Visit the King’s Garden in Copenhagen
A trip to the Danish capital isn’t complete without a trip to the King’s Garden (Kongens Have in Danish). Also known as Rosenborg Garden, these beautiful lawns and ornamental beds are the oldest royal gardens in Denmark.
Lying just a short walk from hotspots like The Little Mermaid, Frederiks Church, Nyhavn and the Roundtower, the gardens are a great spot for tourists and locals alike to chill out in the centre of the city, attracting 2.5 million visitors every year.
As well as the wide lawns, rose gardens and pavilions that cover the 12 hectares of the park, you’ll notice the grand palace of Rosenborg Castle. I’ll cover this building in more detail in a future article, but for now it’s enough to say that it was built alongside the park in 1606 as a modest (ahem!) summerhouse for King Christian IV.
In this article we’ll take a look at what’s on offer in the King’s Gardens, a bit about its history and how to get there from the middle of Copenhagen. As always, reach out to me if you have any questions!
One of the long lime tree avenues which cross the length of the King’s Garden.
A short history of The King’s Gardens
As I mentioned above, the park goes back to 1606, when Christian IV fancied building himself a pleasure park and accompanying ‘summerhouse’ (aka a gigantic palace) just outside the east ramparts of Copenhagen.
Just like most of the beautiful parks in European capitals, it was initially private, reserved only for the royal family and the high-class elites of the 17th century. In fact, in 1634 the gardens were visited by the secretary to the French ambassador to Denmark, who compared them to the Tuileries Gardens in Paris.
These gardens and summerhouse had been designed and built in the Rennaissance style, but as we all know, styles and fashions change.
By the 1660s, the gardens had been redesigned in the Baroque style with a intricate garden maze, long tree-lined avenues and octagonal pavilion in the centre. Thankfully for the people of Copenhagen, at the start of the 18th century the Danish royals lost interest in the stately gardens and they’ve been open to the public ever since.
What to do in the King’s Garden?
There are three entrances into the park, offering visitors the chance to stroll the tree-lined evenues, explore the rose garden, herbaceous borders, visit the many artworks and statues (including Hans Christian Andersen and ‘Ekko’ by Aksel Hansen) and take a coffee and cake at the Herkules Pavillion cafe or picturesque surroundings of the Orangeriet restaurant.
Personally, I love to visit in the summer when the flowers are in bloom, and the weather is warm enough to stay for a longer period of time. We usually pay a visit to Torvehallene KBH to stock up on tasty treats, then walk for 10 mins north to the gardens for a picnic lunch. The wider lawns to the north-east of the gardens are probably best for this. Please note that in the summer the gardens can get busy, and occasionally noisy when graduating students hold parties there!
Hidden pathways line the quiet rosegarden in the west of King’s Garden, beside Rosenborg Castle.
Getting to the King’s Garden
As you’ll see from the map below, the King’s Garden is in the middle of all the action in Copenhagen.
It’s a 10 minute walk from the Queen’s royal residence at Amalienborg, a 20 minute walk from the riverside at the Black Diamond library and 18 minutes from Tivoli.
Alternatively, take the S train to the inner-city hub of Nørreport, from where the gardens are a short 6 minute walk.
