Copenhagen recommendations (hotel, transport)..
 

My family of 3 (me, wife and 11 yr old girl) would be flying LAX to CPH end of Mar. Reaching CPH on Mar 31. We are planning 3 nights in Copenhagen and checking out on April 3 and traveling to Sweden.

1) We are looking for a moderately prices hotel near tourist places. I read about Wake Up Copenhagen but there seems to be 2 of them. Which one is the better one? Prices in general seem very expensive.
2) If we take metro / train , are there directions in English written/oral ? we don't want to get lost after landing there as taxis seem expensive to get to city area ( over $40 ).
3) After checkout we plan to take the train to Malmo and stay a night there. So we need some recommendation on a Malmo hotel room also.
4) We are US citizens and would be flying into CPH but flying out of ARN back to LAX. There are no immigration issues doing that , right? Cos we enter Denmark but getting out of Sweden?
5) Should we exchange USD for local currency? are USD accepted anywhere? How about US based credit cards?(visa/mastercard)

There are more questions but I will ask in batches.

Thanks in advance

The two WakeUp hotels are equivalent standard. The one on Borgergade (don't even try to pronounce it) is newer, and more in the heart of the city, but the original one is handy for the station, Tivoli and Vesterbro. The rooms are *very* small, but clean and comfortable.

The train and metro have plenty English signage. Very simple and easy to use - I've never used a taxi in the city.

Plenty options in Malmö. If you're after a budget option again, I like the Moment hotel, but again it does have tiny rooms.

No problem flying out of Sweden - both countries are in the Schengen zone, which is the important factor.

You won't be able to spend USD anywhere. Credit cards are fine, although you may have to pay a surcharge to use them, and may have trouble using cards without chip & pin on automated machines. The easiest way to get local currency (and you will need different currencies in Denmark and Sweden, even if there is very limited mutual acceptance in Malmö at a poor rate) is to use ATMs, with some backup in case your bank fraud mechanisms are triggered initially on arrival.

Thanks for info. how about the Norreport area near the station? Is that a good neighborhood for staying? I see M2 from airport connects to this station and this station also has service to Malmo.

Kongens Nytorv is arguably closer to the Wakeup Borgergade than Nørreport, but both are right in the commercial centre of the city (although there is construction work for a new metro line and the rebuilding of the Nørreport metro/train/bus interchange, but this shouldn't affect you other than a slight confusion when crossing the street). Loads of good restaurants in this area - including several from the excellent Madklubben chain.

Kongens Nytorv is also near Strøget and Nyhavn, and Nørreport near the market halls, the "Latin Quarter" and the inner part of Nørrebro (Nørrebros Bryghus and several of the cafes by the lakes are well worth a visit). This is a slightly edgier neighbourhood, but, well, it's still Copenhagen.

However, central Copenhagen is very compact and very walkable (although I normally cycle, along with half the people there...) so you're pretty flexible wherever you end up...

I've been told that the Malmo Starbucks accepts payment in Danish cash (DKK) and then gives change back in Swedish kronor (SEK). At least the landside CPH airport Starbucks does something of the same sort, and perhaps also the airside Starbucks.

I can't speak to the exchange rate losses by way of this method, but it may be a way: to get rid of SEK in Denmark and get DKK back as change; and to get rid of DKK in Sweden and get SEK back as change.

I don't know if the landside Starbucks at CPH and the Starbucks at Malmo C accept USD cash and give change back in local currency, but the CPH Starbucks used to take EUR cash and give back change in DKK.

Thanks Stut.

Is Wakeup Borgergade close to any metro / train line ? I want to take metro from airport to hotel and then after Copenhagen visit take train to Malmo. If I have a check in bag which most likely would, I don't want to lug it around for long walks to station. I would prefer to be close to rail/metro stations and then walk to touristy places than the other way round...

Kongens Nytorv metro is the closest to that end of Borgergade - about a 5-10 minute walk (there are elevators from the platform right up to street level).

Nearest railway station is Nørreport, about 5 minutes' more. The "regionaltog" (not S-tog or metro) platforms take you to Malmö, although personally I'd be tempted get the metro from Kongens Nytorv to the airport and change there - Nørreport is an overcrowded commuter station and perhaps a little confusing if you're not used to it - plus the trains often change drivers at the main station and so you can be sat there for 10 minutes en route.

