Copenhagen's Best Hidden Backyards: Secret Bars & Cafés Locals Love
The best spots in Copenhagen are rarely the ones you'll find on a tourist map. They're tucked behind unmarked doors, through narrow alleys, and inside courtyards that most visitors walk straight past. Here are four of our favourite hidden backyards — perfect for a drink, a coffee, or a lazy afternoon that feels genuinely local.
1. Lidkoeb — A Speakeasy Hidden Behind a Supermarket
Vesterbrogade 72B, Vesterbro
Walk along busy Vesterbrogade and you'll pass a Føtex supermarket without a second glance. Squeeze through the narrow, unmarked alley beside it and suddenly you're standing in a lantern-lit courtyard in front of a beautiful 19th-century building — once a pharmacy production facility, now one of Copenhagen's most beloved cocktail bars.
Three floors, Nordic-inspired cocktails, and a top-floor whisky lounge with a fireplace that opens on weekends. The courtyard alone is worth the visit on a summer evening.
Insider tip: Go early on a Friday to snag a courtyard table before the locals do.
2. Autopoul — Natural Wine in an Old Mechanic's Yard
Lundtoftegade 7, Nordvest
There was once an auto mechanic called Poul in the Nordvest neighbourhood. His workshop is gone, but almost nothing else has changed. Autopoul is an outdoor-only bar — open April to October — in the original forecourt of Poul's old garage. White plastic chairs, gravel underfoot, and a hatch serving natural wine, craft cider and sangria. A crowd of locals who'd rather you didn't tell too many tourists.
Raw, unpretentious, and absolutely Copenhagen.
Insider tip: Follow them on Instagram — they announce opening dates each spring and sometimes host pop-up evenings.
3. Apollo Bar — The Courtyard That Nyhavn Forgot
Nyhavn 2, City Centre (inside Kunsthal Charlottenborg)
Everyone knows Nyhavn. Almost no one walks the extra thirty seconds to the courtyard of Kunsthal Charlottenborg next door. Apollo Bar sits here — a laid-back wine and cocktail bar facing a beautiful open courtyard that feels entirely removed from the tourist buzz outside. On weekends it comes alive with small plates and live music during the Copenhagen Jazz Festival.
Seconds from the canal, yet a completely different city.
Insider tip: Check the Charlottenborg events calendar — the courtyard regularly hosts jazz, flea markets and summer happenings.
4. Coco Hotel Courtyard & Café — A Parisian Secret on Vesterbrogade
Vesterbrogade 41, Vesterbro
From the street, Coco Hotel looks like a chic Parisian townhouse with blue-and-white striped awnings. Step through the entrance and you're in one of Vesterbro's most serene green courtyards — lush, quiet, and open to anyone, not just hotel guests. The café serves excellent coffee, natural wines and cocktails all day, and on warm weekends local DJs play outside as guests and neighbourhood locals mingle.
Insider tip: The wine list changes regularly — ask the bar team what's just arrived.
A Note from Beyond Relations
These are the kinds of places we bring our corporate guests when they want to see the real Copenhagen. If you're visiting for an event, an incentive programme, or simply want to explore like a local, this is exactly the kind of knowledge we build our programmes around.