So, you think that your life in Copenhagen couldn’t get any better? Think again. Your life is about to get A LOT better. Weather info, language tools, online shopping in Denmark, second hand marketplaces, and transport maps, we’ve got it covered. Bookmark them all and thrive!
Travel
Omio
Omio is a travel search engine, that creates itineraries for air, train, bus and ferry to and from any location. You can easily compare prices and journey times. It’s fantastic for comparing prices, and travel times, especially in Scandinavia. For example, you can compare flights between Copenahgen and Stockholm, and also see the train options.
Skyscanner
Skyscanner allows you to compare flights and search by location, date and budget. If you search by month, it displays the cheapest options on a graph, which is fantastic if you’re flexible with your dates. Plus, you don’t even need to know where you want to go! Simply make the destination “anywhere”. Perfect!
Shopping
DBA
DBA English does not exist, so I recommend using Google Chrome to translate the site. For a slice of Danish consumer culture, and great bargains, dive into this site. You may hear locals refer to it as “Den Blå Avis” (“The Blue Newspaper”).
DBA is an online classifieds / wonderland where people sell anything from Danish designer lamps to bikes to bomber jackets. It’s also a popular hub for finding apartments to rent or buy. I’ve used this site when buying secondhand kitchenware but most often for Danish furniture and lamps. You’ll often find designer items for a quarter of the original price. It’s fantastic. In my experience the sellers have been overwhelmingly friendly and generous. Helpful tip: click the “gallery” button for easier browsing.
Trend Sales
Trend Sales is an online marketplace for secondhand clothing and beauty products. Not only is this website chock-full of gorgeous, sometimes eccentric fashion at a fraction of the price, it is also the most sustainable method of shopping. Tonnes of textile products are discarded as waste each year but now consumers have fewer excuses for throwing away unwanted garments. Also, check out their blog for some trendy style inspiration.
Price Runner
Price Runner is a price comparison service that allows you to search for a product and compare the prices from various stores. I didn’t realise that you could buy competitively priced electronics in Denmark until I discovered this website. I’ve used this site in the past for purchasing hard drives, keyboards, and card readers, although the site isn’t limited to electronics stores in Copenhagen. And Hallelujah! I just found out that you can actually buy slow cookers in Denmark.
Bownty
This Copenhagen start-up combines Groupon, Earlybird, Tildbudibyen and many other email coupon services into one curated email. You can find and follow what you love in thousands of cities in Europe and get notified whenever something interesting comes up. You even have the option of receiving the emails every day, or every week. Emergency pedicure? Jump online and do a search:
Euroflorist
Euroflorist is your best bet for sending flowers to Denmark. The website is in English, easy to use, and they have some more modern options like their soft pastel bouquet, red roses, or for something more modern we like the Florist’s choice.
Banking
Lunar
To seriously save you the hassle of opening a bank account in Denmark – and it really is a hassle – we recommend the best banking in Denmark for foreigners: Lunar.
Lunar is a streamlined digital bank with a user-friendly app that makes banking accessible and easy. It features various helpful functions such as budgeting, spending notifications, transfers, bill payment, and card freezing, all of which can be managed from your phone – plus it’s free to use and doesn’t charge for paying bills. Getting set up is easy and you’ll have a virtue card ready to use almost immediately.
Weather
DMI Chart
Nothing is more topical in Denmark than the weather. Beat the Danes at their own game by memorising these charts for your next family get-together or work soiree. To find weather graphs for different neighbourhoods, click the ‘kort’ tab and you can click through on the map. Great if you want to get ultra specific with your weather monitoring!
DMI Radar
Are you actually weather obsessed? Want to see where a storm is brewing? Check out the DMI weather radar map! Or, if you want to see a larger radar map that includes Sweden, Norway and Denmark, check out the Norwegian radar. A Norwegian friend of mine that lives in Copenhagen believes Norwegian radar is more accurate. Bias or fact? I wonder.
Language
Google Translate
Ok, this is a little obvious, but it’s important to mention. Google Translate is a regular lifesaver, and an absolute genius most of the time. That is unless it’s dealing with homonyms, but from the context you can generally figure out that something isn’t quite right and click on the translation for other options. Now who’s the genius?
Spoken Verb List
As anyone learning Danish knows, there is a huge disparity between the written and spoken language. This spoken verb list can take the pain out of the pronunciation guessing game. Helpful tip: if you want to change languages on you Mac, hit command + shift + spacebar.
Grammar Exercises
These grammar exercises are a great way to learn some of the tricky grammar rules of Danish and get some immediate feedback.
Transport
Journey Planner
As we mentioned in our Copenahgen public transport article, Journey Planner (Rejseplanen if you read Danish) is just plain handy. Not only does it show you all the public transport options between any two points in Copenhagen, it also tells you how many zones you travel, how much it costs and even gives you the option to send the route to your mobile phone.
Live S-Toget Map
If you take the train a lot, the Live S-Toget Map shows where all the trains are in train network in real time. It’s useful to occupy yourself when running 20 minutes late for a meeting due to train delays. Also, I like the strange reassurance of knowing that I can watch s-trains moving from anywhere in the world. The map is also available as an app.
