Coffee near the Round Tower

The Round Tower stands in the Latin Quarter, the old university district of Indre By, a few streets from Nørreport station and one turn off Strøget. It is one of the easiest sights in Copenhagen to fit into a morning: the way up is a walk rather than a climb, the view at the top is over the rooftops of the old city, and the streets around it are the part of the centre most worth eating breakfast in. Most visitors do it the other way round, arriving at midday with a chain coffee in hand. This is the better order.

Rundetaarn was built in 1642 as an astronomical observatory and is still one of the oldest working observatories in Europe. What makes it unusual is that there are almost no stairs: a broad cobbled ramp spirals seven and a half turns to the top, with steps only at the very end. Halfway up, the old library hall holds changing exhibitions, and on clear winter evenings there is access to the telescope. Because the ramp is gentle and the platform at the top is small, the Round Tower rewards an early visit, before the old city fills up.

Which means coffee first. The three central cafés we cover sit in a loose triangle around the tower. Kalaset is on Vendersgade, close to Nørreport, which makes it the natural first stop if you are arriving by train or Metro. Atelier September is on Gothersgade, between Nørreport and Kongens Nytorv, and is one of the better-known breakfast addresses in the centre. Sonny is further south on Rådhusstræde, between the old city and the harbour, and works better as the start of a walk that ends at the water than as a stop on the way to the tower.

If you would rather not decide in advance, walk to Torvehallerne and let the stalls decide for you. The two glass market halls opened in 2011, on a square that had held an open-air market for centuries, and between them they hold sixty-odd stalls: coffee and pastry counters alongside smoked fish, Danish cheese, bread and lunch. It is a food destination rather than a sight, and it works best as the first stop of the day. Have a coffee at one counter, then take a slow lap to see what looks good. Weekday mid-mornings are calm. Saturday lunchtime is not.

A word on what you will actually be handed. Copenhagen helped shape modern Nordic coffee, which in practice means lighter roasts that lean on fruit and acidity, often brewed as filter rather than espresso. Ordinary cafés serve it as readily as dedicated coffee bars do. If the coffee itself is the reason you are out, the city's specialty scene is concentrated in Nørrebro rather than the centre: Coffee Collective has a bar on Jægersborggade, nearest the Metro at Nørrebros Runddel, and Andersen & Maillard is on Nørrebrogade. Torvehallerne stands on the boundary between the two, which makes Nørreport a useful hinge: old town on one side, neighbourhood coffee on the other. Be warned that specialty rooms are often small with few seats, so they suit a short stop rather than a long sit.

The tower also anchors a walk that needs no planning. North of Nørreport, the Botanical Garden is free to walk through: ten hectares of planting around a tall curved-iron palm house with a spiral staircase running up into the canopy, plus rock gardens, ponds and glasshouses that make it a cold-weather option as much as a summer one. It carries you on to the King's Garden at Rosenborg, the Renaissance castle Christian IV built as a country retreat and now surrounded by city, with the Danish crown jewels in the basement treasury. The garden opens at sunrise and is at its emptiest first thing. Coffee, tower, garden, castle: all four are within the same few streets, and all four are better before eleven than after.

One thing to walk past. Strøget, the chain of pedestrian streets running from City Hall Square to Kongens Nytorv, passes just south of the tower, and it is the weakest stretch of the centre for a morning stop. Step one street north or south, into Latinerkvarteret, around Gråbrødretorv, or into the lanes near Kronprinsensgade. The rooms get smaller and considerably more interesting. The general rule in Indre By is that the shopping spine is for walking and the side streets are for sitting down.

Two practical notes before you go. Opening times vary more between neighbouring cafés than you would expect, so check the café you have settled on rather than assuming one street keeps one schedule. And weekend tables in the centre go from mid-morning onwards, with the best-known places going first, so the most useful decision you can make is to eat earlier than feels natural.

Planning the rest of the day? The citywide brunch guide is the place to start if you are still deciding which neighbourhood to give your late morning to, and the two-day weekend food itinerary builds both days around where you want to eat rather than what you want to see. If your morning starts at the other end of the centre instead, where to eat breakfast before Tivoli covers the station end of town, and the breakfast pages gather the early openers across Indre By and beyond.