This last leg takes place entirely within the larger urban area of Copenhagen. Køge is located at the extreme southern outskirts of the Danish capital and is also the end of the line of the Metro.
Departure at 9:05 am: there is a signed national bike route, no. 6, that takes one from Køge to Copenhagen; but studying it beforehand I note that in the first section, to avoid the roads that run along the sea, the route would require a long, convoluted inland route, while the coastal route on the other hand has a bike lane alongside. Upon leaving the hotel I first check out the coastal route and observe that the bike lane is in good condition and sufficiently wide; I decide to abandon bike route 6 and to take the more direct route; it is a long straight shot as far as Hundige Strand [beach] where I do join up with bike route 6 and now follow it through a lagoon area that is rather peaceful. I even come across an art museum at Ishøj and then follow along the edge of the lagoon at Brøndby Strand [beach].
Immediately afterwards one crosses over a highway and skirts by the district of Avedøre, then crossing a bridge one enters the park of Kalvebod: one arrives at the edge of an enormous residential complex that seems to be still under construction and here you turn left heading north. After a few km you will cross the train tracks for Malmö. I stop for a moment to watch the Øresundtåg trains that go by with remarkable frequency; tomorrow I plan to take this train to Sweden.
A few more km in the park on unpaved paths among the trees and in the end I find myself on the eastern shore of Copenhagen harbor; the GPS indicates that the hotel is only a few hundred meters away, as the crow flies, but there is a canal to get around requiring my taking a bridge a bit to the north. I arrive in front of the hotel at 1:58 pm.
Copenhagen is a rather expensive city, especially for hotel costs that are about double those in Germany; luckily I had found on the web a chain of Cabinn hotels which offer rooms at more reasonable prices, and in Copenhagen I reserved at the Cabinn City a few paces from the central train station. A single room with breakfast goes for 605 Danish Kroner, about 82 Euros [about $105]; once inside the room it became clear why it is called “Cabinn”: the room is rather small with bunk beds, designed in a style of a cabin aboard a ship and the bathroom is hardly bigger than those found on trains: just big enough for a shower stall with an adjacent lavatory and toilet. But all in all this was an acceptable solution, the location is most central and the common areas of the hotel are attractive and generous, so in the end it all worked out well.
