The Little Mermaid Statue, Copenhagen: Managing Your Expectations

The Little Mermaid (Den Lille Havfrue) is a bronze sculpture 80 cm tall, sitting on a rock at the Langelinie promenade in Copenhagen. She has been vandalised, decapitated twice (1964 and 1998), had her right arm sawn off (1984), and has been repeatedly painted by activists. She was commissioned in 1909 by Carl Jacobsen of the Carlsberg brewing dynasty after he saw a ballet performance based on Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale. Sculptor Edvard Eriksen used his wife Eline as the model for the body. A replica sits in front of the Danish pavilion in Shanghai as a permanent loan, but the original has been on this rock since 1913.

She is Denmark’s most visited tourist attraction and is genuinely disappointing to many visitors. She is small, she is surrounded by people, and the photographs you have seen were taken at 06:00 in November with a long lens. The statue stands 1.25 metres above its rock. Midday in July, she will be surrounded by 30-50 people simultaneously.

Knowing all this, she is still worth seeing. The history is real and interesting, the walk along Langelinie is pleasant, and the broader waterfront area has more to see than most visitors spend time on.

Visiting the Statue

The Langelinie promenade runs along the harbour edge about 1.5km from Nyhavn. The statue sits at the southern end of the promenade on a rock in shallow water about 15 metres from shore.

Walk north from Nyhavn along the harbour to reach her, about 20-25 minutes at a moderate pace. The free harbour bus is a faster option. Bus 26 stops nearby. The best photography light is 07:30-08:30 in the morning, before the crowds arrive; at that hour you can often get the statue with minimal background clutter.

The Kastellet - the 17th-century star-shaped fortress between Nyhavn and the statue - is worth the detour most visitors skip. It remains an active military installation, but the earthwork ramparts, moat, windmill, and original barracks buildings are freely accessible to walk through. The path through the Kastellet adds 30 minutes and is consistently more interesting than the queue to look at the statue.

The Gefion Fountain, just south of the Kastellet, is a monumental bronze sculpture depicting a Norse goddess transforming her sons into oxen to plough up land from Sweden. It is larger than the Mermaid, free from crowds, and receives a fraction of the attention. This is the correct prioritisation by Copenhagen tourists, and it is wrong.

Copenhagen Proper

The statue is at the edge of the city. Central Copenhagen is where you should spend most of your time.

Nyhavn: The canal with coloured 18th-century townhouses is the city’s most photographed street. It is pleasant and touristy in equal measure. Hans Christian Andersen lived at number 20, and also at numbers 67 and 18 at various periods - the three addresses collectively spanning several decades of his life in Copenhagen. The restaurants along the water are expensive for what they serve. The canal boat tours departing from here are a good way to see the harbour at modest cost.

Tivoli Gardens: Opened in 1843, Tivoli is one of the world’s oldest operating amusement parks and the one that Walt Disney explicitly cited as an influence after his 1951 visit. The wooden roller coaster Rutsjebanen (1914) is the oldest operating roller coaster in Europe. Entry costs around 169 DKK; rides require additional tokens or a pass. It is best seen in the evening when the lights are on and the restaurants are full. The Tivoli-Disney comparison that people make runs in the wrong direction: Tivoli came first.

The National Museum of Denmark (Nationalmuseet, Ny Vestergade 10): Free entry, substantial collection. The Viking section is popular; the Bronze Age section is equally strong and less crowded. The sun chariot from 1400 BC - a small bronze figure of a horse pulling a gold disc across a six-wheeled platform - is one of the most striking ancient objects in Scandinavia, and most visitors walk past it.

Christiania: The “free town” established in 1971 in a former military barracks. Now about 850 residents, community-governed, open to visitors. An unusual urban experiment that has been in active legal dispute with the Danish state for 50 years and continues operating regardless. Walking through it in the afternoon tells you more about alternative urbanism than any number of architectural journals.

Eating

Torvehallerne near Nørreport Metro: Two covered market buildings with stalls selling fresh produce, smørrebrød (open-faced rye bread sandwiches), cheese, coffee, and prepared food. Lunch budget around €12-20. The quality is consistently above tourist-market standards.

Schønnemann (Hauser Plads 16): A classic Danish lunch restaurant specialising in smørrebrød, operating since 1877. The herring preparations - marinated, smoked, fried, in every available combination - are the thing to order. Lunch only; budget 200-350 DKK per person. Worth booking ahead.

Jægersborggade in Nørrebro: The street with the highest concentration of good independent restaurants and cafes in Copenhagen, about 15 minutes from the centre. Coffee Collective here is outstanding.

Staying

Generator Hostel (Adelgade 5-7) is large and well-run near the royal gardens, dorms from around 200 DKK. Ibsens Hotel (Vendersgade 23) is good mid-range in a Nørrebro location, around 900-1,400 DKK per night. Hotel d’Angleterre at Kongens Nytorv is the grand old option, from around 2,500-4,000 DKK per night.

Copenhagen is expensive by most international standards. Budget 100-150 DKK for a beer, 200-350 DKK for a main course at a sit-down restaurant. The coffee is excellent across the city and the bakeries are genuinely among the best in Europe - plan accordingly.