yk+family 1 week in Copenhagen, Nov 2023 Trip Report
Nov 22nd, 2023, 05:14 PM
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Day 5
Day 5 (Thursday)
today is already our last day in Copenhagen (the next day we took another day trip), and I tried to see everything left on our list without much success. It was a rainy day and we walked over to the Danish War Museum (covered by Copenhagen card) per my son's request. We arrived at opening time (10am). The building was the arsenal; now main floor is a cavernous space with canons and tanks. I thought , oh good, we can be done here quickly. oops, because when we went upstairs, the entire floor was TONS of items and info panels. For such a small country, they sure fought many many many wars throughout the last few hundred years! The displays are all quite modern and nicely organized, and there are just many many many panels to read, and of course my son wants to read all of it. Basically every King of Denmark had waged wars against Sweden, or England, or Russia, or the germanic kingdoms. We were there for WAY longer than I had planned. One of their collections is, surprisingly, 2 complete sets of American Civil War uniforms, an infantry one and a calvary one. These are the only 2 complete sets in the whole world.
After 2+ hours, we finally left and walked in the rain over to Nyhavn. Despite the grey weather, the colorful houses still look very cheerful. The restaurants there still have outdoor seating in the rain, with big umbrellas, heaters, and some even have heated seat cushions! We walked all the way back to Christianborg by the Absalon Statue where a few days ago we saw there was a Christmas market (by the canal boat tour). I recall they have Danish hotdog stalls and that's what we had for lunch. DH had curry wurst and a warm cup of glögg. I had bratwurst and the kid had frankfurter, plus 2 cups of hot cocoa. Lunch was 370 DKK.
Our next stop was Christianborg Palace. We couldn't visit before today because it was closed for the State Visit by the King and Queen of Spain (we actually saw their motorcade on the streets the other day). The reception Rooms were supposed to reopen today, but when we went, it turns out they had mis-typed the reopening day. Since the Spanish royalty had just departed the day before, the reception rooms were still closed (being cleaned) until the following day. Disappointed, we instead visited the ruins, the Kitchen, and the Stables (all have separate admission; all covered by Copenhagen card).
We were really surprised by how HUGE the Ruins is; once again it took longer than I thought. The Kitchen is pretty small and my son found it boring. The Stables has a small display room of stuffed horses and saddles, and then you get to see the many white horses. Altogether we spent about 1 hour in the Ruins, and 1 hour in the kitchen + stables. By then it was already 4pm
Although it is already dark and still drizzling, we decided to walk over to the Round Tower (open until 6pm; covered by copenhagen card). We climbed up the ramp to the top, saw the observatory, and took some pictures in the rain. We have had enough walking that day, so we headed over to Nřrreport nearby to catch Bus 5c home, where there is a stop right at the end of our street.
That evening we had an early dinner at a nearby restaurant, Karla. I forgot what DH ordered, I had wiener schnitzel and our son had sausage and fries from the kids menu. We also got 2 desserts to share. Dinner was 721 DKK.
I had one last show to attend in Copenhagen; this time the Royal Danish Ballet at the Old Stage. I'm not really a big fan of ballet but the Royal Danish ballet is one of the top ballet companies in the world. In addition, they were currently presenting Wayne McGregor's The Dante Project, with music by Thomas Adés, which opened in London a few years ago to great acclaim. I am a huge fan of Adés's music, and earlier this year he conducted excerpts from The Dante Project here at the Boston Symphony, so part of my reasoning is to hear the entire piece of music. While i don't know much about contemporary ballet, I really enjoyed the performance.
today is already our last day in Copenhagen (the next day we took another day trip), and I tried to see everything left on our list without much success. It was a rainy day and we walked over to the Danish War Museum (covered by Copenhagen card) per my son's request. We arrived at opening time (10am). The building was the arsenal; now main floor is a cavernous space with canons and tanks. I thought , oh good, we can be done here quickly. oops, because when we went upstairs, the entire floor was TONS of items and info panels. For such a small country, they sure fought many many many wars throughout the last few hundred years! The displays are all quite modern and nicely organized, and there are just many many many panels to read, and of course my son wants to read all of it. Basically every King of Denmark had waged wars against Sweden, or England, or Russia, or the germanic kingdoms. We were there for WAY longer than I had planned. One of their collections is, surprisingly, 2 complete sets of American Civil War uniforms, an infantry one and a calvary one. These are the only 2 complete sets in the whole world.
