Copenhagen has quietly become one of the best food cities in the world. Noma put it on the map, but the real story is deeper than fine dining — it’s the neighbourhood bakeries turning out wienerbrød (what the rest of the world calls “Danish pastries”) at 6am, the open-faced smørrebrød sandwiches that are more art than lunch, the pickled herring that tastes infinitely better than it sounds, and the New Nordic philosophy of local, seasonal, foraged ingredients that’s filtered down from Michelin-starred kitchens into everyday Copenhagen eating.
A food tour is the fastest way to understand all of this without spending weeks researching restaurants. Over three hours, a local guide walks you through bakeries, market stalls, smørrebrød specialists, and at least one spot you’d never find on your own. Prices run $130–197 depending on whether it’s a group or private tour — not cheap by global standards, but Copenhagen isn’t a cheap city, and the food you’ll eat on the tour would cost nearly as much if you ordered it all yourself.
- Short on Time? Here’s What to Book
- The 4 Best Copenhagen Food Tours
- 1. The Copenhagen Culinary Experience Food Tour
- 2. Copenhagen Walking Food Tour With Secret Food Tours
- 3. The Art of Baking Danish Pastry
- 4. Copenhagen Food & Drink Private Tour: Scandinavian Delights
- What You’ll Eat on a Copenhagen Food Tour
- Tips for Eating in Copenhagen
- What Makes Copenhagen’s Food Scene Special
- How Food Tours Work in Copenhagen
- Copenhagen’s Must-Try Foods (With or Without a Tour)
- More Copenhagen Guides
Short on Time? Here’s What to Book
The Copenhagen Culinary Experience ($149.95, 5.0★, 959 reviews) is the most popular food tour in the city — three hours covering six to eight stops with generous portions. If you want to get your hands dirty, the Art of Baking Danish Pastry ($117.23, 5.0★, 276 reviews) is a hands-on baking class where you learn to make wienerbrød from scratch — and take your creations home.
The 4 Best Copenhagen Food Tours
All four carry perfect 5.0 ratings. Copenhagen’s food tour operators are clearly doing something right.
1. The Copenhagen Culinary Experience Food Tour
Price: $149.95 per person | Duration: ~3.5 hours | Rating: 5.0★ (959 reviews)
The gold standard for Copenhagen food tours. Over three and a half hours, a local guide takes you through six to eight stops covering the full spectrum of Danish food culture: a traditional bakery for wienerbrød, an open-faced smørrebrød specialist, Torvehallerne food hall, a craft beer or aquavit tasting, and at least one or two spots that represent the New Nordic movement. Portions are generous — most reviewers say it replaces lunch. The guide explains not just what you’re eating but why Danish food culture developed the way it did (hint: long winters, limited ingredients, and a national obsession with bread). Perfect 5.0 across 959 reviews.
2. Copenhagen Walking Food Tour With Secret Food Tours
Price: $130.60 per person | Duration: ~3 hours | Rating: 5.0★ (541 reviews)
Run by the Secret Food Tours network (they operate in cities worldwide), this tour has a slightly different feel: more international food scene mixed with Danish classics. You’ll still hit the smørrebrød and pastries, but the route also includes stops at immigrant-run food stalls and a focus on how Copenhagen’s food culture is evolving beyond traditional Nordic. It’s a good option if you’re interested in the full picture of what people actually eat in Copenhagen today, not just the postcard version. At $130.60 it’s the most affordable group food tour, and the 5.0 rating matches the competition.
3. The Art of Baking Danish Pastry
Price: $117.23 per person | Duration: ~3 hours | Rating: 5.0★ (276 reviews)
Not a food tour in the traditional sense — this is a hands-on baking class where you learn to make authentic Danish wienerbrød from scratch. A professional baker walks you through the laminated dough process (the same technique used for croissants), then you shape, fill, and bake your own pastries. You eat them warm from the oven and take extras home. Reviews consistently call it a highlight of their entire Copenhagen trip. It’s cheaper than the food tours, you learn an actual skill, and the results are delicious. If you’re the kind of traveller who prefers doing over watching, this is a no-brainer.
