Copenhagen highlights
 

We'll be in Copenhagen for 3-4 days in June. What's not to be missed? Are 3 days enough?

Thanks.

Hi a,

I'd do 4 days.

Have you looked up Copenhagen under "Destinations"?

((I))

Take the hop-on and off water bus through the canals.
http://www.canaltours.dk/DCT/EN/Waterbus/

Visit Tivoli Gardens at night.

Stroll along Nyhavn, the picturesque old wharf area.

Agree on 4 days - esp if you want to do day trip to Viking Musum at Roskilde or "Hamlet's" Castle.

There are several palaces and castles to explore in the town as well as a great art museum, history museum, adorable shopping area, Nyhaven district etc.

if you can, avoid the weekend:
Nyhaven can be jammed,
same with the nice shopping area.

Copenhagen is quite small so you can see the main sights in 3 days.

Look up which day of the week the National museums do free entry and go then if possible.

The trip out to Helsingborg (Hamlet's castle) is worth doing and can be done in half a day.

If you're in Copenhagen on a Sunday and you like churches, you might attend Mass at St. Ansgar's Cathedral. The church is beautiful, and the Mass was lovely, with four men (who sounded professional) singing a Latin Mass. It is really worth attending, even if you're not Catholic.

Hamlet's castle (Kronborg) is in Helsingor not Helsingborg.

We liked Copenhagen, and aside the places that other already recommended, I would add:
- a boat ride on canals
- visit the City hall
- visit Rosenborg palace - the residence of the Danish kings
- visit two beautiful museums: Glyptotek and Thorvaldsen's museum
- a half day trip to Frederiksborg Castle

What time in June will you be in Copenhagen. They celebrate Midsummer's Eve. We attended the event at a huge park by one of the castles, but I know they also had planned events at Nyhavn and by the beach. THOUSANDS of Danish families having picnics and singing songs while a large effigy of a witch was burned. It was pretty amazing.

Be sure to just walk around the Stoget shopping area- 5 pedestrian streets, lots of nice cafes, musical performers.

We also really liked the Frihedsmuseet- the Resistance Museum. It is a small museum but filled with interesting displays on how the Danish fought against the Nazis and helped smuggle Jewish people to safety in Sweden. It is very close to the Gefion Fountain. We got to them easily by taking the water taxi- they are in the same system as the trains and buses, so you can use the same punch cards.

Midsummer's Eve sounds like great fun. Haven't checked the schedule but from our ease in booking a hotel, I'd bet we miss the event! We'll be there 6/11-16.

Thanks to all of you for your suggestions!

My son is studying abroad in Copenhagen for the entire academic year. He should be able to give you some great advice! I'll mention your post here and see if I can get him to post a reply. We are visiting him soon and will be in Copenhagen the 3rd week in Jan.

Have fun in Copenhagen! I'm sure you'll love it!

* Dinner in Grabrodre Torv, a quintessential European square.
* Fredricksberg Castle
* 90 Vin Stue on Gammel Kongevej, best beer in the world
* Viking museum is BORING, but that's just me

To karentoft or anybody that can assist me:

I am studying abroad in Denmark for 1 semester this fall (August-December). I am interested in knowing: is it easy to travel around Denmark? What is the weather like during the months I will be there? Where are the best places to travel if I have a free weekend, in or out of the country? Do most people speak English? Lastly, for anyone that studied abroad in Denmark, when my school says there will be a European aspect added to my business courses, what exactly does that mean?

I am very excited to going to such a beautiful place! Even though it's several months away, it is never to early to start planning :)

Thank you!

It's very easy to travel around Denmark on public transport. The weather is changeable, from warm in August/September to cold in November/December. Very windy in the winter. Everybody speaks English. There are many suggestions here already on places to visit in Denmark, personally I like the area around Helsingoer (my in-laws live there) and to soak up the local atmosphere in small seaside resort towns such as Hornbaek, Gilleleje, Liseleje

JennC

The weather when my son was there this last fall was fairly mild. It seemed to rain/mist quite a bit which I think is pretty typical there. The temps were usually in the 40's during much of Nov and Dec. A bit warmer in Sept and Oct, probably 50's or so.

