The city lies on Falster, and is connected by the 295-metre-long (323 yd) Frederick IX Bridge over the Guldborgsund (Guldborg Strait) waterway to the island of Lolland.

Additionally, a city in Sweden is called Nyköping, which means exactly the same thing ("new market") in the closely related language.

There is a 0.5-kilometre (0.31 mi) long commercial district, walking street (gågade) on the Falster side of the city with a wide selection of shops.

At the end of the 12th century, fortifications were set up on a peninsula on Guldborgsund for protection against the Wends, and these were later converted into Nykøbing Castle.

Medieval documents issued in this region reveal that the royal court regularly visited the castle.

REF The castle and the entire crown land on Falster were put up for sale in 1763 to help improve the poor state of government finances.

The former Nykøbing Falster municipality covered an area of 134 square kilometres (52 sq mi) with a total population of 25,483 (2005).

International trains operating between Copenhagen and Hamburg called at the station until 2019, and are now re-routed via Flensburg.