The guided ghost walk: review

Verdict: the best evening of its kind in Copenhagen, largely because it is the only evening of its kind in Copenhagen. Ninety minutes on foot from Nytorv to Kongens Nytorv with a guide in a black cloak and a lantern, storytelling only, rated 5.0 across 14 reviews. Two reservations belong in this paragraph rather than further down. Fourteen reviews is a thin file for a perfect score. And one reviewer found a single available date in the whole month.

5.0★★★★★14 reviews1 hr 30, guided in English

LanguageEnglish

Starts atNytorv, by the court house

Ends atKongens Nytorv

MethodStorytelling, no props

Age limitNot suitable under 7

CancellationFree up to 24 hours before

What the fourteen reviews agree on

They agree about the guiding, and they agree about nothing else, because nothing else comes up. Helen, from Australia, on 12 July 2026: “Our guide (Elin) was a gifted story-teller who was able to bring to life for us the ghosts and mysteries of old Copenhagen.” Deniz, from Sweden, on 30 May 2026: “Fantastic ghost walk! The stories were fascinating, and our guide was friendly, knowledgeable, and engaging.” Anna, from Sweden, the day after: “Exciting stories and super friendly and engaging guide.”

A traveller from Spain, on 22 August 2026, described the product more precisely than the listing does: “It focuses on interesting stories that nobody else is going to tell you!” In a city with exactly one guided ghost walk in English, that is close to literally true, and it is the reason the walk exists on this site at all.

The criticism, which is about the calendar

David, from the United Kingdom, on 30 August 2026, liked the walk: “The stories were interesting and entertaining, especially the Salmon Street episode.” He also wrote the only negative sentence in the file, and it is the one to read before booking flights: the downside was “the lack of choice for dates.. only one available for the whole month”.

That is not a complaint about the guiding and it will not show up in the star rating, because the rating is given by people who got a date. It is a complaint about a small operation running a handful of evenings, and it is the single most likely way this booking goes wrong for you. Look at the dates first and build the evening around them. If nothing fits, the two self-guided hunts need no date at all — the two formats compared.

What it is, and what it is not

A person, a lantern, ninety minutes. The operator has been running walks since 2004 and states plainly that there are “no special effects nor elaborate props”. Nobody is going to jump out of a doorway. If being startled is the point of the evening for you, this is the wrong booking and Tivoli’s two haunted houses during its Halloween season are the right one.

The ground under the start is documented rather than ghostly, and it is the better half of the walk. Nytorv was laid out in 1610 under Christian IV. A permanent execution scaffold stood on it from 1627, rebuilt in 1728 as an octagonal masonry podium; the last executions there were in 1758, Frederik Hammond and Anders Sundblad, beheaded for forging securities, and the scaffold came down in 1761. Public branding and whipping continued at the pillory on the same square until 1780. The full account of the square.

The Salmon Street episode David singled out is Laksegade. In September 1826 the residents of no. 210, roughly today’s nos. 9 to 11, fled as windows shattered and objects were reported flying through the air. The police statement of 15 September 1826 acknowledged windows smashed from the outside and dismissed the wilder accounts as fabrication, and the case was never solved. The poltergeist is contemporary rumour; the panic, the statement and the idiom Danish kept from it are documented. The 1826 case.

What works

The only guided ghost walk in English in Copenhagen
5.0 across 14 verified bookings, with no dissenting review on file
Ninety minutes, which fits inside an evening rather than consuming it
It starts on the square where the scaffold stood and ends beside Nyhavn
Storytelling from an operator running these walks since 2004
Free cancellation up to 24 hours before, and it goes ahead in rain and cold

Worth knowing

Fourteen reviews is a small file, however unanimous
Dates are thin: one reviewer found a single one in a whole month
Between roughly May and August the walk happens in daylight
No effects and no actors, so nothing will frighten you on purpose
Children under 7 are not admitted, and the guide may not be recorded
The two Danish walks cover ground this one does not

Who should book it

Visitors with one evening, English, and an appetite for being told things rather than shown them. People who like a city better once they know what happened on the ground they are standing on. Anyone travelling in October, when the walk is dark and the walk is the point: sunset falls from 6:47 pm on 1 October to 4:35 pm on 31 October. Couples and pairs, for whom ninety minutes is an evening opener rather than the whole evening, with Nyhavn at the far end of it.

Who should book something else. Anyone travelling between May and August who specifically wants darkness, because they will not get it — the month-by-month sunset table is the page to read before booking. Families with children under seven, who are not admitted, and families whose children want a fright rather than a story: taking children along. Anyone whose dates are fixed and rigid, because the calendar may simply not have an evening for them. And anyone who wants four hours and a day out rather than an evening walk, which is the giants walk.

Book the ghost walk

Live availability is below, and the date list is the thing to check first. What the ninety minutes actually contain goes through it beat by beat, and the meeting-point page has the exact spot at Nytorv.

Check dates & book

The alternatives, if the dates do not work

A killing in 1899

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Frequently asked questions

Is the ghost walk worth booking on only 14 reviews?

Fourteen verified bookings at 5.0 means nobody has reported a bad evening, and that is all it means. The stronger argument for booking is that it is the only guided ghost walk in English in Copenhagen, so there is nothing to compare it against: the English-language picture.

What did the negative review say?

David, from the United Kingdom, enjoyed the walk and criticised the calendar: “the lack of choice for dates.. only one available for the whole month”. Check the dates before anything else, and keep the self-guided hunts as a fallback.

Will it be dark on the walk?

In October yes, in June no. Sunset is 4:35 pm on 31 October and 9:57 pm on 21 June, with twilight running to about 10:58 pm at midsummer. The sunset table decides which walk you are buying.

Are there jump scares?

None. The operator states there are “no special effects nor elaborate props”, and the reviews praise the telling rather than the shocks. What to expect describes the format.