Stroget – A Car Free Zone

Stroget is a car free zone in Copenhagen, Denmark and one of Europe’s longest pedestrian streets with a range of shops ranging from budget friendly chains to some of the most expensive brands in the world. It is the popular tourist attraction in the centre of the town where the street is bound by the City Hall Square on the west, the central town square by Copenhagen City Hall and towards the east by Kongens Nytorv, - The Kings’ New Square which is another large square at the other end.

Infact the Stroget area is a collection of streets which are spread out from this central area. The pedestrian shopping street Stroget stretches through the city centre from Radhuspladsen to Kongen Nytorv and besides being the city’s main shopping thoroughfare consists of five continuous streets.

The street is busy and packed on Saturday but in recent years it seems to stagnate and while the rest of the city normally moves ahead in times, this street is way behind, offering the same old international brand names at its eastern, posh centre, with a mixture of budget clothing stores, kebab houses and tourist shopstowards the west side area of Radhuspladsen. Strolling down this street is fun with its broad squares, vibrant with street musicians, tourists and the locals.

Stroget – Copenhagen’s Pedestrian Network

Stroget developed in November 1962 when cars started dominating Copenhagen’s old central street and the street had been closed to the traffic for a couple of days during Christmas in 1950.

Towards 1962, the closure was half disguised as an extended holiday closure though the road remained closed ever since. This seemed controversial and some of them believing that the Danes were not in favour of `public life’, by such a street and many local merchants were of the belief that this would affect their business. However their fears were short-lived and it proved a success with the area soon bursting with shoppers, cafes with a renewed street life.

This success further expanded the network with other streets and few more squares got emptied of cars in 1968 with more closures taking place in 1973, 1980 and 1992. The 15,800 square metres of the Stroget Copenhagen’s pedestrian network was expanded to around 100,000 square metres. Jan Gehl, Danish architect and urban planner had been instrumental in the creation of this amazing pedestrian street.

Represent Famous International Brands

Famous international brands like Gucci, Prada, Max Mara, Louis Vuitton, Mulberry are represented at the end of the street, facing up to Kongens Nytorv and if one’s budget is a bit tighter, one can find shops like Vero Moda, H&M, and Zara which are closer to the City Hall Square.

Lot more than shopping can be done at Stroget while strolling down this street where there are severalof Copenhagen’s amazing sights as well as attractions together with street entertainers, keeping the tourist occupied with their entertainment. In the late 20th century, for several years, tourist on Stroget enjoyed the spectacle of a huge man in full Viking costume who would direct them to one of the sweater markets.