I first visited Denmark in 2003, when assigned to write about Northern Europe’s cruise capital, Copenhagen. Like many others who have visited Denmark’s cosmopolitan capital, I found myself immediately intrigued and eventually smitten. I’ve seldom visited a place where the people were so welcoming, the lifestyle so easy, and the endless summer sunlight, so energizing.

I moved to Copenhagen because I wanted to see what it was like to live one year of my life in such a happy, foreign place. And my timing could not have been better. In the fall of 2007, a high-profile cruise executive proclaimed Europe to be cruising’s “new center of gravity.” And because I make my living writing about cruises, I wanted to put myself in the center of all that gravity. With more than 300 cruise ship calls, Copenhagen seemed a good place to be — both professionally and personally.

While here, I hope to learn about Copenhagen in ways that will help visitors, like me, get the most from their time in the Danish capital. 

For starters, how can visitors survive in a city where consumers pay 39 percent more than the European Union average for goods and services? According to Statistics Denmark, Copenhagen is Europe’s most expensive city for food, transport, restaurant and hotel prices.

Indeed, Copenhagen can be brutally expensive. In a restaurant recently, I noted that the children’s menu was DKK 150 (Denmark’s official currency is the Danish krone). That’s US$32. For the kids!

On the day that I wrote these words, I paid the equivalent of US$15 for a hot dog, candy bar and Coke at a convenience store. You can easily pay more US$7 for a cappucino and nearly US$10 for a beer. 

Over time, however, I’ve ferreted out some of Copenhagen’s best dining values. Dinner at my favorite restaurant, for example, about US$26. I’ll tell you more about Peder Oxe and other restaurants in future posts. 

My aim with this blog is to create a “survival guide” of sorts. Yes, Copenhagen is expensive, but during the last few months, I’ve earned how to live a good life in Copenhagen for perhaps less than I would have spent in an equivalent city in America.

More importantly, however, I want to be nowhere other than Copenhagen and its environs. I have more moments of euphoria living in the spirited Danish capital than I have had living in any other place. Why should I be surprised? Denmark is the world’s happiest nation, and I am happy being here. 

If you live in or near Copenhagen, I invite you to contribute to this blog in the form of comments or e-mail. If you make your home abroad, submit your e-mail address in the form on this page to be notified each time I post a new item. Or subscribe to the RSS feed.

I invite you to experience Copenhagen with me through the articles, videos and photos I will post. I’ll begin with weekly updates, and if the blog gains reaction and readers, I will increase the frequency of the updates.

Thank you for stopping to visit. And please let me know if like me, you too are coming to Copenhagen. I’d enjoy meeting you and orienting you to the capital city of the world’s happiest nation.