Amsterdam vs. Copenhagen
 

My husband and I are deciding on our Easter weekend plans and are debating between a long weekend in Amsterdan or Copenhagen.

We ar in our late 20's and enjoy very walkable cities. We will probably go to a museum or two, but definitely won't spend our whole weekend in musesums. We enjoy walking through cities and getting a feel for them. Since we have 4 days we also would like to take an interesting day trip one day.

Food is important to us! We currently live in Sicily and are getting tired of Italian food, so anytime we're in a big city we love to have a a wide variety of food choices: sushi, thai, and indian being high on our list!

As food is high on your list, I'd recommend Amsterdam. You'll find a wide choice of cuisine there. Indonesian restaurants are in abundance and the food is utterly delicious. The one museum you shouldn't miss is the Van Gogh. And for some fun, visit the Heineken Brewery!

However both cities are delightful and in fact I'm off to Copenhagen for 4 days in May.

I wold also go for Amsterdam - even though I prefer Copenhagen - because of the timing. To me, one of the major attractions of Copenhapen is Tivoli - which I believe may not be open yet - and certainly won;t be open until midnight for fireworks (which we saw every night and adored). I would save Copenhagen for summer.

TTT

I'm a big fan of both, but I would give a nod to Copenhagen.

I would chose on Amsterdam although I lived in Scandinavia. Copenhagen is nice but Amsterdam is great to walk.

Blackduff

I've been to both. Amsterdam is more attractive with its greater number of canals. It probably has more museums, and I feel that it has a greater variety of cuisines to choose from.

another vote for Amsterdam.

Hi Z,

Tivoli doesn't open until April 15.

Go to Amsterdam this year.

((I))

If you have 4 days you could honestly see them both! They couldn't be more than a 45 minute flight. If you're not up for a really busy 4 days then Copenhagen has more going for it and is a lot less dodgy than Amsterdam. But if you like dodgy places too Copenhagen has a "Little Amsterdam" so you'll get 2 for the price of one. The Danish can't cook but the capital is the most cosmopolitan city in the country so you're best chances of a good meal are there.

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http://www.marksblogg.com/past-bloggs/Holland/

Been to both. Amsterdam, without any hestitation. We also enjoy walking thru cities and don't spend a lot of time in museums. We were in A'dam 3 years ago, and Copenhagen this past summer. I would return to A'dam in a heartbeat. We stayed @ a canal house - Hotel Weichmann- on the Prisengracht. Perfect little breakfast room, overlooking canals on 2 sides. It's quaint and charming, a tad bit frayed, but the location - on a scale of 1 to 10 - was an 11! In the Jordaan section. Reasonably priced. Helpful staff. We'd go back. In fact, we'd live there!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I also greatly enjoy both cities. I find Amsterdam more interesting while Copenhagen is prettier and cleaner. I'm not sure exactly where Copenhagen ranks on the world's most expensive cities but it seemed to be almost twice as expensive as Amsterdam. I couldn't find any hotels for under $150 a room per night (we stayed on a farm half an hour away instead). Using Priceline we found a very nice hotel close to the train station for $80 a room.

While Amsterdam city offers more to see and do than central Copenhagen, I found the nearby Danish countryside much more interesting than its Dutch counterpart. Not too far outside Copenhagen is Roskilde with its Viking museum and royal cathedral where the kings and queens of Denmark are interred. Heading north Helsingor Castle is reputed to be Shakespeare's inspiration for Hamlet. The little seaport town there is full of great seafood restaurants and bars. Try a Polser sausage sandwich if you get a chance. A very cheap lunch. You can also drive across the ultra-expensive Oresund Bridge to tour southern Sweden. Dublin has the Ha'penny Bridge so called because of the one-time toll collected. We nicknamed the Oresund the "Fifty Buck Bridge" and that's each way.

And restaurants prices in Copenhagen were just brutal. We are not gourmands and Wagamamma seemed like a safe, inexpensive choice. We spent over $100 for a family for 4 on medoicre Asian food. The highly-rated Vegetarian/Mediterranean cuisine restaurant Riz-Raz is lauded as the best dinner deal in Copenhagen. It was a very good and different kind of buffet but we spent $130 with just one round of beer each for the four of us. We were supposed to be on a budget! Even McDonald's was very expensive.

On the other hand, in Amsterdam we frequented medium-priced Riijstaffel restaurants, Argentine steakhouses and brown cafes where we were able to keep out dinners below $20.00 per person. We also employed the Rick Steves trick of shopping for bread, ham and cheese at the local foodstores then making sandwiches for lunch. Believe it or not, those Dutch make some pretty good cheese!!!

You really can't go wrong visiting either place. Just adjust your budget, if you have one, accordingly.