That said, if it's busy, Nørreport would give you a better chance of a decent seat for the stunning journey over the bridge.

Have you considered staying near Copenhagen Central Station (Köbenhavn H)? I've stayed at Scandic Webers which is within walking distance from central station. From there, most of the tourist sites in Copenhagen (Tivoli, Rådhus, Nyhavn, etc.) are walkable. And since you will going to Malmo at the end of your trip, you can simply board your train at Copenhagen Central.

I thought about it but wanted some hotel recommendations. Is Scandic webers good for family? I heard some hotels near central station was a little shady..

Scandic Webers is a business hotel and I was fine when I stayed there (will stay there again in the fall). If you want something more upscale, there's Radisson Blu Royal, located on the same street (Vesterbrogade) and across from central station. Also, next to the station, on the Tivoli side, is Copenhagen Plaza. I have not stayed there but walked pass there many times and it has good reviews.

There are several budget hotels near central station and they are located mainly on Istedgade and Helgolandsgade. The area, as you say, is shady because this used to be a red light district and there are still remnants of the old days. But Denmark is a relatively safe place and for as long as you are not wandering on Istedgade or Helgolandsgade at 3 p.m. (believe, there is no reason to be there at that hour unless you've just been to the strip bars), you have nothing to worry about.

I've stayed at the Scandic Webers, and the hotel is not shady at all. It's ok and the neighborhood is fine enough for tourists. While there is a strip club or two and possibly some prositution activity on the back alley streets near the hotel, the hotel and main street (and walking on the main street between the hotel and train station) has never been intimidating to anyone whom I know. And now the hotel and area is much better than it was say around a decade ago when I was also using this property for ten thousand HHonors points a night and the hotel was in desperate need of a renovation (since-completed).

If your only plan for Sweden on this trip involves just visiting Malmo and maybe Lund within 24 hours, I'm not sure changing hotels is necessarily worth it when Malmo can be visited without having to deal with even the small hassle of changing properties.

3 PM?? or did you mean 3 AM?

The intention was to state 3am.

At 3pm, the area around Scandic Webers is as ok as anywhere else with a major hotel in central Copenhagen. At 3am, it's more iffy -- in the sleazy sense -- but no worse than some "safe" neighborhoods in Manhattan.

Thanks for jumping in! Indeed, I meant 3 a.m.

I think the Crowne Plaza Copenhagen Towers provides good bang for the buck. It's easy and quick getting from and to the airport on the free hotel shuttle, and the Ørestad metro station, which takes you into town, is right around the corner, across from Field's mall.

English is widely spoken in Copenhagen, and neither signs nor communicating with the locals should pose any problem even for an English-only speaker.

It's a matter of personal preference, really.

I stay over in Copenhagen about once a month, and tend to go for one of the Andersen Hotel, the Scandic Front or the Wakeup Borgergade - I tend to vary it just because I like change :)

All have their pluses and minuses. I know the Scandic Webers pretty well, too - it's well located, and a nicely done, old-style Copenhagen hotel. It's on Vesterbrogade, which is a little removed from the full-on red-light district effect of Istedgade, but there are strip clubs a couple of doors down. The Andersen is pretty full-on in terms of surroundings - there's a sex shop over the road, and prostitutes regularly on the corner opposite. There's a hostel down the road too. But I've never (are a fairly tall male) found the area threatening - you just keep aware of your surroundings and take it as it is. I'd say the Andersen is probably my favourite hotel in my budget range at the moment, though - it's been very well renovated, and they're always a friendly bunch. Tripadvisor seems to agree, though, so it's getting more and more booked up!

I personally don't like the area around Tivoli and that end of the Stroget, but I do like the old Kodbyen (meat-packing district) around Halmtorvet in the evening. There's some great places to go on Vesterbrogade itself (including the original Madklubben). Plus, I like to take a bike, ride over to Fisketorvet, over the Cykelslangen bridge and either down Islands Brygge to Christianshavn, or the other way through the woods. It's a wonderful city for cycling around.

Borgergade is a more commercial district, and you're near Nyhavn. It's quieter, and partly residential, but again, has lots of nice eating choices, both in the surrounding street, and up towards Norrebro and the lakes.

