Myself and Bastablette will be spending a few days in Copenhagen at the beginning of May (followed by a few days in Mälmo in Sweden). Now, I’ve done all the usual research, bought myself a Timeout tourist guide etc, but that’s really no substitute for good old fashioned personal recommendations…
So, being a well travelled bunch, I thought you might like the chance to tell me what interesting things you’ve found to do in Copenhagen. We’re both open to new experiences, so if it’s in Copenhagen (or Mälmo) and you found it interesting, exciting or just downright freaky, feel free to give me your opinion.
On a side note, we’re also vegetarian, so if anyone also has any experience of being a vege Denmark, please chime in.
Our trip to Copenhagen consisted of mostly just walking around and looking at the sights, so we didn’t actually do that much.
You can not go to Copenhagen without visiting the Tivoli; their summer season should be ongoing by the time you get there. Be warned, however, if going there on non-workdays: Copenhagen is a big city and everyone seems to go to Tivoli. (Memories of a December Saturday…)
Little Mermaid is within walking distance from downtown/Tivoli, and near it is a fortress of some kind with funky moats.
Oh, and the roasted, sugar-coated almonds bought from streetside carts… perfect for a cold day. (Hopefully not too cold on May)
The Lairah (sp) Research Center is just outside of Copenhagen, and is absolutely not to be missed. It’s an outdoor museum dedicated to Danish history from the Stone Age through the 1800s (I think), and is the coolest museum I’ve ever been to. And my wife is a museum professional, so I’ve been to a fair number :). People are constantly there practicing old crafts and arts, trying actively to figure out what old artifacts were used for, how they were constructed, what problems you’d face while performing them, etc. It’s fascinatingly cool, and was my favorite thing we did in Copenhagan.
I’ve been to Copenhagen a few times, but never for very long (just a day or so) so my suggestions are fairly limited. It’s a great city to just walk around and explore. Check out…
Little Mermaid statue - nice place to chill out and maybe have some lunch (picnic style) by the water.
Tivoli - one of those must do attractions.
Cristiania - I’m not sure whether it still exists or in what form it exists now that the gov’t has tried to shut it down, but otherwise this is a cool ‘free-zone’ where they would sell marijauna and mushrooms (‘soft-drugs’) openly. You can get some great food (plenty of vege stuff there) and just have a walk around. Cool cafe where you can sit outside and have a game of backgammon or chess. Interesting place even if you don’t partake in any of the items on offer - I’ve been there with my family before just to check the place out.
Louisiana - Another museum reccomendation. This one is a bit outside the city though. Can’t remember how far though (45min?). Cool modern art museum.
Nyhavn - If it’s nice weather go to a restaurant here and have a traditional smorrebrod by all the boats in the old harbor.
The Library - The black diamond library is really cool. I spent a half day or so just wandering around it. Very cool building I thought.
The Glyptotek - Cool statues from all over the place if I remember correctly. Didn’t spend much time here, but would like to go back again at some point.
I feel like I’ve just listed the main tourist attractions which I suppose you’ve already read all about. These are the things I remember at least… hope you have fun in Copenhagen and that the weather is nice. My memories are all of decent weather and spending lots of time outside at cafes and just walking around…
I can’t help you with Malmo - I’ve never bothered to stop there despite being from Sweden. I’ve never heard of anything too appealing to make me visit besides getting on the train there to go across the bridge once.
From Copenhagen you can do Legoland in a day trip.
Bus ride to the Central Station, an hour and a half by train across the Great Belt to Vejle, and then the #244 bus (at least when I went, in 2000) to Billund.
When I got back, I described what I did to my host*, and he said**, “You went halfway across the country?!!!” I looked on a map. It was. However, to me, that was the same as going across the Greater Toronto Area to visit my father: an hour and a half on a train, with a bus ride on each end…
[sub]*My Pasporta Servo host. Pasporta Servo is a “hospitality exchange”. People offer space to sleep at no charge. You join and pay for the listings of hosts. If you agree to be a host, you can even get the listings for free. Between Pasporta Servo, Hostelling International, and overnight trains on my Eurailpass, I never stayed in a hotel in Europe.
** Well, actually, what he said was more like, “Vi iris tra duonon de la lando por tio?!!!”, but you get the idea.[/sub]
We were going to go to Denmark/Sweden on our vacation last year and decided to poo poo it due to the high cost of things. (It’s hard to go from Mooching off of Relatives over in N.Germany to actually having to pay for something.)
We were going to do Legoland but the weather was not cooperating.
But I am envious. All we saw was Riba ( west coast. Oldest city in Denmark) and that was really cool. Except for the rain. It rained hard and punishing all day.
When I lived in Berlin, I would go with friends by train to Malmo (the train actually goes onto a ferry and crosses to Sweden) and we would stay a night there, and take the boat over to Copenhagen. Both are wonderful places to visit, although it can get a tad pricey, especially if you want to drink a beer or six.
I agree with what everybody has said, and don’t worry about filling your time - just roaming around the town will be fascinating - and now they have that huge new bridge to Sweden - that alone could be something fun to see and do - crossing it to spend some time in Malmo.
Great breakfasts! Great shops with good design for furniture and household items…and the home of IKEA!
Trust me - one thing you will not be during the trip is bored!
Heh. A friend of mine once told me the difference between America and Europe is that in America, we think a hundred years is a long time, and in Europe, they think a hundred miles* is a long way.
