Winter in Copenhagen

The start of a new year is a fantastic time to experience Copenhagen. The opposite of peak season, this quieter part of the year gives you a chance to see it like a local, wandering quiet cobbled streets, eating in cosy cafes and exploring snow-dusted palaces. It offers a chance to dive into the city’s authentic lifestyle, and try out rising health trends like winter bathing and running clubs.

In this city, literary travel has always been a draw and it’s a rising trend following the popularity of BookTok: walk in the footsteps of Hans Christian Andersen, visit the just-opened University Library to enjoy its architecture and unique atmosphere or explore one of Copenhagen’s unique bookshops. You can find a bargain in Copenhagen in winter too: hotel prices are generally the cheapest between January and March, winter sales take place in January and the annual winter dining festival in February offers great value menus across the city. 

Winter also promises a good time, as one of Copenhagen’s festival seasons. Explore Winter Jazz in its many cafés and intimate venues; wander neon-lit streets with interactive light installations during the Copenhagen Light Festival, and celebrate Winter Pride across the city in February.

Discover the most unique experiences only to be found in a winter break in Copenhagen right here.

• Hotel bargains: January and February are low season for Copenhagen’s hotels, when rates could be up to a third cheaper than peak summer season.
• Winter bathing: with eight winter bathing clubs, a clean harbour and upwards of 20 sauna and hot water facilities, Copenhagen is the perfect city to experience the growing Nordic trend.
• Urban skiing: Although snow is not guaranteed, you can ski all year round at CopenHill, a trash-to-energy plant designed by the Bjarke Ingels Group. CopenHill features ski slopes on its rooftop and is covered in Neveplast, the same material used by Olympians to train ski jumps during summer.
• The finest Danish pastries: February is the peak month for fastelavnsboller, a cream-filled cake made by bakeries. It’s become one of the most hyped times of year for bakeries, where they compete against each other to create the most lavish cake.
• Copenhagen Dining Week: the biggest restaurant festival in Scandinavia takes place in February each year (7-16 February in 2025), where selected restaurants offer a fixed price menu. Participating restaurants have included Lola, Seaside Toldboden and Væksthuset.
• Copenhagen Winter Pride: in the middle of February each year, Copenhagen celebrates Winter Pride with cultural activities, cosy meetups, discussions and a huge party on the Saturday night. Denmark was the first country to legally recognise same sex partnerships in 1989 and Copenhagen is home to one of Europe’s oldest gay bars.
• Winter Jazz: takes place every year in February and brings together jazz musicians from all over the world to the historic jazz city of Copenhagen in concerts everywhere from the biggest concert halls to the smallest wine bars. Last year’s event was a record year.
• Copenhagen Light Festival: this annual outdoor event runs from 31 January to 23 February and lights up the city with installations, projections and artistic light displays, free to walk around and explore. The light festival has expanded to outer Nørrebro and Frederiksberg, and explorers may follow the light installations all the way to Helsingør. 
• Winter sales: Sales start in Copenhagen’s shops in the post-Christmas period and tend to run until mid to late January.

• Jan-Mar temperatures average at a high of 2.9°C (37.2°F) and low of -1.6°C (29°F), but windchill can make it feel colder.
• February is usually the coldest month of the year, with an average of 2°C (35°F).
• Snow is not guaranteed but typically falls after December.
• On average there are 20 snow days per year.
• The coldest recorded temperature in the city is -24.6°C (-12.3°F) and was set in January 1942.
• Winter days are the shortest in December; by January there are around 7 hours of daylight, increasing to 11 in March.
• Pickled herring, a favourite Danish dish, is a great source of vitamin D and perfect for an energy boost in this darker period of the year.