Copenhagen Old Town Running Route

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Length: 10.3 km (6.4 miles), terrain flat

Copenhagen Running Routes:
Best Copenhagen Running Routes: Overview
Old Town  
Lakes (Søerne)  
Freetown Christiania  
Klampenborg Deer Park
For other running routes, see Route List

Photos courtesy of www.pixelio.de

I've always had a soft-spot for Copenhagen (in Danish, København). It was the first European city that I ever visited, when I packed up my bicycle to head off on a 3-week bike trip through Denmark, 30 years ago. And each time I return, I'm reminded of what I like about it: the quaint, almost provincial feeling that every Scandinavian city has, with its old forts and walls, lots of waterfront, royal palaces guarded by Wizard-of-Oz soldiers, and the obligatory amusement park (in this case, Tivoli). And add to that Denmark's progressive ideas and the unique counterculture-scene, and I was quickly hooked.

NOTE: see the Destinations Tips page for tips about spending your free time in this great town!
 
Copenhagen also has some very quirky architecture, with spiraling towers and steeples, and there's a nice tradition in the dark winter months, when the pubs and restaurants place inviting oil-fired torches at their front doors. Danes have a word for such warm, cozy atmosphere: hygge.

Here's a route that takes you through a cross-section of the most interesting Copenhagen sights: through the main shopping district, along the old harbor, past the royal palace, through the old fort, through parks and palace gardens, and the university neighborhood.

The Copenhagen Old Town Run
We'll start at the City Hall (Radhus) plaza (Radhuspladsen), not far from the main train station and Tivoli amusement park. We are already among weird towers. The neo-gothic city hall has a gothic one, the Palace Hotel behind the plaza has a renaissance tower, and the building next to it has its own nondescript tower.

Standing with the city hall to your left, looking southwest across the busy Hans Christian Anderson Boulevard, it's just block to the Tivoli main entrance, and the main station. But let's turn our backs to that and run in the other direction, up Strøget street, between those traditional Danish establishments, 7-Eleven and Burger King.

Radhuspladsen, photo by Ann-Christin Cordes

The next kilometer will be heading straight through the downtown shopping district, with lots of pedestrians. But the further north we run the clearer the street will become.

In 3 blocks, we'll pass through an old plaza called Nytorv, with its nice fountain and kiosk, and continue straight ahead. The street name changes with about every block, but the name Strøget reappears occasionally, too.

At the next big plaza, Højbro, you'll see Copenhagen's landmark department store, Illum. Run past it straight ahead and you'll eventually get to a gigantic plaza, Kongens Nytorv. Run straight across it and you'll come out at one of the liveliest evening spots in town: Nyhavn (New Harbor). They lied with the name: it's actually very old, with restaurants and pubs lining the narrow, canal-like harbor full of old wooden boats.

Nyhavn harbor scene, photo by Rosel Eckstein

Run down the left side of the water, that's where the most action is found. Run down to the end, and the canal leads to the main bay. Now turn left to run along the water, running along the wooden walkway going out over the bay, behind the new theater building. After the new building, turn left again to run through St. Annæ Plads to the front of the Front Hotel (naturally) at Larsens Plads. The new opera house sits a bit forelornly across the water.

Turn right onto Larsens Plads. In one block you will see a modern park on the left, Amalie Gardens, where you can run into it and continue to the big fountain in the middle of the park. At the fountain, turn left to run the one block west to Amalienborg Palace. There is a big, octagonal plaza in the middle, surrounded by a bunch of identical palace buildings: four separate palaces, now all owned by the royal family. It's hard to tell the one that houses Queen Margarethe, but I think it's on the left side. The palace guards add a scenic touch to the whole setting.

Palace guard, photo by Hans Dunker

You'll see the dome of the Marmorkirke (Marble Church) two blocks further west.

Turn right here on Amaliegade and run past some small ministries and palaces until you come to the fort. First, on the left, you'll see the Frihedsmuseet, dedicated to the Danish resistance in World War II, then running straight, you'll pass the very English-looking St. Alban's Anglican Church.

Gefion Fountain, photo by Christian Salzburg

Just after the church, you'll see a big fountain (Gefion Fountain) with bulls being driven into the water. Run along the right side of the fountain, then over the little bridge, then keep running north with the bay to your right side, and the fort to your left. In a few hundred meters you'll come to Copenhagen's most photographed spot: the Little Mermaid statue. Hopefully for you, her head won't be sawed off again, like some pranksters have already done.

