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May-Sept daily 10am-4pm; Oct daily 11am-3pm; Nov-April Tues-Sun 11am-2pm; 50kr. Bus #5, #10, #14, #16, #31, #42, #43 or Nørreport S-Tog. Rising enchantingly from the carefully manicured lawns of Kongens Have, the Dutch-Renaissance palace of Rosenborg Slot looks like a setting for one of Hans Christian Andersen's more romantic tales. Surrounded by a moat and decorated with spires and towers, the playful, red-brick palace was built by Christian IV in 1607 as a summer residence, becoming over the centuries a storehouse for various royal collections which now include artworks, a small armoury and assorted curiosities, along with well-preserved living quarters and the crown jewels. Note that there's no lighting in the palace and it can get pretty gloomy inside - you can borrow a torch from the ticket office for a small deposit.
You can buy a combined ticket (60kr, valid for two days) to Rosenborg Slot and the Royal Danish Collection at Amalienborg.
The first section of the ground floor of the castle is a relatively sombre affair - oak-panelled rooms, royal busts and grand paintings of sea battles abound - though in later rooms the panelling gives way to stuccoed nymphs and marble, and the gloomy atmosphere is lightened by some bizarre curiosities. The highlight is a seventeenth-century armchair: hidden tentacles in the armrests would grab the wrists of anyone unlucky enough to sit in the chair, and the victim would then be doused in water before being released to the sound of a small trumpet. Look out, too, for the piece of alchemical "gold" (item 612) - the lead it was made from is kept beside it - and there's also a small armoury featuring crossbows, ornate rapiers and dozens of flintlock pistols. Access to the two upper floors is via a spiral stone staircase. The first floor is a labyrinth of run-down rooms stuffed with largely uninspiring pieces of furniture or artwork. The one highlight is the Mirror Cabinet - all four walls are covered in mirrors - designed to indulge the king's erotic fantasies: the floor mirrors allowed him to peer up his partner's dress, before whisking her off to a connecting bedroom. The second floor is dominated by the Long Hall , its walls covered with enormous tapestries from 1690 showing Christian V's victories in the Scanian War of 1675-79. It's also home to one of the biggest collections of silver furniture in the world (from the 1700s) and three large silver lions which used to guard the king's throne. Back outside the ground floor, a small flight of stairs leads down to the basement , where the Green Cabinet is home to a sumptuous collection of regalia and jewellery - an elaborate embroidered saddle takes centre stage. Another flight of stairs leads down through massive steel doors into the Treasury , where you're immediately confronted by Christian III's magnificent Sword of State, dating from 1551, beyond which are hundreds of incredibly detailed gold items and the fabulous silver Oldenborg Horn, allegedly dating from 989 AD, though it was probably created in 1465. In the bottom section of the basement are two cases containing the present queen's crown jewels and those of earlier monarchs, encrusted with jewels and precious stones. The largest piece, the Crown of the Absolute Monarchs, weighs in at over 2kg and includes a sapphire weighing over an ounce.
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