After 2+ hours, we finally left and walked in the rain over to Nyhavn. Despite the grey weather, the colorful houses still look very cheerful. The restaurants there still have outdoor seating in the rain, with big umbrellas, heaters, and some even have heated seat cushions! We walked all the way back to Christianborg by the Absalon Statue where a few days ago we saw there was a Christmas market (by the canal boat tour). I recall they have Danish hotdog stalls and that's what we had for lunch. DH had curry wurst and a warm cup of glögg. I had bratwurst and the kid had frankfurter, plus 2 cups of hot cocoa. Lunch was 370 DKK.
Our next stop was Christianborg Palace. We couldn't visit before today because it was closed for the State Visit by the King and Queen of Spain (we actually saw their motorcade on the streets the other day). The reception Rooms were supposed to reopen today, but when we went, it turns out they had mis-typed the reopening day. Since the Spanish royalty had just departed the day before, the reception rooms were still closed (being cleaned) until the following day. Disappointed, we instead visited the ruins, the Kitchen, and the Stables (all have separate admission; all covered by Copenhagen card).
We were really surprised by how HUGE the Ruins is; once again it took longer than I thought. The Kitchen is pretty small and my son found it boring. The Stables has a small display room of stuffed horses and saddles, and then you get to see the many white horses. Altogether we spent about 1 hour in the Ruins, and 1 hour in the kitchen + stables. By then it was already 4pm
Although it is already dark and still drizzling, we decided to walk over to the Round Tower (open until 6pm; covered by copenhagen card). We climbed up the ramp to the top, saw the observatory, and took some pictures in the rain. We have had enough walking that day, so we headed over to Nřrreport nearby to catch Bus 5c home, where there is a stop right at the end of our street.
That evening we had an early dinner at a nearby restaurant, Karla. I forgot what DH ordered, I had wiener schnitzel and our son had sausage and fries from the kids menu. We also got 2 desserts to share. Dinner was 721 DKK.
I had one last show to attend in Copenhagen; this time the Royal Danish Ballet at the Old Stage. I'm not really a big fan of ballet but the Royal Danish ballet is one of the top ballet companies in the world. In addition, they were currently presenting Wayne McGregor's The Dante Project, with music by Thomas Adés, which opened in London a few years ago to great acclaim. I am a huge fan of Adés's music, and earlier this year he conducted excerpts from The Dante Project here at the Boston Symphony, so part of my reasoning is to hear the entire piece of music. While i don't know much about contemporary ballet, I really enjoyed the performance.
Nov 22nd, 2023, 05:51 PM
#23
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Day 5 photos
My son reading placard outside Danish War Museum
Nyhavn still pretty on a wet grey day
Royal Kitchen at Christianborg Palace
One of the dozen white horses at Royal Stables
My dinner of Wiener schnitzel at Karla
Nov 22nd, 2023, 06:20 PM
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Day 6
Day 6 (Friday)
Our final full day and we took a day trip to Helsingřr to visit Kronborg and the Maritime Museum. During the winter months, both don't open until 11am. It was raining pretty steadily that morning; we took the 9:44am (ish) train; the train ride is about 45 minutes (train tickets covered by Copenhagen card). We arrived at around 10:30am, it's a good walk to the castle and we arrived just before 11am.
We were surprised there were quite a few other tourists visiting Kronborg on this cold rainy day, though of course it was far from crowded. They have quite a few self-guiding routes , which takes you to the Renaissance rooms all the way to the Baroque era rooms. Probably the most famous objects to see are the Kronborg Tapestries. I'm not sure my son was really that impressed by the castle, despite its UNESCO World Heritage site + Shakespeare fame. We managed to spend 2.5 hours at the Castle and pretty much saw everything there.
Our next stop is the Maritime Museum of Denmark, which is located just outside Kronborg ramparts. The museum is quite new, and apparently won architectural prizes for its design. You barely even see it because it was built into the dry dock underground. We first hit its cafe for lunch, as it was close to 2pm by then. my son had their grilled cheese from the kids menu. I had 2 smřrrebrřd, one roast beef and one salmon salad (pic posted earlier). DH had a smoked salmon sandwich. Lunch was 327 DKK.
We then entered the museum via the Cafe entrance — in hind sight, this is NOT recommended, because the cafe is located about 2/3 through the museum route. We ended up going "backwards" through the first 2/3, ended at the admission desk. Having said that, the museum is, once again, like almost every museum we've visited on this trip, really well done, with interactive and engaging displays. By the time we got to the front entrance, it was 3:30pm and we noticed the sun had come out. (remember, the museum is subterranean for the most part). From the museum entrance you can see Kronborg, and the sun was hitting the palace with its golden light and it was glorious. We ended up leaving the museum, walked all the way through the ramparts back into the castle for some photos. Then we returned to the museum and finished the final 1/3 of the exhibits. We stayed until closing time at 5pm (we easily could have stayed longer, as it was such an interesting museum!!!)