I prefer being in the city rather than out at Orestad personally, but the Crowne Plaza beats most of the city centre hotels on value hands down, and the metro is an undeniably easy way to get around. Orestad is both on the metro (to/from the city centre) and the Oresund train line (to/from the airport and Malmo too). It's also easy to get from Orestad down to Dragor, a small but pretty little seaside town "behind" the airport, but surprising tranquil despite this.

SAT Lawyer , yeah agree..I am also leaning towards Crowne Plaza though its a little off the train services look good. Plus on last day I have to go to Malmo so I am assuming I have to go to airport station from Orestad and then change train to Malmo ? or is there a direct train from Orestad to Malmo? I am planning to get Copenhagen pass (72 hours) for us and I understand that won't work for the Malmo train run.

Oh I missed your post before I posted my previous reply. So to go to Malmo, I can take the train from Orestad directly? Thats good to know ...Crowne Plaza seems more and more attractive to me now :-)

Yes, Ørestad railway station is between the airport and city, so all the Malmo trains pass through. The metro line from Ørestad isn't the one that goes to the airport, so you need to get a mainline train between the two stations.

Indeed. The Orestad-Malmo Oresundstag trains run most commonly every twenty minutes, although there are times when it's better or worse than that in frequency. I would just check the appropriate apps for the updated times and then plan my walk from the hotel to the Orestad rail stop to jump onto the Oresundstag train directly from Orestad to Malmo.

[The Metro runs way more frequently than the Oresundstag train but that is not what I would recommend doing unless there is some kind of particular operational mess or maybe at some odd hours. While doing a Metro-Metro transfer to get back to CPH airport and onto the Oresundstag train is possible, this would be something that will usually eat up more time than it's worth.]

Thanks Stut and GUW ..very helpful information...Now only I wish I get a good deal for 4 nights at the Crowne Plaza.... is getting the IHG MC worth it for 60,000 points? I am looking for Mar 31 - April 4, 2016 :-)

I'm afraid nothing is very cheap in Denmark, because the VAT is included (and it's a high rate of VAT), many shops and services are not intensely competitive, and people are paid a good wage there which feeds into costs. However, tipping is rare, there are no surprise extra taxes on the displayed price, and the people you deal with are being employed in good conditions - all good things. The Danish Kroner tracks the Euro closely, so it's tanking in value along with the Euro, so your USD will buy more Kronor than usual over the past years, offsetting this.

Everyone tourist-facing in Copenhagen speaks English enough to deal with, most are fluent. Unless your Danish accent is really good, they won't even speak Danish back to you, most will just switch to English.

The mainline rail and the S (metro region) trains will also get you about, don't just look to the "metro". Personally I always take the mainline (Øresundstog/Kystbanen) trains from CPH to the central station and go from there.

The transit agency for the Capital Region is Movia and their English ticket information is here. You might find the City Pass 72 hours to be useful, then go to the central station at the end of your stay and buy a ticket to Malmø there. The Copenhagen Card is not great value unless you are going to a lot of museums and paid attractions, but have a look at it if you like.

There is a tourist info office near the Central Station (exit Bernstorffsgade side then turn left out of the exit and it's diagonally opposite you at the next major road junction).

It is obligatory to buy a hotdog from one of the hotdog stands scattered about the city if you visit Copenhagen :) I also recommend the traditional (Gammeldags) icecream.

MNSWEEps, I'm going to Copenhagen next month and have found a ton of information in cruisecritic.com's forum. A resident of Copenhagen answers questions in a thread titled "Wonderful Copenhagen 2015 edition"

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2135935

You may find your answers already posted there. If not, the writer "Danish Viking" will be willing to help.

I know you've already gotten great help from the FT community, but it's handy to have a resident answer your inquiries, too.

Have a fabulous trip!

We were in Copenhagen this past May. We stayed at the Hotel Bethel. Loved, loved loved the location. We walked everywhere. Breakfast was good and filling. Staff behind the desk were fabulous and had lots of suggestions for sightseeing, dinner, etc.

We bought the Copenhagen Card at the airport and used it to get to the hotel. Visited several museums that we may not have visited if we did not have the card.

Have fun. We LOVED Copenhagen!

Buses may be easier with bags
 

Mother and I stayed at Cabinn City when we arrived from LAX-LHR-CPH at 5 pm, and we used Bus 5A from the airport to a stop merely a 200-m walk to the hotel. It took longer, but there were three advantages: (1) Seeing things from the bus and (2) little vertical level changes dragging our bags.