4. Copenhagen Food & Drink Private Tour: Scandinavian Delights
Price: $197.20 per person | Duration: ~3 hours | Rating: 5.0★ (236 reviews)
The premium option: a private food tour with just your group and a dedicated guide. The itinerary is customised based on your preferences (vegetarian, allergies, particular interests), and the guide adjusts the route in real time. You’ll cover six to eight stops including a mix of traditional Danish food and modern Scandinavian cuisine, plus drink pairings (craft beer, aquavit, or natural wine depending on what you choose). At $197.20 per person it’s the most expensive option, but the private format means no strangers, no compromises, and the guide’s full attention. Perfect 5.0 rating. Best for couples, small groups, or anyone who wants a bespoke experience.
What You’ll Eat on a Copenhagen Food Tour
Smørrebrød — Open-faced sandwiches on dark rye bread, topped with combinations like pickled herring with curry sauce, roast beef with remoulade, or egg and shrimp. These are not the sad open sandwiches you might imagine — they’re composed, layered, and beautiful. A good food tour takes you to a traditional smørrebrød lunch restaurant where the menu reads like a novel.
Wienerbrød (Danish pastries) — Flaky, laminated dough filled with custard, marzipan, jam, or seasonal fruit. In Copenhagen, these are made fresh every morning and taste nothing like the industrial versions sold worldwide. The bakery stop is usually the first or second on the tour, and it sets the tone.
Herring — Pickled, smoked, or fried. It’s a staple of Danish cuisine and it tastes significantly better than it sounds — especially the curry herring, which is oddly addictive. Most travelers avoid it; the food tour convinces them they were wrong.
New Nordic bites — Many tours include a stop at a modern restaurant or market stall influenced by the New Nordic movement (think foraged herbs, fermented vegetables, seasonal micro-ingredients). This is the food philosophy that Noma pioneered and that’s now mainstream in Copenhagen.
Craft beer or aquavit — Danish craft beer has exploded in the past decade (Mikkeller is the most famous brewery), and aquavit (a Scandinavian spirit flavoured with caraway and dill) is the traditional drink pairing with smørrebrød.
Tips for Eating in Copenhagen
Book the food tour for your first or second day. It’s the best possible introduction to the food scene and gives you a hit list of places to revisit during the rest of your trip.
Copenhagen is expensive. A casual lunch is $20-30, a nice dinner $50-80. The food tours’ prices ($130-197) look high but include six to eight tastings that would cost similar amounts individually. Go hungry and treat it as lunch.
Torvehallerne is worth a solo visit. The covered food market near Nørreport station has over 60 stalls. It’s where food tours go, but it’s also great for independent grazing. The smørrebrød at Hallernes Smørrebrød and the chocolate at Summerbird are highlights.
Try the hot dog stands. The traditional Danish pølsevogn (hot dog cart) serves ristet hot dogs with crispy onions, remoulade, mustard, and ketchup. They cost about $5, they’re delicious, and they’re an essential Copenhagen experience. Not usually on food tours but easy to find on any street corner.
What Makes Copenhagen’s Food Scene Special
Copenhagen’s transformation into a world-class food city is one of the most remarkable culinary stories of the 21st century. Twenty years ago, Scandinavian food had a reputation for being functional at best — meat, potatoes, pickled fish, and not much else. Then René Redzepi opened Noma in 2003 and introduced the world to New Nordic cuisine: hyper-local, hyper-seasonal food that treated Scandinavian ingredients with the same reverence that French cooking applied to butter and cream.