Police auctions
Need to buy a bike? The police auctions are a great place to buy inexpensive ones. If a bike is stolen, found by the police and isn’t claimed by its owner, it then goes to auction. I don’t have any experience with this, although I’ve heard reports that you can find some great bargains. The site is in Danish, so Google Translate or Franker might be useful.
Health
Pollen
Do you suffer from allergies? Find out what’s in store for you with DMI’s pollen count site. The site displays exactly how many grains of various kinds of plant pollen were in one cubic meter during the last 24 hour period. There’s also a pollen calendar, that graphs the projected pollen count for Copenahgen.
News & Entertainment
The Local
We all want to know what’s happening around us, but this can be difficult in a foreign country, especially when you don’t know the language. This online newspaper is a lifesaver. It covers everything from current affairs to history to cultural debates. We also recommend The Murmur, for more in depth coverage of news and culture in English.
Ligetil Easy News
Ligetil is a Danish news website created by DR that is, as they put it, “easy to read”. This is a great way to read the latest Danish news as a beginner so you can eventually graduate to Weekendavisen. (NB: for those more advanced readers: if you subscribe to Weekendavisen you also gain access to spoken versions of some of their articles online. It’s a great way to learn.)
Kino
Kino allows you to search for movie showings in Copenhagen. You can search by film, by cinema (biograf) or by day. Although the site is in Danish, it’s fairly simple to navigate. Some smaller cinemas, however, aren’t represented on this site. Don’t forget about the Cinematek or Husets Bio for some more classic cinema. Helpful hint: “Vælg” means “choose”, i.e. “Vælg film”.
AOK
AOK is a great site for keeping up-to-date with what’s going on in Copenhagen. The site is primarily in Danish so if you can’t read Danish (yet), Google Translate and Franker will be useful. There is also an English section, with some general articles on different neighbourhoods and coverage of bigger events.
Visit Copenhagen
This is the official tourism website of Copenhagen and, boy, have they done a great job. They cover festivals, attractions, and provide inspiration for enjoying your time as a tourist in Copenhagen. Visit Denmark is equally fantastic for planning trips. Check it out.
Communications
Post Box Locator
There are so many post boxes in Copenhagen. As soon as I need one, however, I somehow can’t seem to find any! That’s when this website comes in handy: just enter your address or postcode and it will show you all the nearest boxes. Too easy.
No thanks to junk mail
Sick of finding your postbox overflowing with junk mail? I am! Order the official stickers that are needed to prevent unnecessary paper waste in Denmark. Just affix them to the front of your mailbox and you’re good to go!
Robinsonlisten
Tired of telemarketing? This is how the Danes block them! If you don’t want to receive phonecalls, letters, and printed advert materials, sign up to the Robisonlisten. It adds a mark to your CPR that states you’re not interested and hey presto – empty mailboxes!
Cheap Mobile Plans
This website, which translates to “Cheap Mobile Plans”, takes the hard work out of comparing the prices and data of mobile phone plans. It’s a great overview but make sure you look at the fine print; some of these deals last for a few months and when they expire you’re automatically jacked up to a more expensive plan. Also, not all plans are equal. For example, 3 Mobile is the only phone company in Denmark that has a visual voicemail for iPhone, so along with its 4G speeds it often costs more. This site is updated every few months.
Food
Aarstiderne
Aarstiderne is an organic farm located north of Copenhagen. On this site you can order fresh organic produce online, including fruits, vegetables, meat, wine and groceries. Aarstiderne has Denmark’s largest organic vegetable garden and delivers directly from the field to you. You can order from a selection of fruit and veg boxes, or meal boxes that provide the fresh ingredients for making suggested meals at home.
Also, for fantastic organic meat and other food delivered direct to your home, try the ODC Mad, a local favourite based in Vesterbro.
Nemlig
If you’re sick of hauling groceries home on your bike, feeling like you’re taking up the entire width of the bike lane, this site is for you. Nemlig is a Danish online supermarket, that delivers directly to your front door, even to the 5th floor. The cost of delivery ranges from 9kr to 39kr, depending on which time slot you choose. They have a great range of organic produce, and offer reasonable prices.
Just Eat
This site allows you to order takeaway food online from hundreds of restaurants and have it delivered to your address. Simply enter your postcode and select what kind of food you feel like. The site will provide you with a range of options. It’s incredibly easy, provided that you have a basic understanding of Danish. Otherwise, Google Translate to the rescue.
Sæson
This website helps you keep track of when various fruits and vegetables are in season. I’ve learnt to appreciate the seasonal changes in Denmark and make the most of produce when it’s abundant. In fact, it’s necessary, otherwise you miss out! This is a new experience for me because Australian supermarkets provide most produce all year round (kale chips in summer, sure thing!). In the end, seasonal offerings are better for the environment and healthier for you too. Although this website is in Danish, the information is provided in pictures.
Want more Scandi? Here are some blogs to follow:
– Six Copenhagen Food Blogs You’ll Love
– Six Danish Interior Design Blogs You Should Be Reading
– Six Copenhagen Fashion Blogs, Volume 1
– Six Copenhagen Fashion Blogs You’ll Love, Volume 2
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