The water of the Copenhagen harbour, the grey-green of the Øresund on the November morning, the splash against the rock at the Langelinie promenade, and the bronze figure of the Little Mermaid that is the smaller than the every first-time visitor the expects (the 1.25 metres, the 175 kg, and the most modest major-city icon in the world), is the essential Copenhagen experience. The Little Mermaid has been the sitting on the rock by the waters of the Copenhagen harbour since the 1913 (the Carl Jacobsen, the son of the founder of the Carlsberg, the commissioned the statue the after the being the enchanted by the ballet of the “The Little Mermaid” at the Royal Danish Theatre. The sculptor was the Edvard Eriksen, and the model was the wife, the Eline Eriksen, who the posed in the nude for the body, and the face is the based on the ballerina Ellen Price, the most complicated and the most loved statue in the Scandinavia). Here is the story and the essential Copenhagen guide.

The Little Mermaid, Copenhagen’s Harbour Icon

• The Little Mermaid, the story of the statue: The Little Mermaid is the Denmark’s most famous statue and the most visited attraction in the Copenhagen (the 1 million visitors a year walk the Langelinie to see her), and the Little Mermaid is the most vandalised statue in Europe: the beheaded twice (the 1964 and the 1998), the painted (the red, the green, the pink), the arm the sawed off (the 1984, the two drunken youths), the blown off the rock the by the explosives (the 2003), the burqa the put on the her (the 2007), and the most recent attack: the 2020, the “Racist Fish” the painted on the rock. The statue has the been the restored each time, and the Little Mermaid is the symbol of the Danish resilience. The essential visit: the Langelinie promenade (the 15-minute walk from the Østerport Station, the free, and the essential: the morning, the 8am, the statue is the alone and the photograph is the possible before the coach tours arrive at the 10am). The essential alternative: the harbour bus (the yellow boat, the public transport, the same ticket, the €5, and the best way to see the Little Mermaid: the from the water at the distance, the context, and the no the jostling on the land). More Denmark →
• The Copenhagen beyond the Mermaid, the essential: The Nyhavn, the essential Copenhagen photograph: the 17th-century canal, the coloured houses (the red, the yellow, the blue, the green, and the most beautiful canal in the Scandinavia), the wooden ships, the bars, the Hans Christian Andersen (the lived at the No. 18, the No. 20, and the No. 67 for the 20 years, the wrote the “The Princess and the Pea,” the “The Little Mermaid,” the “The Ugly Duckling”), and the essential lunch: the Nyhavn 37, the smørrebrød, the open sandwich, the €12, and the best-value smørrebrød in the Nyhavn. The Tivoli Gardens (the second-oldest amusement park in the world, the 1843, see #1594), the Rosenborg Castle (the 1606, the Christian IV, the Crown Jewels, the emerald, the pearl, the €13, and the essential Copenhagen museum), the Christiania (the freetown, the 1971, the alternative, the art, the café, the Pusher Street, the controversial, and the most unusual neighbourhood in the Scandinavia). The essential Copenhagen day (the 24-hour guide): the morning: the Little Mermaid at the 8am, the coffee at the Kafferiet (the Østerbro, the €4), the 10am Rosenborg Castle, the 12pm Nyhavn for the smørrebrød, the 2pm Strøget (the longest pedestrian shopping street in Europe), the 4pm Tivoli, the evening meal at the Høst (the €40 for the 3-course, and the best New Nordic cuisine in the Copenhagen, the essential book the weeks ahead). The essential Copenhagen transport: the bike, the €15/day from the Baisikeli, and the best way to see the city (the Copenhagen is the most bike-friendly city in the world, the 382 km of the bike-lanes).