Amalienborg Palace

Amalienborg is four almost identical rococo palaces set around an octagonal courtyard, built in the 1750s for noble families and taken over by the royal household after Christiansborg burnt in 1794. It has been the royal winter residence ever since. The square is open to walk across at any hour, with a soldier in a bearskin outside each occupied palace, and the axis runs from the Marble Church on one side straight down to the opera house across the harbour. One palace holds the Amalienborg Museum, where the private studies and writing rooms of nineteenth and twentieth century monarchs are kept much as they were left.

What you actually see

• The octagonal square - the four rococo facades and the equestrian statue at the centre.
• The changing of the guard - the noon ceremony after the march across the city.
• The Amalienborg Museum - preserved royal studies and private rooms.
• The Frederiksstaden axis - the line from the Marble Church through to the opera house.

When to go

The guard changes at noon every day, and the full march with band happens when the monarch is in residence, which is not guaranteed on any given day. Arrive twenty minutes early for a place at the rope in summer. The museum is quieter in the afternoon, and winter leaves you the square almost to yourself.

Honest expectations

The palaces are private homes, so beyond one museum wing you see facades and a cobbled square, and that is a short visit. The noon crowd is dense and mostly filming rather than watching. The ceremony is brief and low key compared with London. The square is open, windy and has no shade or shelter at all.

Nearby

The Marble Church stands opposite, and Nyhavn and the harbour front are a short walk away.