Love history? How about architecture that looks like it’s been lifted from a fairytale? Copenhagen is the place to go. Don’t miss these jaw-dropping castles and palaces during your trip.
Can you believe it took me three trips to Denmark before I visited a single castle? What a mistake.
Over the centuries, the Danish royal family have commissioned some of the most beautiful palaces and castles in Europe, and Copenhagen is exceptionally well-stocked with them. Coming from the UK, I thought I knew a thing or two about a castle. Let’s face it, it’s one of the things we’re not short on back home. But Danish castles are on another level entirely.
There are three extraordinary castles and palaces right in the centre of Copenhagen, and a further four within easy reach of the city. That’s seven in total, and they’re all worth your time. Here’s everything you need to know about each one.
Handy tip: Entry to all six of these Copenhagen castles is included with the Copenhagen Card, which also covers unlimited public transport. Read about the Copenhagen Card and whether it’s worth it before you go — if you’re visiting three or more, it almost always pays for itself.
Must-See Copenhagen Castles: At a Glance
- Christiansborg Palace
- Amalienborg Palace
- Rosenborg Castle
- Kronborg Castle
- Frederiksborg Castle
- The Hermitage Palace
- Fredensborg Palace
Palaces and Castles in Copenhagen to Visit
Christiansborg Palace
Located right in the centre of Copenhagen on the island of Slotsholmen, Christiansborg Palace is a castle on a genuinely grand scale. It’s the seat of Danish government, home to the parliament, the Supreme Court and the prime minister’s office, while also serving as the royal family’s official reception palace. If you only have time for one castle in Copenhagen, make it this one.
I went to Christiansborg prepared to be impressed and ended up completely bowled over by the sheer size and opulence of the place.
A quick clarification: the royal family doesn’t actually live here. They moved to Amalienborg after a series of devastating fires gutted Christiansborg in the 17th century, and the move that was supposed to be temporary somehow became permanent. Entirely understandable, frankly. But they still use Christiansborg for state dinners and grand receptions, and you can visit several parts of the palace.
The best, and my personal favourite, are the Royal Reception Rooms: a combination of resplendent décor and elegant design set off with an expansive art collection, telling the story of the Danish royal family through the centuries. You’re here for the excessive gilt, the slightly eccentric artwork and a glimpse at the Throne Room. No touching allowed.
Aside from the Reception Rooms, you can also visit the Royal Kitchen, the Royal Stables and the Ruins of earlier castles built on the same site — Christiansborg has been rebuilt three times after fires and one collapse, so those foundations go back a long way.
One thing not to miss that costs nothing: take the lift up the palace tower for one of the best free views in all of Copenhagen, out over the rooftops and canals.
How to Visit Christiansborg Palace: Individual tickets are available for each section, or you can buy a combination ticket covering all areas (check current prices at the palace website). Entry to all sections is free with a valid Copenhagen Card.
Amalienborg Palace
This is where the royal family actually lives — a complex of four identical Rococo palaces arranged around a grand octagonal courtyard in the heart of Copenhagen, with the magnificent Marble Church as its backdrop. King Frederik X ascended to the throne in January 2024 following the abdication of Queen Margrethe II, after her remarkable 52-year reign, and Amalienborg remains the working royal residence.
Top Tip
Time your visit to coincide with the Changing of the Guard, which takes place at noon every day in the palace courtyard. The smartly attired guards march in perfect unison — a long-standing tradition that’s no less impressive for being entirely predictable.
Fun as it would be to go rifling through the royal apartments, access is restricted to the Amalienborg Museum, which offers an exhibit of the living and working areas of the monarchy through recent reigns. From pipe-filled offices to lounges packed with cosy nooks, it’s a surprisingly personal and intimate look at one of Europe’s most contemporary and progressive royal families.
How to Visit Amalienborg Palace: Check current ticket prices at the palace website; combination tickets with Rosenborg are often available and good value. Entry is free with a valid Copenhagen Card.
Rosenborg Castle
I’ve been having a bit of a giggle about Rosenborg Castle over on Instagram. Why? Check out the caption for yourself…
Yes, you read that right. King Christian IV commissioned Rosenborg as a pleasure palace. What more would you expect from a man who fathered more than twenty children? The scandal.
