I'm posting this trip report to thank those who provided such useful advice a few months ago! My daughter is a college junior spending the fall in Copenhagen so I flew to visit her for a long weekend in November. Here is my brief report!
Friday - arrived in Copenhagen around 2 pm (flight was late from Amsterdam) and went right to my hotel (Copenhagen Marriott Hotel). My daughter met me there and we did the first half of the Rick Steves Copenhagen City Walk (although it was pretty dark and slightly rainy). We didn't tour Tivoli Gardens as she had by this point done that several times with friends. We saw a few Christmas Markets and then I took a bunch of her friends to dinner at a great Italian place (we were definitely the only Americans in the place): https://ristorantebuono.dk/.
Saturday - we did a full day of tourist activities, which she had not really done during her time as a student. We toured the Rosenborg Castle, saw the Little Mermaid, visited the Museum of Danish Resistance (highly recommend), walked around Nyhavn and Christiania, and then took a ferry back to my hotel (which was our attempt at the boat cruise we ran out of time to do). We went to her host family for dinner, which was lovely!
Sunday - we met for coffee / pastries and did a bit of shopping, then saw the Nutcracker at the Royal Theater. We had dinner at a fabulous place - Maple Casual Dining (small menu but excellent food and service). And then she headed home to get caught up on her schoolwork and I went back to my hotel to pack!
I'm sorry I didn't have more time - but it was a great introduction to a beautiful city and I'm sure we'll both return.
Thanks to everyone