The ripple effect was enormous. Chefs who trained at Noma opened their own restaurants across Copenhagen. The New Nordic philosophy — forage locally, eat seasonally, respect the ingredient — spread from fine dining to casual restaurants, bakeries, and even street food. Today Copenhagen has more Michelin stars per capita than almost any city in Europe, but the real impact is in the everyday food: the bakeries are better, the coffee is better, the street food is better, and even a casual lunch at a neighbourhood café reflects a standard that didn’t exist a generation ago.
A food tour is the fastest way to understand all of this. In three hours, a good guide will take you from a traditional smørrebrød restaurant to a craft brewery, from a 100-year-old bakery to a New Nordic tasting room, explaining the cultural shifts at each stop. You’ll eat things you’d never order on your own (pickled herring, rye bread with pork drippings, liquorice-flavoured everything) and discover that Danish food is far more interesting than its international reputation suggests.
How Food Tours Work in Copenhagen
Duration: Most food tours run 3–3.5 hours. This is the right length — shorter tours feel rushed, and longer ones leave you too full to enjoy dinner.
What’s included: All food tastings are included in the price. You’ll eat at 5–7 stops, each with a different focus. Drinks vary — some tours include craft beer, wine, or coffee at certain stops; others offer them as extras. Check the listing details.
Group size: Typically 10–15 people. Small enough to fit inside actual restaurants (not just tourist traps) and for the guide to answer questions.
Dietary requirements: Most tours can accommodate vegetarian, gluten-free, or dairy-free with advance notice. The tours on this list are flexible, but let them know when booking — not at the first stop.
How much food? Enough for a substantial meal. The portions at each stop are tasting-sized, but across 5–7 stops they add up. Most people skip lunch after a food tour (or have a very light dinner). Don’t eat a big breakfast before the tour — arrive hungry.
Copenhagen’s Must-Try Foods (With or Without a Tour)
Smørrebrød — Open-faced sandwiches on dark rye bread, topped with everything from pickled herring to roast beef with remoulade to shrimp with egg and dill. These are not the sad open sandwiches you’ve had elsewhere. In Copenhagen, smørrebrød is an art form — the layering, the colour, the balance of flavours. Every food tour includes at least one smørrebrød stop, and it’s usually the highlight. Aamanns and Schonnemann are the most famous traditional restaurants.
Wienerbrød (Danish pastries) — The Danes call them “Vienna bread” and they’re different from what you’ve had at home. Lighter, flakier, less sweet, and filled with custard, marzipan, or fruit. Every neighbourhood has a bakery that makes them fresh at 5am. Hart Bageri (started by a Noma alumnus) and Meyers Bageri are the current favourites.
Pickled herring (sild) — Denmark’s national fish, prepared a dozen different ways. Curry herring, dill herring, mustard herring, and the classic “Peter’s Jul” Christmas version. It sounds terrible to the uninitiated, but the best versions are genuinely delicious — the food tour guides know this and use herring as the “surprise win” of the tour.
Rødgrød med fløde — Red berry compote with cream. Also functions as a pronunciation test for foreigners — the Danes love watching travelers try to say it. It’s easier to eat than to pronounce.
Craft beer — Copenhagen’s craft beer scene has exploded. Mikkeller (founded in Copenhagen) is the most famous, but Dry & Bitter, To Øl, and BRUS are all excellent. Several food tours include beer pairings.
More Copenhagen Guides
A food tour pairs beautifully with the rest of Copenhagen’s experiences. In the morning, a canal tour gives you the waterside overview without any walking — arrive at the food tour hungry and ready. If you want the city’s history alongside the food, the walking tours cover the same streets but with a focus on architecture and stories instead of bakeries. Tivoli Gardens has over 30 restaurants inside the park, including one with a Michelin star — visit after the food tour and you’ll know enough about Danish food to order confidently. For a completely different perspective, the bike tours take you through neighbourhoods where locals actually eat — past the bakeries and corner restaurants that no guidebook covers. The day trip to Sweden lets you compare Danish and Swedish food cultures across a single bridge, and families with kids should pencil in LEGOLAND Billund — three hours west in the town where LEGO was born.