Denmark road trips

We drove past Odense on our way to Arhus, which we liked a lot. I also recommend that you visit Mon. If you could be more specific about your interests, you'll get better responses. Be prepared to be in shock at the price of gasoline.

Rosalyn, thanks and we're interested in seeing the Hans Christian Andersen museum, Danish countryside, harbors, and any unique Danish landmarks. Thanks, Ken

Ken, We did similar, adding three nights before and three nights after our Baltic Cruise in Copenhagen. We focused on Northern Zealand and used the Copenhagen Card (72 hour cards each time). The card is nice because it includes free admissions as well as a transportation pass for the entire area. The trips we took, by train, from Copenhagen included a day trip to Roskilde, to see the Cathedral and Viking Ship Museum, and Helsingor, to see the Castle. We also took a "private" rail line (also included on our Copenhagen Card) up the coast further from Helsingor to spend an afternoon on the beach at Hornbaek. The trip we didn't do, because they were doing track maintenance, was Fredericksborg Palace - we'll have to see that next visit. We considered training, planing or driving to Hamburg to visit my wife's cousin but, after pricing it, decided it was cost prohibitive for only a short visit.

Brad, thanks for your feedback and particularly your suggestion to take days trips from Copenhagen! Did you decide that it was easier (and perhaps less expensive) than driving and staying at these sites? I'm still on the fence about driving versus taking the train. I'm also intrigued by your suggestion to purchase the Copenhagen card. Rick recommends the card for seeing alot of museum's and implies that it's expensive. Was it a good value? Thanks! Ken

We tried different options. First choice was to fly open-jaw into Copenhagen and home from Hamburg with a rental car between the two. (This sight doesn't like the word dro pp ing or dro pp ed) returning the car in Germany was astronomical, much higher than I'd expect to pay anywhere else in Europe. Second choice was returning the car on the Denmark border and catching a train to Hamburg from there (usually a good way to save money) - still astronomical. Third option - train to Hamburg from Copenhagen was still way more than I would have expected for a similar train ride elsewhere in Europe, extremely expensive. We were starting to look at option 4, fly to Hamburg, when we learned the cousin was going to be out of town and shelved the plan completely. Flying may have worked but meant we wouldn't see anything between the two cities, far from my first choice. Originally, I was hoping to see at least Arhus and Schlesswig on the way. I'd been to Schlesswig before, during an exchange with the German Air Force, but my wife hadn't. I read reviews on Aero. The consensus seemed to be the only people who go have Blue Books and want to ride bikes around the island (which apparently no one else sees as particularly interesting). It reminded me of wondering why I chose Lucca on an Italy trip?

I haven't been to Copenhagen since 1991, but at that time and for my itinerary, the Copenhagen Card was a great bargain. At the time, it covered not only the city, but all of the surrounding area, and it covered all transportation and almost all admissions for this region. The only supplement I had to pay was for the Louisiana Museum (still less than full price). Since I saw the Louisiana Museum, the Frederiksborg Castle (my favorite) and "Hamlet's Castle" in Helsingor, and also used it for sights within Copenhagen, including several evening admissions to Tivoli Gardens, I save a fortune. As with any card, you have to do the math and see if it works for your interests and itinerary. If you plan to drive to these places rather than take trains (or if you don't plan to see them at all), it will not be as good a deal.

Brad & Harold, thank you for your posts and I'm now considering an alternate plan to stay in Copenhagen and purchase the Copenhagen Card. Can you or anyone tell me what the Copenhagen card does not cover?