Inspired by his travels to Italy, the notoriously amorous king decided he simply had to have a pleasure palace of his own in Denmark. The existing castles in Copenhagen wouldn’t do, so he had Rosenborg built outside the city centre, initially as a modest summer villa before expanding it over the following decades into the three-towered Renaissance castle you see today.
Inside, it’s opulent in a rather dark and slightly odd way, but that’s rather the point. Rosenborg is full of surprises that bring the place genuinely to life: a chair designed to soak the trousers of anyone sitting on it when a prankster pressed the right button; a mirrored bedroom next to which the king kept his collection of rather racy art; and tapestries that tell stories with remarkable candour for the 17th century.
For me, those naughty touches and strange tapestries bring the castle entirely to life. But it would be remiss not to mention the other thing Rosenborg is famous for: in the dark, vault-like basement treasury, the Danish Crown Jewels are on permanent display. You shuffle along in the semi-darkness until you come face to face with them in all their resplendent glory. Prepare to be dazzled. You may need your sunglasses.
The castle sits in the beautiful King’s Garden (Kongens Have), Copenhagen’s oldest royal garden and a lovely spot for a picnic or a stroll before or after your visit.
How to Visit Rosenborg Castle: Adult tickets are around 140 DKK (2026), including the Crown Jewels treasury. Children under 18 enter free. Book online in advance during peak season to secure your slot. Entry is free with a valid Copenhagen Card. Open daily May to October; reduced hours and closed Mondays in winter — check the official site before you go.
Kronborg Castle
Kronborg Castle was once one of the most important and beautiful castles in Renaissance Europe, and it’s also famous for being the castle in which Shakespeare set Hamlet.
Don’t hate me about the Hamlet comment — that play is the absolute pits. During my time at Oxford I read it in all its differing folio variations and saw countless productions, including one with the much-loved Cumberbatch in the lead role. Official opinion: it sucks. Luckily, the castle absolutely doesn’t.
I’m not the gasping type, but my first glimpse of Kronborg was almost enough to make me swoon. It genuinely is like something straight out of a fairytale: turrets poking up to the sky, elegant brickwork, arches beckoning you through, and a gorgeous location overlooking the Øresund, the body of water separating Denmark from Sweden. Sweden itself is visible on a clear day.
The interior is the standard collection of tiny beds (why was everyone so small?), medieval tapestries and vaguely amorous pictures you find in pretty much every castle of this era in Europe — not quite as dramatic as the exterior promises, largely because the castle was devastated by fire in the 17th century and spent the next three centuries mainly being used as Danish army barracks. Recent restorations have done a good job, though, and Kronborg is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It’s worth the trip for the exterior and the setting alone.
One hidden gem: the castle’s cavernous dark casements in the basement, where the legendary Holger Danske sits in stone, supposedly sleeping until Denmark faces its greatest hour of need.
How to Visit Kronborg Castle: Take the train from Copenhagen Central Station to Helsingør (Elsinore) — around 45 minutes — and walk about 15 minutes to the castle. Check current ticket prices at the official website. The Copenhagen Card covers both the train journey and entry.
Top Tip
Helsingør itself is a charming town well worth an hour or two before or after the castle — the old town and the harbour area are lovely, and there are good lunch spots around the castle.
Frederiksborg Castle: The Danish Museum of National History
“Mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s the fairest of them all?” Frederiksborg asks coyly, knowing full well what the answer is.
Architecturally, this is undoubtedly the most beautiful castle in Copenhagen. It also happens to house the Danish Museum of National History, which contains some of the finest historical portraits and furniture in Denmark — not a bad combination. Built at the behest of King Christian IV in the early 17th century, part baroque and all magnificent, the castle perches jauntily next to a lake in Hillerød, complete with perfectly manicured gardens that are irresistible for photography.
I have to confess I spent so much time photographing the castle exterior that I arrived at 2:58pm and missed the interior by two minutes. The museum staff found this considerably more amusing than I did.
