I’ve been to most of Europe’s great cities–and many small–but now have the opprotunity to visit a city up north in Scandinavia.
Based on architecture, beauty, food, etc, which would you recommend?
Personally I love Copenhagen - it’s in my top ten, if not five, favourite cities, summer or winter. (I haven’t actually been to the other two tho’.) It feels nice and friendly, manageable, and there is a great little museum the Glyptotek (altho’ a Google serach tells me it’s closed until the end of June 
). You’ll get a mix of old and new with the palaces in the city and the Öresund bridge over to Malmö. (It’s always cool to ‘do’ a couple of countries in one fell swoop!)
Of your suggested cities, I’ve been only to Copenhagen and Stockholm. I visited them last (southern) winter. Of the two I’d definitely choose Copenhagen. Lots of interesting stuff to see and do, without being too big and crowded.
Was in it over Easter: it’s only nearly completely closed. A few rooms remain open, including a nice little exhibit of their choice pieces of Amarna period art.
It’s also worth saying that the prehistory galleries in the National Museum are also currently closed. If famous art and archaeology museums are your thing and it’s going to be a once-in-a-lifetime visit, then this is not the time to see Copenhagen.
That’s the only one of the cities I’ve been to, so I can’t compare it with the others, but it’s certainly up there as one of Europe’s finest.
Just chucking in my two cents here: Stockholm is wonderful! The Old Town is beautiful, and the Swedes are a great bunch. And Copenhagen? Oh my, I absolutely love Copenhagen. Fantastic place, absolutely one of my favorite cities ever. I highly recommend both of those. I wouldn’t know about Helsinki - haven’t been there.
Oslo, however, is the butthole of the world. Avoid. Just saying.
I might be biased since I’m married to a Dane (or perhaps it’s because of all the cities you mentioned, it’s the only one I’ve actually been to ;)), but I’d highly recommend Copenhagen.
Hop on a city bike – it’s a ton of fun to get around that way (and free – you get your coin back when you return the bike to a designated stand!).
Don’t miss the Rosenborg Castle, it’s exquisite. And of course, there’s always Tivoli Gardens.
I’ll ask my husband to stop in here later and post some suggestions from a “local”.
Been to all four. Copenhagen gets my vote.
- after all, I’m a Dane and all. But I do like Copenhagen a lot.
The architecture is seven kinds of cool - find a vantage point (I recommend Rundetaarn) and take in the green copper spires of the palaces and churches emerging from the roofs of red brick. Cool. (A good part of the old city was built in the 1600s on the initaitive of king Christian IV, who is somehow immensely popular - even though he basically speaking bankrupted the country, got entangled in a succession of unsuccessful wars and had illegitimate children with anyone he could get his hands on.)
There’s a huge pedestrian-only zone downtown and plenty of pubs and cafes all over. If the weather is nice, do as the locals do and purchase a few beers at a supermarket, then walk down to Nyhavn, sit on the waterfront and peoplewatch, which can be a most rewarding pastime, if you catch my drift…
It’s not a cheap city, but no Scandinavian city is. And the hotdogs are really good, too…
PS - don’t know how I missed Helsinki in the OP - I was there briefly about 12 years ago, mid-winter, felt imperial. Probably not my choice for a city break unless I was going on elsewhere.
Stockholm if you know what you want to do when you get there. It’s connected to a beautiful archipilageo, the aforementioned Old Town intervines the modern city core with a medieval par which is beautiful. There is a lot of water in the city and a lot of interesting buildings and great people.
I’d choose between Stockholm and Copenhagen. Copenhagen is more easy to get into as a rookie, as it’s a bit more closer to the heart of Europe. Stockholm is great but not as obvious.
Copenhagen with Stockholm as a close second. If you are going to Stockholm, I would highly recommend doing so in the summertime rather than in the winter.
Avoid Oslo at all costs.
I guess I have to show some local patriotism and say Stockholm. I recommend coming in the summer or early autumn (May to September), Stockholm in the winter can be a bit dull (unless it’s a nice sunny winter day but those are rare).
I would put Copenhagen second, then Helsinki and Oslo last.
Ditto.
I envy you, Carnac the Magnificent.
Have a wonderful, wonderful, time. 
Only one of these 4 cities has a well-known song about how wonderful it is.
Having only been to Copenhagen (over Easter in fact), Copenhagen gets my vote. But it is absolutely gorgeous, and the Rundetaarn is seriously cool (but not as cool as the island of Hven/Ven).
DO tell.
I’ve been to Oslo and Copenhagen, both are nice in different ways. Oslo has a great outdoor scene (beaches, sculpture museum). Lots of interesting museums.
Copenhagen may be a better walking city, and it does have canal tours.
Well, if you like concrete and asphalt, Oslo might be the city for you. Most parks are outside the city centre. Add ugly and mismatched architecture that always remind me of the Soviet Union (minus the communist monuments), and you have IM(ns)HO a rather drab city. There are a few good museums, but they are often hard to get to and not near any subway. Oslo also has by far (per capita) the most beggars and drug addicts of any major European or American city I’ve ever visited (there are some political and social arguments here that I’m just skipping).
I also believe Oslo to be the most expensive of these cities, especially when it comes to the night life and alcohol.
Hmmm… sounds more like a rant than I aimed for…
Plus they roll up the streets at about 7p.m. For a European capitol, it’s a very boring place and very small-townish.
Just got back from Stockholm, and thought it was great. The people are incredibly friendly, although they look at you like you have three heads when you tell them you went to Stockholm on vacation, which is kind of charming I guess. I really liked walking through the old town and around the water. No crazy people, no hassles, good food, good drinks, great trip. I have never been to the other places.