up here or want to be part of that scene.

I picked all of these up in various shops around the city but most are available either via the links in the titles or via Amazon.

There are many books around at the moment about Danish life but there are others that I have read over the years that are worth loading up your bedside table with (or your Kindle) over the holidays.

The Year of Living Danishly: Uncovering the Secrets of the World’s Happiest Country by Helen Russell

(Helen also has a new book out which I haven’t read but sounds interesting called  Leap Year: How to make big decisions, be more resilient and change your life for good.)

This book by Liz Jensen, My Dirty Little Book of Stolen Time, is a wonderfully imaginative fiction book set in part in Østerbro in the past. I love it and re-reading it living in Østerbro is fascinating.

If you enjoy crime then Miss Smilla’s Feeling for Snow by Peter Hoeg is one for you. And this is another exciting book set in Denmark, The Boy in the Suitcase by Lene Kaaberbol. Both these authors are prolific writers so if you enjoy these there are many other books to read.

I know the hygge thing has been appropriated by the world but there are a couple of good books amongst the many out at the moment. I reviewed The Little Book of Hygge by Meik Wiking (and you can hear him being interviewed on this podcast) but I have also enjoyed Hygge: The Danish Art of Happiness by Marie Tourell Søderberg.

And don’t forget if you have a relocation on the cards in 2017 this book may be right up your street (shameless plug!)

Happy reading!

*this post does not contain affiliate links.

Do you ever do that thing where you are browsing the internet – perhaps looking through your Twitter feed and you find yourself off on a tangent, discovering something wonderful and then completely forgetting how you got there? Well that is how I came upon Caroline Gomez’s Destination guides. Caroline is a French photographer and art director whose slightly enigmatic strapline is ‘slow and travel design’ and she has published a number of city guides about places across the world including Copenhagen and Berlin. Caroline’s website describes these as a collection of contemporary inspirational books about travel and lifestyle.My curiosity was piqued so I, of course, ordered the Copenhagen one as I like to see how others interpret my city. I often read guides and articles about Copenhagen that seem to me to have been written without ever having been here. Destination Copenhague certainly does not fall into this category.

With her camera in hand, Caroline has found some of the best, hidden spots of the city as well as some better known ones. This book of photographs  shows the fascinating side of Copenhagen beyond the tourist spots  and really does invite you to explore the city. As the back of the book says – open your eyes wide and stay curious – a motto I very much live by. I now want to get my hands on some of her other books, particularly Berlin and Marrakech – one place I know well and another I have always had an enormous curiosity about.

If you also want to explore vicariously through Caroline or see how she saw your city this is her website.

And who can argue with that? With a country as obsessed with ice cream as Denmark is, I am sure this is a widely held sentiment.

On Friday I lured my son to a book signing with the promise of free ice cream. Maja Ambeck Vase and Anne au Chocolat were signing their beautiful new book, Lykken er is, at Cafe Nutid in the Latin Quarter. 

The ice cream was made from two of their recipes by Hansen’s and the little toppings bar was amazing. We tried both flavours – raspberry and nutella and were surprisingly moderate with the toppings as we really wanted to taste the ice cream. Both flavours got the thumbs up.I love to have books signed by the authors and it is wonderful to see the success these two talented ladies have achieved. I wish their publishers, Politikens Forlag, would consider bringing their books out in English, especially Lykken er Chokolade, as I am sure they would be a hit in the UK.I have had a flick through the book and many pages have been marked. I think our ice cream maker is going to be on overdrive this summer!