We walked back to the train station and took the next train back to Copenhagen. I have read some guidebooks that mentioned one can easily pair Helsingřr and the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art on the same day. I honestly don't know how you possibly can do this... though on certain days the Art Museum is open until 10pm, so I suppose you can? Also Kronborg opens at 10am during the summer months, so with a 12-hour sightseeing day, yes you can go to all of them but one would need quite a bit of stamina!
We were too tired to eat out so we grabbed something simple from Netto supermarket for dinner in that night.
Our final full day and we took a day trip to Helsingřr to visit Kronborg and the Maritime Museum. During the winter months, both don't open until 11am. It was raining pretty steadily that morning; we took the 9:44am (ish) train; the train ride is about 45 minutes (train tickets covered by Copenhagen card). We arrived at around 10:30am, it's a good walk to the castle and we arrived just before 11am.
We were surprised there were quite a few other tourists visiting Kronborg on this cold rainy day, though of course it was far from crowded. They have quite a few self-guiding routes , which takes you to the Renaissance rooms all the way to the Baroque era rooms. Probably the most famous objects to see are the Kronborg Tapestries. I'm not sure my son was really that impressed by the castle, despite its UNESCO World Heritage site + Shakespeare fame. We managed to spend 2.5 hours at the Castle and pretty much saw everything there.
Our next stop is the Maritime Museum of Denmark, which is located just outside Kronborg ramparts. The museum is quite new, and apparently won architectural prizes for its design. You barely even see it because it was built into the dry dock underground. We first hit its cafe for lunch, as it was close to 2pm by then. my son had their grilled cheese from the kids menu. I had 2 smřrrebrřd, one roast beef and one salmon salad (pic posted earlier). DH had a smoked salmon sandwich. Lunch was 327 DKK.
We then entered the museum via the Cafe entrance — in hind sight, this is NOT recommended, because the cafe is located about 2/3 through the museum route. We ended up going "backwards" through the first 2/3, ended at the admission desk. Having said that, the museum is, once again, like almost every museum we've visited on this trip, really well done, with interactive and engaging displays. By the time we got to the front entrance, it was 3:30pm and we noticed the sun had come out. (remember, the museum is subterranean for the most part). From the museum entrance you can see Kronborg, and the sun was hitting the palace with its golden light and it was glorious. We ended up leaving the museum, walked all the way through the ramparts back into the castle for some photos. Then we returned to the museum and finished the final 1/3 of the exhibits. We stayed until closing time at 5pm (we easily could have stayed longer, as it was such an interesting museum!!!)
We walked back to the train station and took the next train back to Copenhagen. I have read some guidebooks that mentioned one can easily pair Helsingřr and the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art on the same day. I honestly don't know how you possibly can do this... though on certain days the Art Museum is open until 10pm, so I suppose you can? Also Kronborg opens at 10am during the summer months, so with a 12-hour sightseeing day, yes you can go to all of them but one would need quite a bit of stamina!
We were too tired to eat out so we grabbed something simple from Netto supermarket for dinner in that night.
Nov 22nd, 2023, 06:52 PM
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Day 7 & final thoughts
Day 7 (Saturday)
Our nonstop flight home wasn't until 12:50pm but we were always told to get to the airport 3 hours early. We probably didn't need to do that, but I also wanted to save us money by using our Copenhagen card for the train tickets before it expires at 9:55am. The train is really super easy IMO; the airport train station is directly below Terminal 3. When you get up 1 level, it's already the check-in desks.
The check-in and security lines moved pretty quickly for us and we had no issues. This left us with over an hour to browse the shops before boarding. While our outbound flight was completely full, our return flight was only about half full. Quite a few pax got all 3 seats to themselves. The flight home took close to 8 hours but otherwise fine; we kept ourselves entertained with the many inflight movies and Tv shows.
Arriving at Logan Airport on a Saturday afternoon was really quick. We have global entry so we were through immigration in no time, and to our big surprise, DH's checked luggage was the 3rd piece to come out on the carousel. We had arranged a car service for pick up and we were home around 75 minutes after touchdown!
