Denmark (Copenhagen)
Trip Summary
First off, I apologize that there are not many pictures included with this post! Although Copenhagen is beautiful and has many sights to see, our day in the city was an absolute travel nightmare (I’ll explain), and so much of the day was spent trying to figure out how to get to our destination rather than taking pictures and enjoying the sights.
Copenhagen, Denmark was the fifth port on our summer 11-day Scandinavia and Russia cruise my husband and I (and his family) took onboard the Regal Princess. The cruise had a very museum-heavy itinerary, and I knew my husband would want a break to do something more adventurous and off-the-beaten path toward the end of the trip, so we booked a trip to the Urban Ranger Camp in Copenhagen. It had good reviews and looked like the perfect activity for a husband who loved to climb around on things and let his inner Tarzan out!
Our appointment at the Urban Ranger Camp wasn’t until noon, so when our ship sailed into port, we got off early to start our trek there. I had printed out a map of the bus routes to take there, so we started walking out of the cruise terminal and into the city.
The city is beautiful, and we enjoyed seeing the various statues along the way. The weather was also nice, and the sun was a welcome respite against the cold and rain we had earlier on the trip.
When we found our bus station, we waited for the bus to come. And waited. And waited. So we walked down to the next stop. And waited. And waited. The longer we waited, the more we started to realize that something big was going on in the city. The sidewalks were crowded, streets were blocked off, and runners were racing down the streets. We had come on a day the city was hosting a marathon!
Not only that, but some people were dressed up in costumes, and a parade was making its way down one of the main walkways. It was some kind of holiday, too, and needless to say, the transportation information I had printed out was no good. Some routes were suspended. Other bus lines were on a limited schedule.
Okay, okay. Don’t panic, I kept telling myself. We had plenty of time to get there. So when we finally tracked down a bus, we talked to the bus driver, and he pointed out the areas on the map where we could catch busses to the Urban Ranger Camp. We would have to switch several times, but we could still get there.
So now we had a plan. We took the bus down to where we thought we could switch over to the next bus. But the driver ended up telling us wrong. We only found this out as we were waiting by a bus station in a random neighborhood and a lady yelled down at us from her second-story window. She told us the bus we were waiting for wasn’t running that day. Agh!
At this point, we just started walking, because the missed busses and the alternate bus routes were just slowing us down. It was a long walk, and we passed by a lot of Copenhagen as we made our way closer. After eight miles, we were close to where the Urban Ranger Camp should have been, and I remembered the bus driver saying that the building was a bit of a walk away from the street. But he was wrong about the other bus route. And there were no signs anywhere. After being lost for hours now, I started to lose hope of ever finding this place.
But then my husband spotted a group of people walking up ahead. “I bet they are going there–let’s follow them!” he said. They did look purposeful in their walk and were all wearing athletic gear. My husband yelled, “Follow the spandex!”
And what do you know, he was right! Soon enough, a big building loomed up ahead, and we saw the first and only sign for the Urban Ranger Camp! We made it!
We were just in time, too, so we checked in, signed our waivers, and went through a safety demonstration. After we put on our safety harnesses, we all demonstrated that we could zipline by ourselves on the “practice” zipline and safely hook and unhook our equipment from the safety wires.
Then it was time to go! We all gathered into an elevator and started the long slow climb to the top! The building is huge, and the obstacle course is a four-part course (each increasing in difficulty) that sits on top of a large hangar. Large shipping crates are stored below, but the higher we got, the smaller and smaller those massive crates got until we realized that this course was seriously high up–no wonder it was called a high ropes course!
After hooking ourselves up to the course, we were left to ourselves. At first, I was a little alarmed because it meant that you would be going through the whole course by yourself, hooking and unhooking yourself along the way. I knew the course would get harder, too, so I asked if there were any “escape routes” if anyone needed to tap out early. Nope! You have to go through the whole thing before you can get down! Then with a happy smile, the tour guide left us to begin the course ourselves. Gulp…
So off we went! The course description is correct in that the easier courses are first, but even those required strength, balance, and endurance. There were nets to climb across, rings to cross through, swinging ropes with tiny footrests to catch and swing to, along with all sorts of obstacles to conquer. It was fun, and my husband was having an absolute blast. I was, too, but with the course being so high up in a metal hangar, it does get hot, and by the time I reached the third course, I was tired and starting to not do as well on the obstacles. I didn’t want to hurt myself trying to do the fourth and last course–it would require the most strength and endurance…both of which were quickly running out.
