annetti

Dayenu: I found the Kong Federick for just under $200 on one of the hotel sites. Did you like its location? Thanks.

WillTravel

Annetti, I was planning on a Best Western right by the train station, which is not as nice an area as the Best Western you have found. From my recollection, the Best Western City (the one you have found) does have a good and pleasant location, although not quite so central as Hotel 27.

Dayenu

We are going in August, so I am not sure about location, but it looks like it's on the Cirkel bus line 1/2 block away from the stop, and it gets good reviews on TripAdvisor. If you stay there, please post a review!

travelgourmet

annetti: Peder Skrams Gade 24 is an excellent location. The immediate streets are quiet, but you are less than 5 minutes walk from Nyhavn and Kongens Nytorv.

annetti

Thank you, WillTravel re the BW location.

Dayenu: We're going to do some serious thinking re Copenhagen this weekend, look at books, etc and decide on how much time we will stay and choose our dates. We saw your post re the 3% on CC. Thank you for posting the question. Copenhagen is getting more and more expensive. I'll try to remember to write a hotel review.

Thanks, Travelgourmet, too.

I think we now have enough info re a hotel to make a decision, Thanks again, everyone.

travelgourmet

Copenhagen is getting more and more expensive.

Not to scare you off, but Copenhagen is routinely in the Top 5 most expensive cities in the world. We live in Copenhagen and it is steep. We took a vacation last year to Tokyo... which was cheaper than Copenhagen, at least for us.

annetti

Travelgourmet, I admit it, I am somewhat intimidated by the prices. We'll be in Hamburg for 5 wks on a home exchange and since we'll only be 4 1/2 hrs or so away, we think it might be a missed opportunity if we do not visit Copenhagen. It would be a short visit, only 4 days or so; I hope we would not be shortchanging it and wonder if we are??

WillTravel

Copenhagen is nice, but it's quite likely that you could go for a side trip to most places in Europe (let's exclude Oslo and a few other places) for cheaper, including the cost of transport, for cheaper than you could do a side trip to Copenhagen. For example, you could have a great visit to Vienna or Berlin for perhaps half the price in total, estimating roughly.

annetti

WillTravel: Hamburg is only an hour and a half from Berlin. We plan to spend a couple days there as well. We were there a few years back for a wk and missed a few things we wanted to see. Vienna is definitely a nice place; and it has been a long while since we have visited; it might be worth considering again. We have never been to Scandinavia, so being this close is enticing us. We're also thinking of including Sylt. Have you been there? I was thinking of posting a question on Sylt, too. Thanks for your thoughts.

WillTravel

Annetti, I haven't been to Sylt. In a way, I'm inclined to recommend that if you are going to visit Denmark, maybe consider giving it a week, even if that adds to the price? Then you could see a lot more. Look into all the daytrips and cities, and see what you think. The way many Germans would do it to save money is to go camping, which I know may sound hard-core (I'm not much of a camper myself).

annetti

Thank you, Will Travel, for your thoughtful answer. Camping would have been fine 20 yrs ago, alas, we are passed that stage now and want more comfort. I don't enjoy reading by lantern and miss the ensuite bathroom facilities! We're going to do everything by train, so we won't have a car, so we need to decide on Copenhagen/Denmark before we leave in July since we will need to buy a Eurail pass that includes Denmark. I've been reading about Copenhagen in a few tour books. I keep thinking we may regret it if we pass it up being so close, however there are several German cities like Bamberg and Sylt that we have never visited and it would make it easier and cheaper to center our trip in Germany. Everyone should have these difficult/painful decisions to make!!!

hsv

I am not sure Sylt would be any cheaper than Copenhagen.
If you go to Sylt, I recommend you stay in the areas around Kampen and Keitum rather than in Westerland. Less city-like, closer to nature.
Sylt is beautiful, but beauty does come at a price.

annetti

hsv: Sylt will probably be part of our travel plans even if we go Copenhagen. The advantage of Sylt, Bamburg, Berlin, etc, is that we can include them in our German Eurail pass; we have to buy a special pass that will include Denmark.

If we stayed in Kampen or Keitum, can we manage there without a car? It looks like Westerland is more central and has the train station. It sounds like you have been to Sylt. How many days would you suggest for a pleasant visit? We were thinking, three nights. Does that sound right?

travelgourmet

You might also consider just buying a point-to-point ticket to get to CPH (or even a flight, if cheap enough), rather than extending the railpass.

WillTravel

Train tickets on www.bahn.de can be very cheap indeed, if purchased far enough in advance.

Soljet

How about www.ibsenshotel.dk The neighbourhood is charming.

hsv

I have never been to Sylt without a car - but there are bus lines. The route planner is here:

http://www.svg-busreisen.de/fahrplan-sommer-2010.html

It is German only as far as I can see, but self explanatory: "Von" means "From" and "Nach" means "To".

You could also rent a bike - maybe not to explore all of the island, which is around 60 miles long, but parts of it.

3 nights sounds ok. You could spend longer depending on your need for rest, but 3nights - why not?!

annetti

Thank you, all.

annetti

Willtravel: I checked www.hotelscombined.com. I, also used their 800 tel number. Very useful. Thanks. I think we will be easily able to find a hotel in Copenhagen under $200/night now. We have been doing a bit of reading, too, to see what there is to do there, as well. My husband is not convinced that we should go, thinking we should concentrate our time in Germany seeing some new places and revisiting some old places.

Soljet: The Ibsen hotel looks very pleasant. Thank you.

hsv, as always, thanks for your help. I've written to a couple places in Sylt, but either they have not answered or the e-mails have come back. I think I will need to telephone them. My husband is more enthusiastic about a resort area than seeing another city and since we will be based in Hamburg, I can see his point!

mari5

I'm picking up some good hints for Copenhagen.. as we might be headed that way in Sept. We've traveled a lot of Europe and lived 5 years overseas, but have never been to Scandavania.
(so a lot of research will be ahead of me)!

Just to add my 2 cents,,, in addition to the hotels mentioned,,I will ditto about the Best Western Chain in Europe. It is so easy to make reservations from the States, and the hotels are often very interesting (in old stately mansions and historic buildings), usually competitive prices, and MANY to choose from

Also;;; the large chains such a Marriot very often have great rates on weekends,, IF you happen to be there at that time.
(Sun. night is usually included, as opposed to in the States).
Big difference in prices following the Mon through Thur business rates.
We are Diamond Hilton members and use occasionally...however the Best Westerns are usually a very convenient way to go.
I remember a beautiful 4 star BW in the center of Luzern by the foot bridge, a lovely BW in center of Old Town Innsbruck where Mozart had stayed,,, etc etc.