The Little Mermaid, photo by Cornerstone

Now turn left to follow the path towards the left, going along the moat outside the fort, called the Kastellet. You can cross the drawbridge to the left into the fort from the north to run through it to come out on the southern drawbridge. After you exit the fort on the drawbridge, you come to an island in the moat.

Turn right here and run on the narrow strip of island until it makes a sharp right turn, following the moat. Right here, though, turn left and run out of the fort park to the street, Grønningen. It would be nice to stay in the fort park, but we'll take a little tour through one of those strange and provincial neighborhoods that give Copenhagen its real character.

In the Kastellet, photo by Claudia Huldi

Turn right on Grønningen and then left again after 2 short blocks, at Jens Kofords Gade. You will now run through the old barracks housing for the fort soldiers, built a couple of hundred years ago. The long yellow row-houses with no front yards are now occupied by young families. It's appealing and also somewhat appalling at the same time, kind of an architectural sweet/sour dish.

When you get to the first chance to turn right (Kronprinsessegade), take it. This will lead you out of the barracks onto Østervoldgade, where you keep running north the one block back to Grønningen. There, you turn left to run by the Østerport train station, running over the bridge crossing the tracks.

This is the northernmost part of the run. We'll head back now.

On the other side of the tracks you'll see a park, the Østre Anlæg. This, too, was built around the zig-zagging moats of the old city defenses. The park is always open, so no problem running any time you feel. Run the zig-zagging paths along the water, going past the art museum, to the end of the park, at Solvgade.

When you come out of the park, directly across the street is the botanical garden (Botanisk Have). But it closes at 18:00 in summer, and even earlier in winter, so you probably won't be able to see this beautiful park. So turn right on Solvgade for a little tour through another interesting row-house neighborhood.

At the next block, Øster-Farimagsgade, turn right and run just 2 short blocks, looking at the side streets on the left. These are the row-houses, nicer ones than the barracks, possibly officers' quarters. Turn left on one of them, like Wiederweltsgade and run to the end, which is at the old moat along this side of the town, Sortedams Sø.

Rosenborg palace, photo by Katharina Wieland Müller

Here you can turn left and continue running along the water, back towards town.

NOTE: This section of the run overlaps with another great route, Copenhagen's most popular run: the Lakes Route.

Run to just before the second bridge, a few hundred meters down the lake, and turn left down Gothersgade. You will run by the southwest side of the botanical garden, cross Østervoldgade again and then come to one of the city's best palaces, Rosenborg, on the left side. This moated renaissance palace is now a museum, housing the crown jewels.

Take the chance to run a loop through the palace gardens, coming back out on Gothersgade. Now cross the street at Det Danske Filminstitut to run down Landemærket into the university neighborhood. This is one of my favorite neighborhoods in Copenhagen, full of interesting pubs and hangouts. It's a good place to explore in the evening.

The street name changes to Krystalgade and then ends at Nørregade. Turn here to run past the Vor Frue Kirke (Our Lady Church) and then comes out at Nytorv again, which we crossed earlier.

But this time, turn right at the beginning of the square, on Gammeltorv, and run the two blocks back to the Radhus down this old shopping street. Maybe now you can head over to Tivoli and take a look. At night, this old-fashioned amusement park is a wonderland of lights.

Tivoli stage, photo by Juergen Schoebel

Vienna Schönbrunn Palace Running Route

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Length:  7 km ( 4.4 miles), terrain goes up a small hill

Vienna running routes:
Vienna Neustadt/Altstadt run
Vienna Schönbrunn Palace loop
Vienna Prater Park
For other running routes, see Route List.

The pictures here all show a huge thunderstorm that was threatening for the entire run, but never arrived -- very strange weather!

Fiaker coach waiting out front at Schönbrunn

This route is a classic for Vienna (Wien, in German). If you can get out to the west end of town, then definitely run through the Schönbrunn (beautiful fountain or spring) Palace grounds. The palace was built 250 years ago by the Habsburg Austrian kaisers (back then they were also German kaisers) as their answer to Versailles, and it is a great place to zig-zag around for an evening. The route isn't long, but I'd take my time, if I were you. The gardens are a place to enjoy: I occasionally stop to take-in the view, smell a flower, feel the spray of a fountain, look at an animal grazing in its enclosure. That's what the garden was built for!

And there really is a lot packed into the area behind the palace: a zoo (the oldest zoo in the world), formal gardens, elaborate fountains, a hilltop woods, fake ruins, an impressive tropical greenhouse, tirolean-style restaurants, cafés, a labyrinth, obelisks, a public swimming pool and all kinds of interesting stuff. And the opening hours are long: from 7 a.m. till 9 p.m., at least in June, when I last ran there.  (Check their web site for opening hours: https://www.schoenbrunn.at/en/visitor-information/opening-times/)

View towards the rear of palace

The palace and grounds are located southwest of the city center, along the Wien River in the Meidling neighborhood. It's easy to get to with the underground, Line 4, with its own station called Schönbrunn. The art nouveau station is a good place to start the run, located right at the southeast corner of the palace grounds.

