Travelling in Denmark
 

We are travelling to Denmark in July, 2011. As my greatgrandparents came from Skibby in North Western Zealand, I am keen to have a more than just a "surface" look at this country

As Tasmanians we are not keen to hire a car: driving is on the other side of the road and I've heard from our travel agent there is little signage in English.

The only other way that I can find to travel is by train.
Is this so and how extensive is the rail network?

Has anyone used a private guide?

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

I drive in Denmark and don't speak or read Danish and it is on the other side of the road for me - it's quite easy except you do have to watch out for bicycles. I always rent a car and in your situation it would give you alot of freedom. Signage in Danish is not an issue - directions to centrum or centre are understandable, some places are spelt differently but you could work it out. Train service is very good as well, unless to a particularly small village.

This is a journey planner for Denmark, telling you how to get between places by train and bus:
www.rejseplanen.dk/bin/query.exe/en

How long are you in the area? We had two three day stays recently. We purchased 72 hour Copenhagen Cards which included all public transportation and many admissions in Northern Zealand including a visit to Hornbaeck beach on the Northern Coast. You can also buy day passes that include transportation without admissions or pay point to point for each trip.

I found most of the signage to be easy to figure out. Spoken language is a little harder. Fortunately English is the second language and few, if any, Danes have any trouble conversing with English speakers. We took a canal tour in Copenhagen, the tour was given in Danish and English until a passenger (I assume Swiss) requested German as well - then it was in three languages.

Thank you for your replies. A great help.

Odin, your comments inspired me today, to order a roadmap and look further at hiring a car.

As well have spent time with the rejseplanen. So,if we decide to do the train "thing' this will be invaluable. Thank you, Geoff.

Publius, we will be there for about nine days . Hopefully a few days in Copenhagen and the remainder just touring. Will look to purchase a Copenhagen card to get around. Pleased to hear most Danes speak English....

Cheers