My wife has found some cheap tickets for Copenhagen, so us and the 3 little’uns are off for a long weekend in September.

Any recommendations on areas/places to stay and things to see and do?

Thanks,
GL

This thread that I started a little while ago might help…
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/things-to-do-in-copenhagen

We stayed at this hotel: http://www.dgi-byen.dk/dgi-byenshotel/ but I wouldn’t recommend it. Our room was unbelievably hot. The restaurant, for breakfast, was in a seperate building and, frankly, pretty crap – although my review is slightly tainted by the fact that they didn’t have any normal tea and I don’t drink coffee!

We didn’t get as much time in Copenhagen as we expected, so didn’t actually get to do too much. We walked across the city to see the Little Mermaid statue, which was nice, if not especially exciting. We managed to accidently time walking past the royal palace with the changing of the guard, which was quite impressive and may appeal to your little ‘uns if they like men in uniform! Tivoli Gardens looked pretty impressive from the outside, but we didn’t get chance to go in.

All in all, we thought Copenhagen was nice enough, but not an amazing city. Can’t really say anything bad about it, but just wouldn’t rush back.

Thanks Bearded one!

Christiania for that glorious juxtaposition of a veritable shanty town in the middle if one of the most scrupulously neat and tidy places on earth.

Or just find a cafe on a bust junction, get comfy and letch furiously at the stunning women on bikes gliding past. The fact that the Danish language means they all sound like gargling swamp monsters is mildly off putting though.

Not entirely sure how kid-friendly either of those suggestions are though.

Wife and I had a great long weekend there last September/October. Stayed in the old town in an appartment found through airbnb – definitely recommended – feels like you’re living in the city for a bit rather than on the periphery – cut off and fleeced in a holding pen for tourists.

We hired bikes and mooched about, criss crossed the city. Few pavement bars, restaurants, some of the stuff above, the Maersk Majestic was in town on its maiden voyage, Mikkeler brewhouse, caught some of the blues festival, La Fontaine jazz club, cocktail bar/speakeasy type place, went up the spiral church tower.

One of the nicest days was putting the bikes on the train and heading up to the Louisiana Museum of modern art. Beautiful place, lovely countryside, there was a big exhibition on the Arctic. Check what’s on. We rode the bikes down the coast and went for a skinny dip, got back on the train at another station further down.

The Copenhagen city tourist website is good, have a look on there, it gives you a good idea of what the different districts are like and what the highlights are.

Have fun!

We stayed in a Scandic hotel a metro ride away from the centre. Excellent, kinda like a Premier Inn but with more style and class, and nicer breakfasts.

Boat trip around the canals was decent enough. Tivoli. There’s a Viking museum a train ride away which is supposed to be decent. Train ride across the big bridge for a morning out in Malmoerrrrr.

From the other thread:

You’ve not seen road rage until you try and ride a bicycle in Copenhagen

is essentially a load of bollocks. Sure if you meander about during rush hour, or stop in the middle of the bike lane, you will not be popular, but Danes don’t do rage.

As others have said, Copenhagen is not really a place for specific attractions – of course there is Tivoli, Blue Planet, various museums (Louisiana is great, even with kids), Christiania but mostly there are little squares and streets, places to have a coffee or (better) a beer, and watch the world (ok, I mean the girls) go by, or neighbourhoods to explore. I’ve been here 5 years and I’m still discovering new places to see.

(The notion that Malmø is nicer, in any way, is just wrong. There are some nice shops for Christmas gifts and a load of new housing projects.)

Just to append some notes I sent someone else:

Marmorkirken – big domed church thing with stairs to go up

Christiania – hippies and drug dealers and university professors. Touristy but interesting resto – “Spiseloppen”
– walk by water
– nearby spiral walk round spire of church – not for vertigo sufferers – Vor Frue Kirken

Old houses round area towards Kastellet

Carlsberg – old factory, occasional cultural events, nice “secret” garden (Akademiets Have). Obligatory museum (visit in reverse order to avoid paying 🙂 ) Nearby old workers houses, Humleby, where Nanne Birk Larsen was held captive !! (house redone by Thijs 🙂 )

Pisseranden (piss gutter) area round Studiestrade etc. – shops, cafes, bars

Lakes

Statens Museum for Kunst – nice building, see Hammershøi paintings

Tivoli ???