So imagine my delight at the end of the third obstacle course seeing a sign where I could either zipline down or go on to complete the last obstacle course. The tour guide had lied about no escape routes! And thank goodness!
So I happily rode that zipline and crawled down a rope ladder to get back down while my husband continued on to the last course. I stopped to watch him a few times, marveling at how much strength was required for the last course, and appreciating the fact that I had decided not to try it! There was no way I could have made it–the course is something like you would see on American Ninja Warrior, but is different in that it is so long, and the obstacle courses get longer and harder as you go farther along the course.
In the end, the obstacle course was a lot of fun and did take a big portion of the day to get through. The course is varied and challenges you in all sorts of ways. I do wish the course was separated between courses, though–so if you wanted to start off with the hardest one (when you had energy!), you could or if you could only do one or two of the courses, you could as well without having to worry about getting stuck or not being able to finish. I remember at one point reaching a rope swing that swung higher and faster with a heavier person, and it just wouldn’t swing far enough with me on it. I tried several times, but I started to worry that I wouldn’t be able to get past that obstacle and would be stuck on the course (because there was no way to backtrack or “forfeit” any of the obstacles). I was only able to get across with a running start and with my husband catching the bottom end of the rope and dragging me in from the other side, but it still got nerve-wracking when I ran into spots like these. So a high score for the course, variety, and equipment, but some points are lost for the lack of flexibility in how users can experience the course.
Urban Ranger Camp: A-
Muscles shaking and pulses pounding, we looked at the time when we finished the courses and thought about when our ship would be leaving. If our trip back to the ship was anything like our journey here, we wouldn’t have enough time to make it back. So we called a cab to come pick us up. And taking that cab was so easy, too! That person knew exactly which detours to take to avoid the marathon and parade, and we were back to the ship in no time (see What I Wish I Knew)!
Favorite Experiences
Gracious, the moment I realized we had finally, finally made it to the Urban Ranger Camp after walking all over Copenhagen trying to get there was an unforgettable experience of relief!
The actual course was fun, too. I had never done a course like that so high up, and it made you have to concentrate even more on the task in front of you rather than how high up you were. Challenging ourselves in a new experience was neat, and although we thought we were fit (we are!), the course showed us just how much more we could push ourselves when we work out! The zipline was cool at the end, too!
What I Wish I Knew
Oh, man, I thought I was doing okay in printing out maps and bus information, but my goodness, now I am going to check destinations for any and all events in town that could shut down the city transportation. I was not expecting that at all, so it really threw us for a loop each time we had to backtrack because our bus had shut down for the day or was running on a different schedule. I wish I just called for a dang taxi at the very beginning, because then we could have made the journey in a fraction of the time and would have had that much more energy to complete all the obstacle courses! Trekking 8 miles before even setting foot on the obstacle course really put a damper in our efforts, so I wouldn’t hesitate for a taxi next time.
In my defense, though, I kept thinking we would be able to somehow find the bus lines that were still running and figure it out, and we had plenty of time, so we just kept pushing forward with our hike. However, knowing how strenuous the obstacle courses were, I wish we saved our energy. Though, it makes for a fun story now, right?
So if you go, have the bus info handy, and have a back-up plan! There is also a ferry that runs near the Urban Ranger Camp facility, so if it is running, you can always check that out, too (though we didn’t know about it then or if it was running that day–after all our frustrations, we half joked that we could even SWIM from the ship to our destination…it would have been easier)!
There is a lot to see and do in Copenhagen, so if you think you might visit, be sure to check out this forum and this information page. It’s a beautiful place, so don’t let my travel frustrations scare you off! Copenhagen is a very tourist-friendly city with great public transportation–I just ended up there on a fluke day when it was a holiday and there was a huge marathon in town! But whatever you do, have fun, and experience the city–because it is indeed lovely!
I also post reels and TikToks regularly of all the places I’ve reviewed on here, so if you want to see some videos of what to expect, check out my social media here:
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Happy travels!
