Copenhagen - Best Swedish side trip, and advice for trip over Christmas

If you want to go to Sweden and see some viking/early medieval history, I would suggest going to the town of Lund https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lund which is the oldest town in present day Sweden, dating back to the viking period. You can get there by train with https://oresundstag.se/en/
Another viking day trip from Copenhagen could be to the viking age ringfort of Trelleborg https://en.natmus.dk/museums-and-palaces/trelleborg/. plan how to get there and all other public transport in Denmark with www.rejseplanen.dk.
However do note that daylight hours are limited in Denmark in December.

Hi,

Of course, the Trelleborg mentioned by Morten shouldn't be confused with the Swedish town of Trelleborg.
I'd definitely recommend a visit to Lund too. Lund is an easy 50-ish minute train ride from Copenhagen. Note that there are ID checks on the train when you enter Sweden, so make sure to bring your passports.

I don't have any specific recommendations for restaurants on New Year's Eve - just note that most/all restaurants have set menus on New Year's Eve. Remember to ask for the menu and book a table in advance.

After eating, most locals will attend private parties - and most people buy their own fireworks. My advice would be to stay away from Rådhuspladsen (The City Hall Square) around midnight - it's way too much chaos. Tivoli arranges a firework display if you're into that.

Thanks for the tips! We are aware of the limited daylight during December. We're planning to get on the train early enough to arrive at our destinations by about daybreak, and then take the train home after sunset. Hopefully that will be sufficient. That's also why we're taking 5.5 days in Copenhagen rather than the shorter time most folks use. Although, I am wondering what to do with our evenings. Hopefully there's something to do other than Tivoli (Tivoli every day would get expensive).

Thank you for the advice regarding City Hall at midnight on NYE. I was thinking that might be a good choice but maybe I'm wrong.

Unfortunately it looks like Trelleborg is closed in December (actually closed Nov-Feb). :-(

You are right, it looms like Trelleborg is closed in december. Sorry about that. There is not a lot of other viking related activities around Copenhagen, but hopefully the National Museum and Roskilde will be enough for your son for this time. Are there any other things that might interest him (or you for that matter)?

If it doesn't have to be viking-related I can recommend a visit to Ale Stenar outside Ystad. It's Vendel age, so a bit older than the Vikings though.

No it doesn’t have to be Viking related, thank you for asking! We are happy for any recommendations at all, Viking-related stops were just our first choice. “Older than Viking” is every bit as good. I just looked up Ale Stenar and all I have to say is THANK YOU for the tip Badger, what a great suggestion! Do you know if it is easily accessible by rail?

Morten, we are open to any and all suggestions. So far we are planning a day trip to Roskilde and a separate day trip to Frederksborg and Kronborg. In Copenhagen we plan to see Tivoli, the National Museum, go ice skating, maybe see Amalienberg, and take the free walking tours. And as mentioned before, we want to dip into Sweden since it’s so close (and because my son currently has a passion for Switzerland). We love everything about traveling somewhere new though, so all suggestions are welcome! Is there anything you recommend that I haven’t mentioned?

If your son has a passion for Switzerland, why does that make Sweden a must? Not that I wan't to say anything bad about Sweden, they have a lot of intersting places to visit.

I can't think of anything around Copenhagen that will be open when you visit, that haven't been mentioned yet. If you ever visit during the summer, more things will be open.

Ale Stenar is about 2 hours from Copenhagen with public transport. If that's not to far from you, allow me to plant another idea in your head: Aarhus, a bit less than 3 hours from Copenhagen, have Den Gamle By (open air museum with buildings from the 15th to 20th century) and Moesgaard Museum (museum about pre-historic Denmark, with exhibition about the people in Denmark from the first settlers in the early Stone Age up to the Viking Age) that may be of interest to you. But I would recommend it more if you had a night or two in Aarhus - it would be a very long day trip.

HA! I did say Switzerland, didn't I? I meant Sweden. I do that a lot, it's because they both start with SW. I have the same problem with Burt Reynolds and Tom Selleck, because of the mustaches. (I call them Tom Selleck and "the other Tom Selleck", my husband knows who I mean - I had to ask him who "the other Tom Selleck" was just so I could write this.) Sorry about that broccolihaar.

2 hours is a bit far, but I'll try to fit it in anyway. The pictures have lit a fire in me. I saw Aarhus on some lists but agree with you that the 2 extra hours of travel time probably put it out of reach. We already have a hotel in Copenhagen for the whole time and, while sometimes we do double book hotels so we can stay overnight on a "day" trip, I'd prefer to avoid the extra costs. Especially as we need three rooms. But Aarhus is still on the list of potential destinations, we are always willing to go a distance if it really enhances the trip. I appreciate the details on the museum, that will help us make the final decisions.

Ale stenar is doable as a day trip from Copenhagen, they are located a short walk (about 600 m) from the small village Kåseberga. Take the train to Ystad (1,5 hours, one change required), from there you can either take a bus to Kåseberga, which might require a bit of planning and maybe prebooking as they are not that frequent. Or you can take a taxi, Taxi Ystad offers a fixed price for a trip to Ale stenar, and back again after an hour. 600 kr for a small car (up to 3 passengers) and 900 kr for a large car (up to 8 passengers). And Ystad itself is a cute old town worth spending an hour or two in.

Don't worry about it - it happens to the best of us.

To see how to get to Ale Stenar with public transport use www.journeyplanner.dk and select "Find connections: To/from Skåne". Here you can also find ticket prices. You can buy your ticket at the train station in Copenhagen. A so-called family ticket (up to 5 people, max. 2 adults) may be of good value to you.
You can also use the Swedish website www.skånetrafiken.se when looking for the journey and ticket prices.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for all this advice! It's the practical details that are hard to put together sometimes, and because you filled those in for us, we can make it happen. So excited!

Malmo (a short train ride from Copenhagen) was a delightful side trip and felt much more cosmopolitan than Copenhagen. The city blends the new with the old, including a traditional windmill in the main city park. I continued up to Almhult, home of IKEA, where there is a museum that covers the general history of the region (in addition to the company itself) - I was pleasantly surprised.