Copenhagen?

[teigyr]

At our company holiday party, I won airline tickets on SAS to Copenhagen with one European stop if I should so want it.

I need to start researching. We have until Dec '08 to use the tickets so we have time. Has anyone been? Does anyone have any recommendations as far as when to go and anything else I should know?

I thought I had this next year planned out with trips but I guess we're going to Copenhagen

[Starfish]

Hey, this is utterly irrelevant to your trip (I suspect ), but the one thing I know about Copenhagen is that I used to live across the street from a couple who met there. He is an American, and he saw her picture in a "men's magazine," and became smitten. She was a Copenhagen native, and lived there. He contacted the magazine, and then her agent, and tracked her down. He flew there to meet her without knowing if she would see him. She did, and they got married, and they now live in Seattle with 3 beautiful kids and a happy 20+ year marriage!

OK, end of hijack. I just love that story.

[teigyr]

Starfish, oddly enough when DH said "but we can't go to Copenhagen!" I explained to him that I believed the women were very beautiful and there are quite a few areas where people are topless to sunbathe.

He's actually not that lecherous but it cheered him up!

That is such a cute story! And I love that they've been married so long.

[Starfish]

DH said "but we can't go to Copenhagen!"

Tell him if he's not careful, you'll take me instead.

[jobob]

I've been there about a half-dozen times, what would you like to know?

[makbike]

Teigyr, I've never been to Europe so I can't offer any suggestions. I can, however, say congratulations! What a great gift! Enjoy!

[teigyr]

hehehehe Starfish, that might do it. I think the whole thing took him by surprise. We had been talking about going to the U.K. next year but that's ok, the fates decided differently

Jobob, um, anything? Honestly, I know nothing. I knew someone whose sister married someone from there and when he'd (my friend) go back to visit her he just raved about it. Is there a time of year I should avoid? I don't mind, in fact I prefer, off-season.

Mak, thanks! It's a strange gift, isn't it. They had a drawing. Of the boxes of presents on the table, I had to pick one. In that one, it had the tickets. There were also tickets to London and some other places. Then again, there were also $25 movie theater tickets so I guess I got lucky in that regard.

I guess I should update my passport, it still has my old name on it. It needed to be done anyway.

[OakLeaf]

Wow, what a great prize!

I've never been to Denmark, but one thing to be aware of when traveling is that most US credit cards impose a surcharge (typically 3%) on foreign transactions. It's in the disclosure statement under "other charges and fees." Capital One does not have a surcharge.

[Aggie_Ama]

You can tell I am from Texas, I thought this was about chewing tobacco!

[teigyr]

You can tell I am from Texas, I thought this was about chewing tobacco!

*snort*

Actually I kinda was reminded of it too.

[kelownagirl]

I was in Copenhagen in July, stayed one night on our way to visit DH's family in Denmark. PM me if you want any specific info. I found Copenhagen and Denmark in general very expensive but luckily we stayed with relatives so it wasn't an issue. The "cheap" Zleep hotel at the airport was $145 Canadian a night and was the most barren hotel room I've ever stayed in. It was clean, but way overpriced in my estimation. Denmark is beautiful though.

[jobob]

Jobob, um, anything? Honestly, I know nothing. I knew someone whose sister married someone from there and when he'd (my friend) go back to visit her he just raved about it. Is there a time of year I should avoid? I don't mind, in fact I prefer, off-season.

Well, you definitely want to avoid winter.

I think May-September would be good. The summer months are lovely (and the days are quite long!) but naturally you'll run into the high season so if you could shoot for early May or late Sept you'd be better off price-wise.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but Copenhagen (and Denmark in general) are freakin' expensive nowadays. It had always been fairly pricey in general but with the exchange rate the way it is now, yech. Just sayin'.

As for my favorite things to do when I was there:

Walk around town. Seriously, it's great just to get a tourist map and meander about, along the canals, the downtown pedestrian-only shopping street (Strøget), and of course stop at the occasional bakery for a snack. *Real* Danish pastry is to die for.

I loved to wander through the Botanical Gardens. Across the street there's Rosenburg Castle where you can check out the crown jewels.

A canal tour by boat is always fun.

Hanging out at one of the outdoor restaurants along Nyhavn canal and doing some peple-watching. If you like mussels, you're in luck, they do them really well there. A meal of mussels & bread & white wine (or beer), heavenly.

Tivoli is one of those "must-see" attractions, but if you go I'd suggest going in the evening, it's very pretty all lit up.

You can take a train and do a day trip to the to the Louisiana Art Museum, north of Copenhagen. It's situated along the coast and I enjoyed wandering the grounds as much as wandering amisdt the artworks indoors.

Danes tend to be moderately-to-very fluent in English, so you generally won't have a problem getting around or getting information. However, if you're looking for a specific place or street, write it down - words in Danish often do not sound remotely they way an American would pronounce them! I learned to write down street addresses for cab drivers in particular. I'd say the name of the street, they'd look at me quizzically, I'd give them the piece of paper or card with the address, and they'd go "oh, blah-blah-blah!" and I'd say "huh?".

As for where to stay, I'm not going to be too much help with that since I only stayed at a few places - mainly the Marriott and the Nyhavn 71, which are both fairly pricey (tho our company had a cut rate at both places). But if you plan on booking at a specific place I could probably find out about it for you, or I might know about the area. The Nyhavn canal area was really nice, there are a lot of hotels around there. The Mariott was kind of in the middle of nowhere.

The thing to keep in mind is that most hotel rooms in Demark are pretty small by American standards. The Marriott was decidedly "American-style" though.

I used to go to Copenhagen a lot for my job but unfortunately the Denmark division is shutting down so I won't be going there anymore.

[Duck on Wheels]

Oooooh! I love Copenhagen! Good biking town too. But, yeah, Scandinavia is pretty expensive, 'specially with the dollar at an all-time low. So for your second European city, maybe somewhere a bit less expensive? My favorite is Amsterdam. And yes, Spring is a good time. Early May, or even late April. Spring comes earlier down there than up where I am (Trondheim). For a hotel tip, try the Fox -- http://www.hotelfox.dk/. You get to choose your room decor, which can be very colorful. And the breakfast in the lobby is kinda designer-fancy too. Yet not as expensive as, say, the Marriot. Or simply go to the Sentralstasjon (main railway station) booking office and ask for a room at a B&B. My folks landed us a room with a graphic artist once, many years ago. Nice place, nice people, and we bought a print as a souvenir.

[Trek420]

My folks landed us a room with a graphic artist once, many years ago. Nice place, nice people, and we bought a print as a souvenir.

Which I now have in the hallway

[teigyr]

Thank you! I am starting to investigate. I think this won't happen until late fall/early winter just due to budgetary constraints. We recently decided we must Be Good and we travel a lot just due to the fact we can. I wish we could go in the spring but I think I'll start pricing stuff out for fall. We are going to attempt to curtail silly travel until then.

It looks so great there! DH says not to get all worked up but I think planning early is better than not.

Though I suppose in the late fall/early winter there won't be the topless women?! Ah well, his loss.