Final thoughts
1. The people — every person we came across was extremely nice and friendly. Maybe that's why Denmark is ranked the second happiest country in the world? Every one spoke perfect english as well. We tried to learn a few Danish words before the trip and we didn't even use it (except for saying "tak" a few times)
2. The culture and infrastructure — bicycling is *the* way of life. Almost every road has 3 distinct sections: travel lanes for vehicles; raised lane for bikes; and sidewalks for pedestrians. Each section is very obvious, so people on each mode of transport know exactly where they should go, and therefore few conflicts. This is unlike Paris where we saw bikes weaving in and out of cars and people. There are so many bikes, everyone bikes — all ages, all gender. bikes with toddler seats, cargo bikes for parents with older children, young people, old people, middle-aged people, men, women, women in dresses, men in suits, people carrying guitars, people wearing long wool coats, in the rain, in the dark. It is absolutely mind-blowing.
3. Getting around — Copenhagen is small enough that you can get around on foot for the most part. The new metro system is useful for some places but not all; it's worth checking out the bus routes if you want to rest your feet after a whole day of walking. Buses are quite frequent and they announce all the stops. Most locals either walk, bike or use public transit. We didn't notice too many cars on the roads, and certainly not taxis/ubers etc.
4. Copenhagen card — I thought it was a good deal for us. Obviously the longer your stay, the better bargain it is. It is easy to use on the app. We saved at least 50% (it would have cost us 1529 DKK to pay out of pocket for all the attraction admissions we visited, and that's not including public transit. whereas the 120hr card cost us 1099 DKK). And we got the kid's card for free. To use it for public transit, you don't even need to show it if you're riding the train or the metro. For the bus, you are supposed to show the driver the bar code.
5. Prices — the only thing I found pricey in Copenhagen is food prices. Having said that, I wouldn't say it is absurdly pricey, but definitely more than what we pay here in Boston, but maybe on par with NYC. Otherwise, attraction admissions generally run between $10-$20, and kids get in for free at almost all museums. The souvenirs we got also are reasonably priced. Oh, another thing that was expensive was postage. We couldn't even find a post office, but luckily souvenir shops sell postcard stamps, which cost 35 DKK (US $5) to mail one single postcard.
Also, as I said up front, I paid for everything by phone (contactless) and didn't bother to get cash from ATM. Every place accepts contactless payment.
Places we missed!
Despite spending 6 full days there, there were a number of places on our list that we didn't have time for:
Christianborg Palace Reception Rooms
National Museum of Denmark
Rosenborg Castle
Museum of Natural history/ Botanical Garden
Glyptoteket
I also think taking a ferry from Helsingřr over to Helsingborg, Sweden, would be fun. Possibly doable during the summer when daylight hours are long
Our nonstop flight home wasn't until 12:50pm but we were always told to get to the airport 3 hours early. We probably didn't need to do that, but I also wanted to save us money by using our Copenhagen card for the train tickets before it expires at 9:55am. The train is really super easy IMO; the airport train station is directly below Terminal 3. When you get up 1 level, it's already the check-in desks.
The check-in and security lines moved pretty quickly for us and we had no issues. This left us with over an hour to browse the shops before boarding. While our outbound flight was completely full, our return flight was only about half full. Quite a few pax got all 3 seats to themselves. The flight home took close to 8 hours but otherwise fine; we kept ourselves entertained with the many inflight movies and Tv shows.
Arriving at Logan Airport on a Saturday afternoon was really quick. We have global entry so we were through immigration in no time, and to our big surprise, DH's checked luggage was the 3rd piece to come out on the carousel. We had arranged a car service for pick up and we were home around 75 minutes after touchdown!
Final thoughts
1. The people — every person we came across was extremely nice and friendly. Maybe that's why Denmark is ranked the second happiest country in the world? Every one spoke perfect english as well. We tried to learn a few Danish words before the trip and we didn't even use it (except for saying "tak" a few times)
2. The culture and infrastructure — bicycling is *the* way of life. Almost every road has 3 distinct sections: travel lanes for vehicles; raised lane for bikes; and sidewalks for pedestrians. Each section is very obvious, so people on each mode of transport know exactly where they should go, and therefore few conflicts. This is unlike Paris where we saw bikes weaving in and out of cars and people. There are so many bikes, everyone bikes — all ages, all gender. bikes with toddler seats, cargo bikes for parents with older children, young people, old people, middle-aged people, men, women, women in dresses, men in suits, people carrying guitars, people wearing long wool coats, in the rain, in the dark. It is absolutely mind-blowing.
3. Getting around — Copenhagen is small enough that you can get around on foot for the most part. The new metro system is useful for some places but not all; it's worth checking out the bus routes if you want to rest your feet after a whole day of walking. Buses are quite frequent and they announce all the stops. Most locals either walk, bike or use public transit. We didn't notice too many cars on the roads, and certainly not taxis/ubers etc.