I tell you this story so you actually learn from my mistake: in winter months, many of the castles close early — typically around 3pm or 4pm rather than the longer summer hours. Always check opening times before you go. Frederiksborg itself is open every day of the year, including Mondays, which is worth knowing as several other museums in Copenhagen are closed on Mondays.
One extra treat in 2026: the Great Hall is hung with an exhibition of the castle’s extraordinary historic tapestries, running through September.
How to Visit Frederiksborg Castle: Take the train from Copenhagen Central Station to Hillerød — around 50 minutes on the S-train line A — then a 15-minute walk through the town. Check current ticket prices at the official museum website; entry is free with a valid Copenhagen Card.
The Hermitage Palace
The Hermitage is probably the least visually imposing of the six, but it has a charm entirely its own and is well worth including if you have time.
Built in 1734 by royal architect Lauritz de Thurah for King Christian VI, the Hermitage sits on a hill deep in the Dyrehaven Deer Park — a vast, UNESCO World Heritage-listed landscape of ancient forest and open meadow on the northern edge of Copenhagen, where more than 2,000 deer roam free. The palace itself is a late Baroque gem: inside, you’ll find gold, silk wallpaper, marbled surfaces and decadent chandeliers.
The star attraction is the legendary hunting table, which in its original form was designed to rise from the floor on command, fully set with food and wine, so the king and his guests could dine in total privacy without servants present. (Sadly, the original mechanical table was removed in 1759, but the story is irresistible.) Getting to the palace is half the pleasure — a walk or cycle through the deer park, past ancient oaks and free-roaming herds, is wonderful in its own right.
How to Visit The Hermitage: The palace is open for guided tours in the summer season only. English-language tours are available — check current dates, times and prices at the official Royal Danish Collection website (denkongeligesamling.dk). To get there, take the train from Copenhagen Central Station to Klampenborg, then walk into the deer park (around 20 minutes to the palace from the park entrance).
Fredensborg Palace
Of all the castles on this list, Fredensborg is the most alive. While the others are museums and monuments, this is a genuine, working royal residence — the palace where King Frederik X and Queen Mary spend their springs and autumns, and where the Danish royal family hosts state visits, royal weddings and family celebrations. It has a warmth and intimacy that the grander, more formal palaces don’t quite match.
Built in 1722 by King Frederik IV as a retreat to celebrate the end of the Great Northern War (its name means “Peace Castle”), Fredensborg sits on the shores of Lake Esrum in North Zealand, about an hour from Copenhagen. The architecture is elegant baroque, and the setting — all long avenues of linden trees opening to wide lake views — is genuinely lovely, especially on a sunny day.
One detail I find irresistible: every head of state who visits Fredensborg leaves behind a diamond-engraved signature on one of the palace windowpanes. The tradition has been running for three centuries, which means the glass carries a remarkable record of diplomatic history you can trace pane by pane.
The one thing to know clearly before you plan: access depends entirely on when you visit. The public gardens are open year-round and are well worth the trip alone — some of the finest baroque gardens in Scandinavia, with geometric parterres, a vast orangery and those long tree-lined avenues leading to the lake. But the palace interior and the private Reserved Garden (including the kitchen garden and the royal playhouse) open only in July, when the royal family is away. Guided tours in July cover both the chambers and the normally off-limits garden, in English, and must be booked online in advance — no tickets are sold at the palace.
If you’re visiting outside July, come for the gardens and the setting, which are beautiful in their own right and free to roam. If you’re visiting in July, this is genuinely one of the most distinctive royal experiences in the whole of Denmark — a rare chance to see inside a palace that is actually still lived in.
How to Visit Fredensborg Palace: Take a train from Copenhagen Central Station toward Hillerød and change to the local line for Fredensborg — around 45 to 60 minutes in total. The public gardens are open year-round. Guided interior tours run in July only; book online in advance at denkongeligesamling.dk. The Copenhagen Card covers the gardens; confirm current tour pricing and availability when booking.
Top Tip
Fredensborg sits roughly between Kronborg (in Helsingør) and Frederiksborg (in Hillerød) on the North Zealand rail network. If you’re making a day trip of the castle route, combining Fredensborg with one of the other two is very manageable — though each deserves at least two hours, so don’t rush.
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