Shopping for clothes (esp girls) – Kronprincessegade etc – “Copenhagen Catwalk” 🙂

Pricy restos (need reservations):
Gronbech and Churchill
Fiskebaren
Radio

Nørrebro:

Jægersborggade – we went to Coffee Connection, also Manfreds Wine Bar, Relae and others. Nearby Stefansgade – Mikkeler beer, ice cream shop, Ricco’s cafe, drug dealers in park
Elmegade – small shops and cafes, and beer at Ølbaren
Ryesgade – boutiques, antiques, Nørrebro Bryghus pub&resto

Gritty neighbourhood
Vesterbro

Istedgade – walk away from central station. Sex shops and then boutiques and cafes! Mikkeler’s pub on sidestreet.
Galleries at old meat processing area, exhibits depending on date. Cafes and restos.

Cafe at top of Illums department store has terrace w views
Also resto at top of Post Museum

Sky Bar at the top of Bella Sky hotel – nice lunches, location at the finale of The Bridge II.

Day out to Louisiana museum, and to look at small village nearby
Day out on bus to Dragør – picturesque village but maybe pain to get there.

Thanks all for the information, most helpful.

DrJ, there was a lot of articles about cycling in Copenhagen some years ago, mostly dealing with the carnage of morning bike commuters going crazy and biking without any thoughts for anyone but themselves
It looked very similar to the cars vs bike talks on here, exept it was bike vs bike.

To echo what has been said above, Copenhagen isnt a city like London Paris or New York, not as frenetic a differnt pace of life. These are Scandinavians after all.

Lots to see and experience, Have fun and wear shades that way you can at least gorp with out giving the game away 😉

Road rage 🙂

I think Köpenham is a brilliant city and you’ll have a great time there. As I mentioned in the other thread, rent some bikes,cruise round, then take train Louisiana modern art museum.
Its good for kids too.

Not long back from CPH, we stayed in Norrebro. Used Air BnB for accommodation(people rent out their apartments)which is huge in Scandinavia. Loads of really cool places to stay which was ideal for us with 2 young ones, as we could make lunch etc without just furtively stealing pastries from a hotels breakfast buffet(we saved that for hotels in Germany)

Loads of brilliant parks for kids all over the place, defo take bikes if you can. Easy to navigate and very safe as there is much less road traffic than here. Also innumerable bike hire places if you’re flying. Christiana cargo bikes with the big bucket looked great fun for the wee ones, and, as the place is pancake flat, a great way to get around.

Ps about bike on bike road rage, I’d say the folk there are almost pathological about following traffic rules. Didn’t see a single red light jumper in 3 days on our bikes, the only row we did witness was an old dear telling off my wife for not having a skirt guard fitted on her bike.

Yep, think we are moving towards the AIR BnB option, just a bit easier with the litte’uns.

Like the idea about bikes and load carriers. My 3 all ride, but they are bad enough crashing into each other, let alone when there are others about. Daughter is only 5 and the twin boys are 3.5 so their road awareness leaves a lot to be desired.

Cheers peeps.

They have legal animal brothels I hear (Sorry someone had to lower the tone!)

Where did you hear that? Maybe you heard that it is not explicitly against the law to have sex with an animal in Denmark, which is true. What is also true is that a commission looked into the issue and decided that as such activity was already covered by existing laws on animal cruelty it was not necessary to have an extra law against bestiality.

here

You HAVE to cycle round the city, it’s the best way to get about. Did it 4 months ago with my wife and 10 year old daughter.

It’s SUPER safe (rush hour is a bit mental though) and I can’t recommend this place highly enough…. Baisikeli

Take the kids to the zoo – it’s great and they’ll love it!
(Although I am slightly biased as I helped design the elephant house thre)