There's only one good way to approach a palace like Schönbrunn: go through the dazzling main entrance. So from the station, turn your back on the Wienzeile river ditch and run south on Grünbergstraße, past the parking lot. Turn right on the Schloßstraße (ignoring the entrance signs that point straight ahead). You will run along the outside of the palace grounds and come right to the front entrance, flanked by obelisks.

Run into the large courtyard towards the palace, where you'll see the waiting fiaker (horse-drawn coaches). Stay on the right side of the courtyard and run past the right edge of the palace. You will come out into the vast grounds stretching out before you and up the hill behind the Neptune fountain. The hilltop is crowned by the Gloriette, a baroque arcade set up as a place for the royalty to wander towards when out for a walk.

Neptune and friends party it up

The best tactic now is just to zig-zag back and forth, because each corner of the grounds has its own interesting character. Just to orient ourselves at this point, when you stand there with the palace to your back, looking south, over the flower beds towards the Neptune fountain, there are formal gardens to the right and left of the flower beds. Everything is criss-crossed with gravel paths.

On the right side, you'll find the labyrinth (must pay an entrance fee), the botanical gardens with their impressive greenhouses, and behind that, the zoo.

On the left side are the fake Roman ruins, an obelisk fountain, the rose garden and a public swimming pool.

All paths lead to paradise

It doesn't really matter how you do it, but here's a nice loop through the grounds: Turn diagonally left and run southeast, away from the palace, with the flower beds to your right. You'll see a diagonal path going through the formal gardens on the left side, heading towards the obelisk-topped fountain in the distance. You'll pass a pool along the way, and come to the obelisk.

Path ruined by ruins

At the obelisk, turn right and run westwards, with the hill to your left side, passing the Roman ruins (or, better said, fake ruins) and then coming back out at the Neptune fountain. You can now run up a zig-zagging path that goes uphill on the left side of the fountain, heading towards the Gloriette on the hilltop.

Gloriette

When you get to the top and look out, you have a view over the city to the hills to the north. The grounds behind the Gloriette aren't open to the public, except for one path: it's all a game reserve. So turn right and run behind the Gloriette towards the west, going through the woods.

View from Gloriette towards the north

At the first intersection, you'll see some giant emu birds behind a fence. Turn left here and run down the path until it ends at the gate called the Tiroler Tor, where you turn around and run northwards, back to the intersection with the emus (that little detour was just to get a bit more time among some real nature).

Now turn left and run towards the wooden tirolean-style houses. The Tiroler Hof is used by the zoo to house old farm-animal breeds, in old farm-buildings dismantled in Tirol and rebuilt on this site. There is also a restaurant there, the Tirolergarten: a great place to come back to! Across the way from the restaurant is the old  crown-prince's playhouse, now fenced-off, locked-up, dusty and lifeless -- a bit sad when you think what it was once built for.

Tirolergarten restaurant

Now turn around and run back the way you came for a few steps, then turn left to run downhill with the Tiroler Hof and the zoo on your left.

You will come out at the Neptune fountain again. This time turn left and run westwards, going through the west side of the formal gardens. The labyrinth is immediately on your right, but you have to pay to get in. The zoo will be on your left side, and you can view various animals from the path.

Just before reaching the west end of the park, you'll see a Japanese garden and the beautiful kaiser-era greenhouse, the palm house along the right side. Turn right just past the greenhouse and run past it, going north, with another tropical greenhouse on the left side. Run to the end, at the northwest corner of the park, then turn right and run out to the flower beds behind the palace again.

The Palm House

Here, you leave the gardens the same way that you came in, on the left side of the palace and northwards, out through the main courtyard again. Or you decide that you haven't run enough yet, and you just start zig-zagging down the many other paths that you haven't even seen yet!

Luton, UK, 2 Parks Running Route

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Length: 4.75 km (3 miles)

For more running routes, see the Route List!

When I flew into Luton, the woman at the Border Force queue asked why I would ever choose Luton itself as my final destination. As she stamped my passport, she shook her head in pity. But it was a work-trip, and Luton was indeed my home-away-from-home for a few days.