The public transportation is very easy to use. My son has a pass that can be used on both the metro and bus system. Most people that live there ride bikes absolutely everywhere so that is an option too. His study abroad program pays for his metro/bus pass so he didn't get a bike. His host family has several he could borrow if he wanted to.

He has a rail pass that he used when we were over to visit in January. Otherwise he mostly has flown when he wants to travel. Airfare is fairly reasonable compared to US rates. Because he is staying the entire the entire academic year, he has done more longer trips instead of so many weekend trips. So far he has been to the following school/program related trips: Brussels, Amsterdam, St. Petersburg, Moscow, day trip to Sweden and Western Denmark. Trips he has organized on his own so far: Berlin, Madrid, Barcelona.
This coming semester will bring him to: Stockholm, Vienna, Budapest for school trips and on his own he is planning on visiting Cairo. Over his winter break from school, we traveled as a family to Paris, Chamonix France, Prague, Hamburg, and finally up to Copenhagen. We used rail passes bought in the US prior to our trip.

Here is his webpage with more info on each of those destinations in case your interested: http://web.mac.com/ctoft/iWeb/chased.../Welcome..html

He has had no trouble with any language barriers. Most everyone there speaks English very well.

Just curious, which program/school are you studying with? If it happens to be DIS, you will love it!!

As far as the "european aspects," I'm not sure what that would be. My son might be able to answer that better.

Good luck with your trip! He hasn't regretted a bit of it.

Dear Karentoft,


Thanks so much for getting back to me! It sounds like you had a great time visiting. My family, too, will be visiting me when I'm abroad. Just three days ago I was accepted to DIS for the International Business and Economics program. Is your son at DIS? I have talked to several kids that went last semester, but have not heard great things about the IBE program, although great things about other programs and the school in general. I will be living in a dorm, but still have the opportunity to visit and eat with a host family.

What airline does your son use to travel in Denmark? There are many places I'd like to visit, but if I stay in the IBE program I will only have the weekends to travel. There is also a two week break from school where we can travel. Any places you can recommend for both weekend and a little longer? Through the school, there is a one week study tour and I'll be going to London and Brusseuls. Also, I heard food is expensive. Is that true?

Thanks so much for the website and all of your help! I can't wait to check it out. Talk to you soon!

My niece was in Copenhagen last year with DIS. She was in a dorm..they ran out of families. She was in the Early Childhood Development program. She was required to take Danish. She had a hard time the first semester but with a different teacher, she did much better the second semester. She did a lot of study tours, other parts of Denmark, to Moscow and St. Petersberg, Oslo, London (she had lived in London a few years ago so was fun going back), and then she and a friend went to Spain for a few days on the way back from London.

The program is difficult and she really had to buckle down and study to maintain good grades. They also don't give a lot of sympathy or assistance. When she was having the problems with learning Danish, she asked about some help and they pretty much said "you knew the job was tough when you took it, so suck it up and deal with it", so that's what she did. It's a great opportunity for young people for sure.

JennC

Yes, he is at DIS! He is having the best time ever. He was enrolled in the European Politics and Society program for the Fall semester and is now enrolled in European Culture and History for the spring semester. I don't know about the IBE program. You could email him if you want and he might be able to give you some feedback. His email address is listed on his webpage.

As far as airlines, he used IcelandAir and booked his flight through STA travel. It was very expensive, but he needed to be there on a specific day and we couldn't find anything any cheaper. If you are comfortable arriving a day or two early, you can play around with the dates and get a better price. I heard a lot of students did that and then just stayed at one of the hostels for a few days prior to the actual orientation date.

For the 3 week breaks, he did the Russia trip and thought it was amazing. The first week was Amsterdam and Brussels, the second week was Russia and the third week was Madrid-Barcelona. Probably the best additional trip he bought so far was the Russia one. There is info about it on the DIS website. I would also encourage you to look at the blogs from other DIS students. They have good insight on what they thought of the tours as well. Quick weekend trips that I have heard good things was the Legoland trip.

Yes, the food is EXPENSIVE! He lives with a host family so most food is included. We occasionally send "care packages" of some of his favorites from home. One of his good friends in staying in the kollegiums and might have better info on those.

For the Danish language, he only had to take the quick like 4-6 hour course with basic Danish words. I don't think he had to take it as a regular course, just a mini informational class. His host mom teaches Danish so that has been helpful, but it hasn't been hard at all for him to not know a whole lot of conversational Danish. His host family speaks both Danish and English so he is exposed to the language but doesn't feel lost without a class. (He is taking Arabic so maybe he didn't have to take Danish as well, I'm not sure how that worked out.)

