Frederiksberg Gardens (Frederiksberg Have)

Baroque and English landscape garden surrounding Frederiksberg Palace, free to enter

Frederiksberg Have is one of the finest parks in Copenhagen — a long, winding landscape garden that stretches from the Frederiksberg Allé entrance up to the Baroque palace on the hill. The garden combines English landscape style (lakes, informal planting, rolling ground) with French formal elements nearer the palace: straight canals, clipped hedges, and classical pavilions.

In summer the canals are used for rowing boats you can hire by the hour. The zoo abuts the southwestern edge of the gardens, and the Chinese Summer House — a small 18th-century Rococo pavilion on an island — is one of the garden's more charming details. The park is free, always open, and one of the best places to spend a warm afternoon in the Copenhagen area.

things to do sight
A story
Frederiksberg Palace was built by Frederik IV as a summer residence in the early 18th century, and the gardens were laid out in the formal French and Dutch style of the time. A century later, Christian VII converted them to the English landscape style that survives today — with winding paths, canals, and strategically placed views of the palace. The royal family stopped using the palace in the early 19th century, and it has been a military academy ever since, but the gardens have been open to the public for over 200 years.