Beautiful downtown Luton

Yes, Luton is not a tourist hot-spot: it's a gritty old industrial town whose main industries (hat- and car-making) have long ago crumbled away, although Vauxhall still makes trucks there. The streets are lined with run-down working-class row-houses, boarded-up shops and "To Let" signs hanging out everywhere. And despite the lack of jobs, migrants are pouring in as if the town were the new beacon of hope and wonder for the world.

Many of Luton's wounds are self-inflicted. A gigantic mall was built right in the heart of town in the 1960s, which killed off the other businesses in the town center. And around the mall, boring, sterile parking-houses sprung up, blighting the surrounding neighborhoods.

But the town center is where most hotels are located, so if you find yourself in Luton, as I did, you'll start your running routes from there. Here's a route that I figured out by looking at Google Maps and finding where the nearest parks of useful size were located. I noticed that Wardown Park and People's Park were both within a short run of the center, good for a morning's jog.

So, if you're ready to see a bit more of Luton, let's go...

We'll start out in the square in front of the Luton Council building, with its tall grey tower. The council hall stands in the very heart of town, where George Street meets Manchester Street. Facing the tower, take Manchester Street, which veers off to the right side.

You'll run to the plaza at the mall entrance, where you turn right, going between the new Galaxy Cinema and the library, on Bridge Street. In just a few blocks, the street ends, where you turn left on Guildford Street, going under the railroad trestle (you have to stay on the right side of the street).

Frederick Street, on the way to People's Park (Google StreetView)

When you come out from under the railroad bridge, keep going straight uphill on Old Bedford Road, past the boarded-up recreation center. You'll pass the English Rose pub on the right, and then you can take the first real street after that to the right, Frederick Street (not the lonely little alleyway, Mussons Path, that comes first).

Frederick Street is an old-fashioned working-class English neighborhood of tiny row-houses, full of resilient, no-nonsense people. The street ends at our first park, People's Park. The park is basically a big lawn with a wooded hill at the back. Head straight across the lawn, running uphill, northwards along the path next to the apartments on the left.

Head straight up that path to the hilltop

You will soon be in a beautiful woods on the hilltop. Running straight ahead, the path ends by running into another path, where you turn left and run westwards, downhill into the other giant lawn of People's Park.

The hilltop trail in People's Park

Old Bedford Road goes by on the far side of the lawn. Just cross the street and you'll be in the next park, Wardown Park. Wardown is a much more interesting park, full of everything that any decent park should have: a long, willow-lined pond with an island and lots of swans and ducks, crossed by an old suspension bridge; a nice playground, tennis courts, playing fields, an interesting old mansion-museum, a formal garden and almost every type of tree imaginable, including redwoods.

Wardown Park pond from the suspension bridge

Wardown Park is a long strip of green, stretching north-south, wedged between Old Bedford Road and New Bedford Road. Turn right at the playground and run towards the tennis courts and the mansion, now a museum, or stay along the pond if you prefer. You are now running north. Take a look at the mansion, with its detailed chimneys and the cedars and redwoods surrounding it. Then run past the little parking lot, through the wooden gate into the cricket oval at the north end of the park.

Wardown Park landscape

You can run a lap around the outside of the oval and come back through the wooden gate again. You are now on the return route, going south. This time, stay on the other side of the pond (the west side) and run until the path leaves the south end of the park, along New Bedford Road.

This street is often clogged with cars in the rush hour. A water-filled ditch lines the left side of the street: this is actually the River Lea, which originates here in Luton, and flows on out to the Docklands in London.

Now you just keep running straight along New Bedford Road, and you will soon run under the railroad again and then pass the Galaxy Cinema on your left as the street becomes Manchester Street, taking you straight back to the council building again.

NOTE: I also did a great 2-hour run one evening out to Luton Hoo, an old manor house and estate southeast of town, now turned into a 5-star golfing resort (with room prices up to 900 pounds a night).

Side view of the Hoo with formal gardens

I can't write up a route description in good conscience, though, because it's too hard to get to from the center. I followed Park Street eastwards, under the Airport Way expressway, only to find the road was blocked off by massive iron gates. I was lucky, and a car opened the gates just when I got there and I just ran in behind him. I guess I was technically trespassing, but this is the kind of thing I do when a challenge gets in the way of a great run. When I later tried to get back out the same gate, there was no traffic at all, so I had to head north through the bush and finally found an exit at the Sea Cadets' clubhouse, taking an extra 45 minutes. The right way into the estate is to run way out London Road and turn-in at the main entrance. The Luton Hoo estate is stunning, though, with rolling countryside, woods, fields, mill-ponds, the palace-like house and with gardens designed by Capability Brown. What a great spot to run!

Mill ponds on the River Lea on the Luton Hoo estate