Have fun exploring your options! Your time will go by so fast leading up to your trip...enjoy every minute and don't get stressed out about it.

Thank you so much for all of your help! In fact, I checked out your son's website and found it be incredible! I plan on sharing it with my Denmark study aborad representative. I have read several of the blogs and the pictures are great. It really gets me excited to be going. My mom has been doing lots of research too, so I am sure I will be set. I have emailed your son some questions (although I am thinking of more as I write this to you) and he already got back to me! The additional websites he provided are also great! Is there any specific place that you enjoyed when you visited him that I should take my family to?

The best part of course is getting to spend time together again after many months apart! I enjoyed having him give me a tour around the DIS area and seeing where he likes to hang out, what coffee shop is his favorite, things like that. It was raining on the last day we were there so we didn't see as much as we would have liked. I'm sure your mom will also mostly just want to hang out with you and see what you like to do and where you like to go. I did enjoy Nyhavn. They have a great place to eat that he took us to. I think it was Nyhavn 17 or something. We also spent one evening with his host family. That was also very fun!

As a danish native living in the suburbs of copenhagen .i might be able to answer if you have some question.

- visit Rosenborg palace - the residence of the Danish kings

This is actually not correct.Royal family (queen and prince) is actually living in Amalienborg which is close to the center of Copenhagen.

Just a few comments:
Danish is a very heard language to master.and is not really necesery to try for such a short stay.English should be sufficient.
Prepare for rain..it rains alot here :))
Copenhagen is a pretty small city so much can be covered by foot,bring good walking shoes.trains and buses are also pretty ok.
Denmark in general is very expensive. Cant really think of anything i would consider cheap here.
Europe is small .a 2 hour plain ride will bring you anywhere in europe from copenhagen.so a weekend can easily bring you all over europe if thats a what you want.
regarding cheap air try this site www.momondo.com.

JennC - I did an exchange in Copenhagen at the same time of year that you will be there (August-December), but in 2005. I loved it and am SO jealous of you - I would LOVE to go back! August weather will be really sunny and warm, but come September expect quite a bit of rain. It only snowed once while I was there, and that was in December.

The Danes speak fantastic English. I never had a problem at all. Many of the Danes that I encountered speak several languages in addition to Danish and English.

It is very easy to get around Denmark by train - if I remember correctly, its only about a seven hour train ride to get to the other side of the country (Skagan, which is at the northernmost tip). When travelling outside of Denmark, I mostly used Easyjet and Ryanair. I found some terrific deals with those - for example $60 to London (incl. taxes) and frrom there, $30 to Italy. What I would also recommend would be to get a Eurail Train pass. I did quite a bit of travelling by train with it (to Stockholm, Prague, Germany, Switzerland, etc...). I too travelled just on the weekends for the most part, and would be happy to answer any questions you have about any of this.

As for the European aspect of your business courses, my business courses were "Europeanized" in that many of the case studies and examples used were of European companies. Other than that though, it is not really that different. I didn't go to the the same school as you (I went to Copenhagen Business School) but I found my courses there highly comparable to the courses I took back in North America.

Take your parents to Helsingor (Hamlet's castle) and Malmo (Sweden, across the Oresund bridge) - my family loved being able to say that they'd been to Sweden too ;)

Hope this helps, let me know if you have any more questions!

Hi!

Has anyone stayed at the Marriott in Copenhagen? Does anyone know which train station to get off coming from the airport? Can anyone recommend which website to go to for free days at the museums. I went to a few sites and they did not list it. Thanks

I stayed at the Marriott. Really enjoyed the hotel, right on the water. The canal boats stop right outside the hotel. Wonderful but pricey breakfast buffet.

Does anyone know which train station to get off coming from the airport?

The main train station in copenhagen (hovedbanegården) is the closest one.
but its still abou a 1/2 mile aprox. from hotel

Can anyone recommend which website to go to for free days at the museums.

Dont believe there are any general sites with info.
Think you have to look up the museums you are interested in.

Nikki, thanks for the Marriott comments. We're planning to stay there in June--and now we think we made the right decision!