HAY vintage pop up + 24 hours in Copenhagen

On the 4 September, Anne Langkilde Lie Kaas will be opening this years’s HAY vintage pop up with a huge batch of our antique rugs. Like last year, the event is being held in the handsome mansion building at no 26 Bredgade in the Rococo district of Copenhagen – an established destination for galleries and boutiques. Last year Anne gave us a sneak peak behind the scenes, which you can see here. This year she kindly agreed to share with us her tips for how to spend 24 hours in her stylish hometown. Read  about Anne’s Copenhagen below as she opens up her address book of design and fashion shops, the best markets, where to go for your cultural fix, where to drink and dine and where to retreat to at the end of a busy day.

Where to Stay

I would recommend Nimb hotel. Named after the family who owned the building in the 19th Century, the building, with its Moorish facade, overlooks Tivoli Gardens and feels like an intimate guesthouse – the rooms are filled with antiques. The restaurants are also highly regarded.

There aren’t that many design hotels in Copenhagen, but soon the former world famous ballet dancer, Alexander Kølpin, will open his second boutique hotel so watch out for that. He owns Helenekilde Badehotel north of Copenhagen, which is a beautiful place by the sea.

Best for Breakfast

Union Kitchen is a very cosy place in Store Strandgade 2. They serve a nice healthy breakfast. Make sure you pop into fashion boutique Yvonne Koné on the same street while you’re here. Both are quite close to the waterfront where you can take in some of the striking contemporary buildings, such as Henning Larsen’s Opera House. A bit further along the waterfront is the famous Little Mermaid sculpture.

Best design shops

Back in town for shopping, Hay House in Østergade just won an award for best designshop in Copenhagen – it’s a beautiful building and obviously we love what’s inside it too. If you wonder north of here through the backstreets you will find plenty of other great design and interiors shops.

There’s the Hay Minimarket on Pilestræde, then close to there is Gubi at 19 Møntergade – a great Danish brand, then independent boutique, Beau Marché in in Ny østergade 32 (below) and also Casa Shop in Store Regnegade 2, which is a furniture store full of Danish design classics.

Best for fashion

Close to those design shops are a few of my favourite boutiques for fashion. Holly Golightly is also at Regnegade 2, close to Storm at Regnegade 1, Lot 29#, around the corner at 29 Gothersgade and Gossip at Ny Østergade (by Beau Marche). Another nué is a bit further over at Krystalgade.

Lunch nearby on Gothersgade

On the same street as  Lot 29#, Gothersgade, is Atelier September, which is a great place for lunch. The green mixture in the image above is Matcha Meringue!

Best Markets

The street food market at Papirøen (Paper Island) is a great place to visit when you are in Copenhagen. Copenhagen is a capitalby the sea and the street food market is placed at the waterfront. Here you have 33 different street kitchens with food from all over the world. They also have lots of events and music there and the vibe is really special and international.  Torvehallerne is another great food market and there’s also Frederiksberg fleamarket on Saturdays.

Art and culture

Statens Museum for Kunst (National Gallery of Denmark) is the largest museum in Denmark and its vast collection of European classic, Renaissance and Contemporary art is housed in two buildings – the decorative original building (1896) and newer extension by architect Anna Maria Indrio.

Catch Man Ray at Glyptoteket if you visit between now and December, Peter Doig (until end of Setpember) and an interesting exhibition on Africa (until October) at . You can also find the entire works of famous 19th Century Danish artist Bertel Thorvaldsen, whose clients included the Pope and Napolean, at Thorvaldsens Museum.

Dinner and after dark

Copenhagen has so many great restaurants – if you love food, it’s the place to be.  My favourites include: Kadeau (shown above, it has lovely views), Manfreds, Relae, Kul, Pluto and Gorilla.
In the Meatpacking district you can find lots of nice places for drinks and clubbing, including Club Sunday and in the summertime there is a lot going on the city including the outdoor theatre Grønnegaards. Then there is of course the Royal Theater and The Opera. Finally, Vega is a nice place for live music.

HAY pop-up store is open until 4 October at 26 Bregade, Copenhagen