travel near copenhagen

Kevin, do you all have any likes or dislike? what part of sweden do you want to visit? i was in both Copehnagen (CPH) and Stockholm last month. I enjoyed both and will be back. I spent most of my times in Museums and such. The VASA ship in Stockholm is a must in my opinion. I didnt go to Tivoli in CPH even though it was 1 block away from my hotel. I will save that for another time. in CPH, the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek was impressive. happy trails.

What time of year?

We are going in July. I figured we spend 3-4 days in CPH and then want to use it as a base to bo to Sweeden or other parts of Denmark. I generally like to stay somewhere for 2-4 days at minimum. we like all things, museums, nature, just walking around. we do food tours, etc. All advice is welcome and appreciated.
Thank you, Kevin

Kevin, will you have a rental car? There are some very nice sites in southern Sweden, but you would need a car.

We are in the planning phase. Airfare is booked, spending 5 days in Berlin and then on to CHP for 9. We can rent a car if we need to. What do you suggest in Southern Sweeden?

Gliminghaus Castle - built in 1499. Ales Stenor – like Stonehenge – standing stones in the shape of a ship overlooking the Baltic sea. From the year 600 if not older. Beautiful walk up a hill to the site. Visit the town of Ystad - where the Swedish Wallander series is filmed - a very old and picturesque town. Southern Sweden is very beautiful. I'm told there is a recreated Viking village right outside of Malmo - never been there though I did gather information thinking we'd go on one of our trips. Not sure what it would be like. If you like art museums, I can look up the name of one that is slightly north of Copenhagen - large collection of impressionist paintings. It was quite good.

Sharon, thank you. All info is great. We love impressionists, so please send that info along.
Kevin

Kevin, the art museum is called Ordupgaard. It's slightly north of Copenhagen. We took a train there and then walked to the museum. The walk was further than we had thought (not unreasonable), but given I had just had a knee replacement would have been better to take a taxi. I think they publicize this museum as having the best impressionist collection outside of Paris, and it is really great.

I should have told you about one other place if you are going to the southern part of Sweden and have a car: Kivik - the King's Grave - very old burial mound. Look it up. As you can tell, we are really into these historic spots.

We took advantage of the Copenhagen card for transportation around northern Zealand and admissions to various sights. Our remote trips included about a half day to Roskilde (to see the Viking Ship Museum and Cathedral), and a full day going to Helsingor (site of Shakespeare's Elsinor Castle) after a look around the town and visiting the castle, we took a "private train line" up to Hornbaek beach (private line also included on the Copenhagen card).

The trip we didn't take, but will next time, is to Hillerod to see Fredericksborg (the track was being maintained so it was a very inconvenient trip to see it when we were there).

In town, I'd certainly recommend Rosenborg Castle. It's a nice small-scale castle with the crown jewels in the basement. Amelienborg depends on what you like, since it's the current palace rather than something historic.

The Glyptotech and National Museum downtown are both worth a visit. If you like modern art, there is a stop on the way to Helsingor to visit.

Tivoli is worth seeing. My gripe is you pay admission then pay for anything else inside the park (but admission is included with the Copenhagen card).

We also enjoyed the boat tour from Nyhavn.

All those barely scratch the surface of what's available in and around Copenhagen.

The logical Swedish connection from Copenhagen is to ride the ferry across at Helsingor, then train back into Copenhagen through Malmo. I didn't think there was anything special there so we skipped it (we were going to Stockholm later as part of our trip).

The modern art museum slightly north of Copenhagen that I'm familiar with is the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art. Highly recommended. Also high on my list is the Danish Resistance Museum. For more on that topic you can visit Dragor, a town from which many of the Danish Jews were smuggled over to Sweden. It has its own local history museum, which includes some tapes of interviews with some of those who were rescued. Very moving. Dragor is a charming little town for just wandering about. If you can get to Aarhus, there is a wonderful open air museum, Den Gamle By. A few miles outside that city is the Moesgard Museum of Danish Prehistory, with some really spectacular finds. There are indoor and outdoor exhibits, including a Viking settlement with a stave church.
Has anyone mentioned the Viking ship museum at Roskilde? Definitely a do-not-miss. While you are there, see the cathedral, as well.

Oops, I forgot to add that in my opinion, you can easily fill 9 days in Denmark. For us, nothing in southern Sweden matched the sights in Denmark. Stockholm is actually quite a long distance away. I'd save it for another trip.

I too loved the Danish Resistance Museum; however, it is no longer there. It burnt down, probably arson I'm told.

Thank you everyone for all of your insights and tips. Keep them coming. Anyone stay in a nice B&B or pension?

There are relatively few B&B's there. Rick recommends one or two.

We booked the Strand and the Opera, both walking distance from Nyhavn (and the adjacent Kongens Nytorv Metro stop). I like the area and would recommend it over the area around the train station/city hall. Since most Copenhagen hotels cater to business convention travelers, you can often find good deals in the summer that make them affordable. We paid 125 euro per night for a double, including breakfast (not always included in Scandinavia), which isn't great in many parts of Europe but not bad at all in Denmark.

When we arrived at the Strand, they were overbooked and sent us to the Phoenix (another sister hotel to the Strand and Opera), also walking distance from Kongens Nytorv. It was fine too (and one of the best breakfasts I've had anywhere in Europe). I think any of these would be a decent, if less than luxurious, option.

Roskilde? Less than an hour west from Copenhagen.

I stayed at Ibsens Hotel, and my room was surprisingly huge. Very interesting breakfast buffet as well.

You can easily spend 9 days in Denmark - especially in the Summer!

When we lived there, we did not own a car (the "Buy one, pay for three" rule prevented this!) but for the areas around CPH we rode the train (get ready for sticker shock!). For "traveling around" the country, we would rent a car. Before you come, rent your car through a US website - much less expensive. So I'd use a combination of trains (to Malmo, for example) and a car (to Odense and experience Hans Christian Andersen's native city) to see all of Denmark... and then there's the islands. Yes, you can easily spend your nine days in Denmark. We did 2 years and STILL have a long list of "sites to see."

"And we'd rent it through a US website - much less expensive" And very very illegal, if you in the process state your residence as the US but live in Denmark, beware of that. If you are resident in a foreign country, you can rent a tax free car, but these are exclusively for foreign residents. We Danes also have to rent three cars when we need one ;-)

You can skip Tivoli if you aren't traveling with kids. The National Museum is free, so you won't feel bad if you want to leave after an hour, or if you want to come back for a second visit. The open air hash market in Christiania is something you won't see anywhere else. The Church of Our Lady, Denmark's National Cathedral, is just a few steps off the Storget, and is dazzlingly light, bright, white and airy inside. Wonderful!

The train to Stockholm takes 5 1/2 hours and costs about $250 round trip if you plan ahead. I enjoyed Stockholm a little more and would recommend that you spend as much time there as you can. You won't need a rental car.

Jack

Yes, trains are expensive in the area - that's why we were pleased with the Copenhagen card (but only covers Northern Zealand).

We explored the option of training down from Copenhagen to Hamburg to see a cousin, then fly home from there - but it was just too much. Renting a car was also really expensive (even dropping it north of the border and picking up another in Germany). When we learned the cousin didn't have any vacation to spend time with us, we dropped the idea before checking out airfares.