My wife will be going on a business trip to London in two weeks, and then needs to be in Helsinki the following week. It looks like I can actually get award travel to go with her, so we’re trying to figure out where to go for the weekend in between the two locations. The combination of available award travel and direct routes on OneWorld airlines to/from London and Helsinki have narrowed our choices down to the following cities:
[ul]
[li]Copenhagen[/li][li]Amsterdam[/li][li]Frankfurt[/li][li]Düsseldorf[/li][li]Geneva[/li][/ul]
We have been to Amsterdam a few times before. We love the city, but I’m thinking we should go someplace new, so I’ve moved it pretty far down on my list. My wife has been to Copenhagen and really enjoyed it. Neither of us has been to Frankfurt, Düsseldorf, or Geneva.
I still remember a bit of my high school and college German; neither of us speaks French or Danish.
We’re not big museum people (with a few specific exceptions), nor are we shoppers; we do both have a fondness for old churches and cathedrals. We both enjoy good food and wine (and beer), and essentially just wandering around and seeing what we might stumble across exploring a new city. We have the means to stay in pretty nice lodgings, but we don’t actively seek expensive über-elegant hotels. Little boutique hotels or B&Bs are more our style. Someplace near a park or other convenient place to go for a run is ideal.
A bit vague, I know, but I’d appreciate any and all opinions and experiences any of you might have with any of these cities. It’s rare that I get to tag along on one of her longer trips (they’re usually on pretty short notice), so I suspect we’ll have a good time wherever we end up.
Frankfurt is nice, but pretty much a “financial city”. Banks and the like, I think the old town in Dusseldorf is a bit more “old europe”. Switzerland can be gorgeous if the whether is nice (outlook in Europe for the next couple of weeks is not that good), but I’m not so sure about the city itself.
Given what you are interested in, the choice would be between Copenhagen and Geneva and I’d pick Copenhagen over Geneva…Duesseldorf is alright and the Frankfurt is indeed mostly banks and business so dead on weekends. Out of all your choices I would go with Copenhagen
From your list I’d suggest Copenhagen. It has lovely sites, wonderful museums and historic architecture, and is easy to get around.
And as a non-list alternative I suggest Tallinn in Estonia. It’s a very interesting city, with one of the best preserved mediaeval towns in Europe. And Helsinki is just a short flight or ferry trip away when you depart.
Agreed. In fact, it’s downright boring: a lot of concrete and a lake. I spent two weeks there on business and managed to escape one weekend and take the train to Zermatt, home of quaintness and the Matterhorn.
From your list: Copenhagen. But your wife has already been…
So I’m going off list with Budapest and Ljubljana (Slovenia). Budapest is big. If you like cathedrals you probably also like old bath houses, right? Also Tokay. Think about it.
Ljubljana is tiny; postage stamp size. But it’s pretty, the architecture is interesting, it has a nice castle and a lively nightlife. If you head a little south you’re in wine country, if you head north you’re in the Alps = win-win. Since the entire country fits in my pocket you can get everywhere pretty quickly.
Thanks, everyone, for the suggestions so far. Nothing is booked yet (apparently Helsinki is not definite, so we can’t finalize anything), so keep 'em coming.
Copenhagen was already at the top of our list, so it was nice to have it confirmed.
For the off-list suggestions, thanks, but they’re just not going to work on this trip for logistical reasons. Budapest was the first place I checked into, but it just isn’t going to work out.
Another off-list suggestion would be to take the train from London to Bath for the weekend, then back to London to fly on to Finland. Bath is charming, with good food, Georgian architecture, and ancient Roman ruins (the eponymous Baths, which were part of a temple complex to Athena). Plenty of opportunity for walking in parks and countryside, and tours can be had to Avebury and Stonehenge (book ahead for these).
If you want to eat classic smørrebrød, I hear the very best is Schönnemann.
For modern smørrebrød, combined with some of the best beer currently brewed in the land, go to Øl & Brød, which is run by the Mikkeller brewery.
For New Nordic cuisine at non-retarded prices, go to Höst, or Almanak, or Radio, or Madklubben. (For New Nordic cuisine at retarded prices, go to Noma. ;))
Crazy bonus extra tip: If you want to visit the only Thai restaurant in the world with a Michelin star (!), go to Kiin Kiin. Ask for table 9.
Never heard anything good about Frankfurt, tourist-wise. I’m sure it’s a fine city otherwise, just not “fun” on most metrics.
If I were in your position Amsterdam would be low, but higher if you hadn’t been there.
There’s nice outdoorsy places at least near Geneva, no? Bring money.
Since you mention beer: Düsseldorf is the home of Altbier, so that might be interesting to check out beer that’s not lager. Copenhagen has the beer snob’s favorite, Mikkeller, which is also decidedly not “Central European” in style.
As I recall from my college travels - Frankfort and Dusseldorf were bombed heavily during the war - so you get a lot of post WWII city - 1950s and 1960s architecture. I’d go to Copenhagen on your list as well.
But I LOVE Bath. Its a quaint romantic small city with a lot of history and its easy to do day trips out of. You can see Bristol Palace if you take a small trip from there - amazing lack of taste on the part of the Prince Regent. Stongehenge is also a short distance away.
If you are worried about languages an off chart recommendation:
Sweden. Beautiful country and everyone (it seems) speaks English.
I suspect Copenhagen is similar as far as language goes.
I had a choice between Dusseldorf and Cologne (where I’m posting from right now!) and a friend who lives in D said "under no conditions come here for fun, go straight to Cologne! I have and it’s great.
Paris or Brussels not options? The Eurostar goes straight to both from London and is a brilliant travel experience.
Again, thanks for chiming in, everyone. Due to yet some more changes in my wife’s business itinerary, we will be going straight to Helsinki from London. However, that gives us a few free days, so we’re going to take Cunctator’s suggestion and hop the ferry over to Tallinn for a visit. My wife may also have to go to Vilnius for a day, so we can get her a little closer to her goal of visiting 60 countries before she turns 60.
One Doper even offered tour guide services should we have opted for Düsseldorf (although her suggestion was to land in Düsseldorf and head immediately for Köln :)) The kindness of Dopers never ceases to amaze me.
Nah, just kidding. Just nice cushions and stuff, and it’s off to a side. Advertised as their “romantic” table, for special occasions.
I’ll add that Copenhagen Cooking, “Northern Europe’s leading food festival,” runs 22-31 of August. Haven’t checked the program, but previous years have had some absolutely amazing events - included a “Roman food” evening at an Italian restaurant, with food from ancient Rome as opposed to modern Italy! (I.e. no tomatoes - and no utensils! But instead stuff like “shark fin boiled in milk juice” and weird shit like that.) Noma once ran a cheap “children only” evening; another restaurant did an entire evening of “munchie” food. And there’ll be lots of little pop-up, one-day restaurants in unexpected places - under bridges, in abandoned factories, etc.