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The best events in Copenhagen

Suzanne King
Updated
Gourmands should head to the Danish capital during The Copenhagen Cooking & Food Festival for cooking demos, pop-up dinners and street feasts - (c) Rasmus Flindt Pedersen, 2017
Gourmands should head to the Danish capital during The Copenhagen Cooking & Food Festival for cooking demos, pop-up dinners and street feasts - (c) Rasmus Flindt Pedersen, 2017

Time your visit to Copenhagen to happen during one of the city's best festivals and events, and you'll see the Danish capital in a new light. The Cooking & Food Festival sees long tables piled high with food pop up across the streets for communal feasts, and the Summer Festival puts promising young classical musicians in the limelight. Suzanne King, Telegraph Travel's Copenhagen expert, picks out the highlights for the rest of the 2018.

Calendar of festivals and events 2018

Copenhagen Summer Festival
29 July-9 August 2018

This 12-day festival of classical chamber music, held in the elegant surroundings of the Charlottenburg Festsal on Kongens Nytorv, provides a platform for the most promising young musicians to show what they’re made of. Basically, it's a sneak preview of the international stars of tomorrow, today.

Website:copenhagensummerfestival.dk
Price: £-££

Copenhagen Summer Festival - Credit: erik olsson photography + 46 708 31 06 08 erik@eof.se
Copenhagen Summer Festival provides a platform for the most promising young musicians Credit: erik olsson photography + 46 708 31 06 08 erik@eof.se

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HAVEN
10-11 August 2018

Food hero Claus Meyer, Mikkel Borg Bjergsø (of Mikkeller fame) and The National’s Aaron and Bryce Dessner are the masterminds behind this new Refshaleøen festival, held for the first time in 2017. Back for more in 2018, it’s as much about food, beer and art as it is about live music, so you can expect appearances from leading chefs and brewers as well as international and Danish bands.

Website:havenkbh.dk
Price: ££

HAVEN
HAVEN festival is as much about food, beer and art as it is about live music

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Copenhagen Pride Week
13-19 August 2018

The city is a sea of rainbows for one week in August – especially in the town hall square, which is transformed into Pride Square for the duration. On the final day, a flag-waving, bubble-blowing parade of floats leaves from Frederiksberg Town Hall at 1pm and winds its way to Copenhagen Town Hall, where the party continues with live music on the open-air stage. There's dancing into the night and celebrations spill out into the surrounding streets.

Website:copenhagenpride.dk
Price: Free

Copenhagen Pride - Credit: Wilfred Gachau/Wilfred Gachau
Copenhagen Pride Week transforms the city into a sea of rainbows, and on the final day there's a huge parade Credit: Wilfred Gachau/Wilfred Gachau

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Copenhagen Cooking & Food Festival
24 August-2 September 2018

Israel Plads, next to Torvehallerne, is the focus of foodie attention during this 10-day celebration of Nordic cuisine. Restaurateurs, brewers, farmers, and anyone and everyone with a food connection gets involved, with a programme of events that ranges from gastro-themed talks and cooking demonstrations to pop-up diners, giant street feasts and a contest to create the world’s best hot dog.

Website: copenhagencooking.com
Price: Free-££

Copenhagen Cooking & Food Festival
Feast with others on a long table at a pop-up event during the Copenhagen Cooking & Food Festival

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Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series
25 August 2018

Walk from Amalienborg towards the waterfront, and the view across to the Copenhagen Opera House on the far side is always an impressive sight. But it's even more so during this one-off event, when the venue swaps high culture for high adrenaline, as daredevil divers from around the world launch themselves into the harbour from a 27m-high platform on top of the cantilevered roof.

Website: cliffdiving.redbull.com
Price: Free

Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series - Credit: Esben Zøllner Olesen/Esben Zøllner Olesen
The Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series sees professional daredevils dive from the top of the Copenhagen Opera House into the harbour below Credit: Esben Zøllner Olesen/Esben Zøllner Olesen

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Van Gogh exhibition at Arken
1 September 2018-20 January 2019

This autumn, Arken – the beachside museum of modern art to the south of the city centre – will stage an exhibition of Van Gogh artworks, focusing on paintings and drawings that illustrate the relationship between man, nature and religion.

Website: uk.arken.dk
Price: ££  

Arken
Stop by the Arken museum to see a collection of Van Gogh artworks this autumn

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Kulturnatten (Culture Night)
12-13 October 2018

This annual event creates a wonderfully festive atmosphere on the city streets, as people zip around town trying to fit in as many events as they can. For one night only, hundreds of organisations and cultural institutions lay on all kinds of family-friendly activities and open up behind-the scenes areas that are normally off limits. It's fantastic fun.

Website:kulturnatten.dk
Price: ££

Kulturnatten - Credit: Maria Sattrup/Fotograf Maria Sattrup
Kulturnatten is the one night in Copenhagen when hundreds of cultural institutions open up behind-the-scenes areas that are normally off limits Credit: Maria Sattrup/Fotograf Maria Sattrup

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Santa Lucia
13 December

Every year on the 13th of December around 5pm, hundreds of kayaks bedecked in fairy lights and Christmas decorations set off together from Kayak Republic by Knippelsbro. First they head to Nyhavn, then Christianshavn, then Højbro Plads – pausing in each spot just long enough to sing Santa Lucia before paddling on to the next stop.

Website: kayakrepublic.dk
Price: Free to watch