4. Copenhagen card — I thought it was a good deal for us. Obviously the longer your stay, the better bargain it is. It is easy to use on the app. We saved at least 50% (it would have cost us 1529 DKK to pay out of pocket for all the attraction admissions we visited, and that's not including public transit. whereas the 120hr card cost us 1099 DKK). And we got the kid's card for free. To use it for public transit, you don't even need to show it if you're riding the train or the metro. For the bus, you are supposed to show the driver the bar code.
5. Prices — the only thing I found pricey in Copenhagen is food prices. Having said that, I wouldn't say it is absurdly pricey, but definitely more than what we pay here in Boston, but maybe on par with NYC. Otherwise, attraction admissions generally run between $10-$20, and kids get in for free at almost all museums. The souvenirs we got also are reasonably priced. Oh, another thing that was expensive was postage. We couldn't even find a post office, but luckily souvenir shops sell postcard stamps, which cost 35 DKK (US $5) to mail one single postcard.
Also, as I said up front, I paid for everything by phone (contactless) and didn't bother to get cash from ATM. Every place accepts contactless payment.
Places we missed!
Despite spending 6 full days there, there were a number of places on our list that we didn't have time for:
Christianborg Palace Reception Rooms
National Museum of Denmark
Rosenborg Castle
Museum of Natural history/ Botanical Garden
Glyptoteket
I also think taking a ferry from Helsingřr over to Helsingborg, Sweden, would be fun. Possibly doable during the summer when daylight hours are long
Last edited by yk; Nov 22nd, 2023 at 06:57 PM.
Nov 22nd, 2023, 07:58 PM
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Wonderful report and what a great adventure and memory for your son. My parents took me all over europe for 5 months in a VW van long long ago (I was 12) and it really was life changing. They were teachers and had a 6 month sabbatical and took my brother and I on quite an adventure. I remember loving Tivoli gardens and the open faced sandwiches. Husband and I went back there about 6 years ago and loved it. We combined a visit to Stockholm and Copenhagen and rented bikes in both cities and marveled at the safe bike lanes and the embrace of cycling everywhere. Someone was asking about food and Copenhagen has actually become very famous for its food-Noma in Copenhagen was considered the best restaurant in the world for a long stretch. We ate well in both cities.
https://www.eater.com/maps/best-cope...-restaurants-1
https://www.eater.com/maps/best-cope...-restaurants-1
Nov 24th, 2023, 07:05 PM
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Trip Costs
After each of our trips, I'd like to calculate how much we spent on our vacations. Here is the breakdown for our 1-week in Copenhagen
Airfare for 3 — $1230 + $150 for 1 checked luggage = $1380
Lodging for 1 week, a 2BR/1BA AirBnb = $2600
Sightseeing/transport (2 120-hr Copenhagen cards + one train trip from Airport to City + Tivoli entrance fees/rides) = $450
Food — Dining out (6 lunches + 4 dinners + coffee/snacks) = $717
Food — dining in (6 breakfasts + 2 dinners) = $90
Entertainment (1 opera, 1 ballet ) = $150
Grand Total $5387 (not including any souvenirs or other purchases)
Airfare for 3 — $1230 + $150 for 1 checked luggage = $1380
Lodging for 1 week, a 2BR/1BA AirBnb = $2600
Sightseeing/transport (2 120-hr Copenhagen cards + one train trip from Airport to City + Tivoli entrance fees/rides) = $450
Food — Dining out (6 lunches + 4 dinners + coffee/snacks) = $717
Food — dining in (6 breakfasts + 2 dinners) = $90
Entertainment (1 opera, 1 ballet ) = $150
Grand Total $5387 (not including any souvenirs or other purchases)
Jan 12th, 2024, 06:53 AM
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I don't know how I missed this trip report, but I'm grateful I found it. We will be off to Scandinavia in June when the days are long but the tourists are thick on the ground. Copenhagen is our first pit stop, and your description and your specifics give me a good idea of how to structure our few days there. Thank you.
I might add, I am SO envious that you got to see the Royal Danish Ballet. I'm accidentally familiar with almost every ballet in their 2023-2024 season because our daughters were part of a school attached to a Balanchine-licensed ballet company. It was a great education, and it would have been fun to revisit some of those moments. Oh well--maybe T-Day in Copenhagen will become our thing.
Again, thank you for helping with my planning,
AZ
I might add, I am SO envious that you got to see the Royal Danish Ballet. I'm accidentally familiar with almost every ballet in their 2023-2024 season because our daughters were part of a school attached to a Balanchine-licensed ballet company. It was a great education, and it would have been fun to revisit some of those moments. Oh well--maybe T-Day in Copenhagen will become our thing.
Again, thank you for helping with my planning,
AZ
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Oct 19th, 2012 09:43 AM
