Now Copenhagen has come and gone, I’ve attended five Pokémon Go Fests at this point. There was the disastrous first, the next a couple of years later in Chicago when Niantic had righted the ship, a great local leg in London and a sweltering showing in Paris last year. That second Chicago stint and London were my favourites - both had great venues, busy but manageable in-game activities, and memorable encounters with other players, including the chance to get rare trades years before a remote option was even possible.
So where does Go Fest Copenhagen rank? Somewhere in the middle, I'd say; I had a good time across the weekend, and it's always great to get some unreleased Pokémon nice and early, but the park session, for me, unfortunately missed the mark.
Compared to Paris, the weather was more favourable - I'd take the occasional shower over an oppressive heatwave any day - and when it came to the park itself, the shift from long, rectangular gardens to a more expansive, free-flowing park was an initially welcome one. But after some roaming, I soon realised the Fælledparken was rather unwieldy; most of the action - including the Lego Zone and the heaviest cluster of gyms - was mainly in the middle, meaning a long walk to the merch stand, Wayfarer check-in, Ambassador tent and other attractions which sat at the outer edges.
Clockwise from top left: A Go Fest 2026 welcome banner in the Fælledparken; a photo opportunity; a Lego PokéStop outside of the Lego zone; the Wayfarer check-in tent. Credit: One More Catch
If you wanted to complete the mythical Zeraora Special Research on the day, you were encouraged to visit each of the four zones the park was split into, but the park's layout, and the lack of clear real world direction, contributed some unnecessarily stress to achieving it in good time. (Sarah and Jordan, who wrote about Go Fest Tokyo for the site, also felt similarly about the research in their session, too.)
Further compounding these issues was the flurry of in-game activity which seemingly heightened each time you looked at your phone, with new timed challenges dropping every hour, and Team Go Rocket invading halfway, throwing off the momentum. And that's on top of the usual deluge of event-only wild spawns, and packed raids popping off left right and centre, that you're keen to make the most of. It was a lot, basically, and as Unity Raids wrapped the session - which made for a great finale, with players excitedly counting down to the start of each encounter, and eagerly lifting their phones to secure a Mega Mewtwo - I was beat, and happy to retreat to the press area for a few hours to sit and get some work done.
While I'm sure Niantic wanted these park sessions to feel like good value for those attending, for me, it was a bit too overwhelming.
Thankfully, Go Fest isn't just about the park session. A positive trend for these events is extending play across the city - provided you have the optional City Explorer add-on ticket - allowing you to be showered with event spawns like Mudbray, Wash Rotom and Comfey in the days around it. You could also continue to take part in the same raids - including Mewtwo, Paldean Tauros, Kyogre and Groudon, local backgrounds and all - across the weekend, and all reasonably populated by fellow players also making their way around Copenhagen as they take in the sights, eager to make small talk and offer shiny luck as they go.
These City Explorer tickets also introduced their own tasks, with Medals (remember those?) rewarded by completing short Timed Research in each of the four regions of the city, one of which was just off the beaten path enough that it required some enjoyable map navigation (via various Gyms along the way, of course) for me to reach.
In conjunction with the Lego Stamp Rally also active over the weekend - taking you from Tivoli Gardens to Gefion Fountain, the latter a stone's throw from the famous The Little Mermaid statue - all this provided some welcome structure for those who wanted to sightsee and purposely keep playing, as opposed to standing in a dense crowd and farming raids all day. (Though that intense, fast-filling lobby experience was catered to in Kongens Have, also on the Lego Stamp Rally route, for those who still wanted it - something I also indulged myself in briefly as I passed through.)
A Pokémon walk vs a bike Sprint
One downside of gameplay extending beyond the park is you're at the whim of whatever's happening in the city that weekend. In Chicago, this was football match and a Blues Festival, and in Copenhagen, the Sprint event, a series of bike races that closed a small handful of roads between several Lego Stamp Rally locations. Unlike Chicago's suspended play, this didn't affect the game itself, and was manageable as I made my way across the city on the Saturday morning thanks to designated crossing points. But it's a reminder you should be aware of what's happening before you set off, just as you would with any other city visit.
Clockwise from top left: My walk to the Investigations District; a Lego PokéStop inside a store; Gefion Fountain; crowds of players in a packed Kongens Have. Credit: One More Catch
I much preferred this pace of play, and offering it makes sense for a bunch of reasons: it reduces FOMO from those who couldn't cram everything into the park session, continues the exclusive spawns and raid activity you came to Go Fest for, and most importantly, encourages you to actively explore and make the most of the city you came to visit. Treating park sessions as the headline act in a wider, festival-like weekend is a positive direction for Go Fest to take, and with Go Fest Tokyo experimenting with a whopping week-long city experience this year, it suggests this trend is set to continue - and as someone who found the main event a bit much, is certainly a welcome one.
Travel, accommodation, and access to Go Fest Copenhagen 2026 were provided by Niantic.
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