Café Intime

Café Intime opened at Allégade 25 in 1922 and has spent the century since becoming Frederiksberg's bohemian institution, per VisitCopenhagen. A pianist sits at the grand piano every night, and Sunday afternoons bring live jazz to a room that holds maybe fifty people.

Fodor's describes the interior as classic brown café: red walls, lamp light, candles, simple furniture, an L shaped room with the bar in the corner. In the early years patrons drank in private locked stalls, and the bar slowly became one of Copenhagen's most loved gay meeting places.

Who would hate it? Anyone chasing a scene that changes weekly. Intime's whole argument is that it does not.

The European Bar Guide calls the room a time capsule: red walls glowing under fringed lamps, candle flames doubled in old mirrors, and the piano by the entrance setting the volume for the whole bar. Foursquare tips from 615 visitors repeat the same advice: squeeze in close and sing along when the room does.

The bar mixes classics rather than inventions: gin tonics, espresso martinis, and a Dark and Stormy poured generously, with cocktails from around 85 kr and draft beer below cocktail price.

Order whatever lets you keep one ear on the piano. Skip table hunting on Sunday afternoons; the jazz set packs the room by the second number, per VisitCopenhagen.

The crowd mixes artists, intellectuals, Frederiksberg locals, and a largely gay clientele that has anchored the room for decades, per Travel Gay and Fodor's. Everyone is welcome and the piano flattens every difference by the chorus.

What regulars say:

• Foursquare tips (n=615) call it Copenhagen's most charming piano bar and warn the room fills fast after 9pm.
• Travel Gay lists it among the city's essential LGBT+ venues, drawing all ages.
• Fodor's praises the unchanged brown café interior as the draw in itself.

Who it is for:

• Anyone who wants live music at conversation volume
• A late drink after a Frederiksberg dinner, ten minutes from the lakes
• Avoid if you need space and quiet; Lidkoeb in Copenhagen spreads over three floors

A century of Copenhagen nights in one red room. Come for the Sunday jazz, stay until the pianist decides you can go.

Getting there: Allégade 25, Frederiksberg; the M3 metro and Frederiksberg Allé stops are both a short walk.

Timing: Evenings daily with the pianist on from around 9pm; Sunday jazz starts mid afternoon, arrive early.

Cost: Cocktails 85 to 95 kr, draft beer around 55 kr.