The Little Mermaid

Den lille Havfrue is a bronze figure of a mermaid half-turned into a woman, set on a granite boulder in the water at the edge of the Langelinie promenade. She is 1.25 metres tall and weighs 175 kilograms, and the single most useful thing to know before walking out there is that number. Carl Jacobsen, son of the founder of Carlsberg, commissioned the piece in 1909 after seeing a ballet of Hans Christian Andersen's 1837 fairy tale at Copenhagen's Royal Theatre. Daily, unrestricted outdoor access.

There is no interior, no gate and no visitor centre. The sight is the figure, the boulder she sits on and the stretch of open quay behind her, and a visit is a walk along a waterfront rather than an admission to anything. That makes the surroundings the substance of the trip. One of them, a genetically modified little mermaid, sits on her own small island in the basin and is the deliberate counterpart to her older sister down the quay. The City of Copenhagen records the monument as publicly accessible. It stands outdoors on the public Langelinie promenade and has no regular closure days.

Twenty minutes is recorded for this entry, and that is an honest figure rather than a cautious one. No operator publishes a suggested visit duration for the statue: VisitCopenhagen's page for her carries no time estimate at all, so the twenty minutes is practical judgement, not a sourced number. The visit itself is about five minutes of looking. The rest is queueing for position. The trip that contains it is the thing to budget for. Free access; no admission ticket is required for the outdoor monument.

Early. The statue stands on an open quay with no opening time to wait for, and the difference between eight in the morning and noon is the difference between standing alone at the railing and standing eighth in a queue. Light works against the early start, and it is worth knowing the trade before choosing. Daily, unrestricted outdoor access. The address is Langelinie, 2100 Copenhagen Ø. From Østerport Station, served by Metro and S-train, the monument is approximately a 15-minute walk. Step-free viewing is available from the paved promenade. The City specifies asphalt surfacing and wheelchair-friendly ramps on the Langelinie promenade.

No admission is recorded for The Little Mermaid, and nothing is charged for standing on the quay in front of her. That statement needs a qualification, because it comes from an absence rather than from a printed price. VisitCopenhagen's product page for the statue publishes no entry charge. Free access; no admission ticket is required for the outdoor monument. Step-free viewing is available from the paved promenade. The City specifies asphalt surfacing and wheelchair-friendly ramps on the Langelinie promenade. The sculpture stands on rocks at the water’s edge; City signage prohibits climbing on it.

The address is Langelinie, 2100 København Ø, on the harbour side of the Kastellet fortifications, and no car is needed or wanted — there is no visitor parking at the statue and the promenade in front of her is closed to traffic. The address is Langelinie, 2100 Copenhagen Ø. From Østerport Station, served by Metro and S-train, the monument is approximately a 15-minute walk. The City specifies asphalt surfacing and wheelchair-friendly ramps on the Langelinie promenade. The sculpture stands on rocks at the water’s edge; City signage prohibits climbing on it.

Scale is the first thing. A figure of 1.25 metres photographs far larger than it looks, and visitors who have only seen close-cropped images consistently describe the real thing as smaller than expected. Knowing the number in advance removes most of the disappointment. The second is that she may not be herself when you arrive. The third is the water. Step-free viewing is available from the paved promenade. The sculpture stands on rocks at the water’s edge; City signage prohibits climbing on it. The sculpture was unveiled on 23 August 1913.

The postcard shot is not taken from the obvious place. Standing directly behind her on the quay gives the back of a bronze head against a working port. The picture people are actually queueing for is a three-quarter view taken from the quay off to one side, which sets her against open water and keeps the harbour works out of the frame. Light and crowds pull in opposite directions here. One caution that is not aesthetic. The sculpture was unveiled on 23 August 1913. Danish sculptor Edvard Eriksen created the sculpture.