And (3) was the risk of being approached by undesirable figures outside Copenhagen Central Station while walking to hotel. (They don't approach you when walking TO the station or when carrying only your day bag.)

Using the Metro will guarantee a bit of vertical travel, often being a struggle between taking your bag quickly up a few steps and walking/dragging a long way to an elevator. Using the train may or may not be somewhat better.

So do check out the bus lines that depart from the airport station!

I found Copenhagen very disappointing,would never go back,only thing worth doing is the trip over the Oresound bridge to Malmo.

To be honest this is the first time ever I heard somebody saying that Copenhagen was disappointing. Do you care to elaborate?

Then i Might ask what did you expect? Although Copenhagen might be the most international Scandinavian city it is still a quite small city compared to other capitals in the world. But it is also very compact so you can walk or take one of the public bikes anywhere. There are plenty of places to eat, drink party. There are shopping both in city center and in malls many museums and you even have an amusement park.

Copenhagen is rather disappointing compared to Stockholm. :D

I do find Malmo rather charming in some ways; and in some ways I find Malmo more to my liking than Copenhagen. And yes, I still like the bridge crossing, if not only because I like checking it out when flying overhead. :D

MALMÖ? Living close enough to go there every day nothing will make me do it voluntary.

In my point of view: Copenhagen > Gothenburg > Stockholm > Lund/and all the other smaller cities > Malmö

Malmö is dirty, full of questionable elements, has absolute nothing special, since it is Sweden the Swedish price niveau and service mindness of the people (or more like the lack of the same).

Yes, the bridge is nice, but it gets old if you have to cross it at least two times a week like I do ;)

In the third paragraph above, substitute Copenhagen for Malmo, Denmark for Sweden, and Danish for Swedish; then you get what is the impression of plenty of visitors who have been to both around say NYE. :D

As someone who has maintained residences within relatively short distances to CPH and to ARN -- think public transit commute times of 20-40 minutes to get to the airports -- I would never rate Copenhagen as a nicer city than Stockholm.

Lots of Danish Copenhagen apartment owners live in Malmo, so I have to wonder why that is -- if it's really all that bad (which it isn't as far as I'm concerned when doing my hops between Copenhagen and Malmo). I get that you really don't like Skane, but Gotheburg better than Stockholm? :D

The implication in the following http://www.thelocal.se/20150317/ten-...ats-copenhagen is that there is something rotten in the Kingdom of Denmark, as even Shakespeare knew. :D

Easy, work in Copenhagen and get Danish wages, live in Sweden and benefit from the low Swedish taxes. No one in his right mind pays Danish taxes :D

Agreed there are a couple of nice areas in Malmö. Also there are some places where living in a fancy apartment or nice house could be good - but ridiculous expensive. You will need Danish salary with Swedish taxation to afford it ;)

I usually compare Malmö to Frankfurt/Main. It has a couple of nice places if you know where to go but a huge number of really shady ones you should stay away as far as possible. Sure, every city has those. But in Malmö it is very easy to walk into them while e.g. in Copenhagen the whole inner city is a quite nice place and you actually need to get far away from the main area meet all those unsavory elements...

I have nothing against Skane, I lived there for about 5 years and I was pretty happy with it. I just don't like Malmö. Especially compared with Copenhagen.

Also don't get me wrong, Stockholm is a fantastic city! And I never thought I would like Gothenburg more but as I'm right now on a project which makes me be in Gothenburg every week I had time to really explore the city and to be honest I like it better than Stockholm. But you need time to learn the city, I think it is not that obvious how great Gothenburg is if you just visit. Long evenings in the hotels are too boring, so I started exploring and found a lot of great places. Actually Gothenburg feels a lot like Copenhagen while Stockholm has just a very different vibe.

The Swedes and Copenhagen Danes whom I know to live in the better parts of Malmo -- thinking mainly of the coastal-bordering neighborhoods -- primarily work in Skane. Many of the ones who used to work in Copenhagen have given up on it and migrated into jobs in Sweden. Apparently Swedish working and other lifestyle conditions are superior to Danish ones for such people who moved from Copenhagen to Malmo.

There is lots of seedy stuff going on around central Copenhagen, and a lot of it is very close to the parts where tourists go there. Drug and weapons deals right around the corner from city hall. Prostitution around the main train station if you happen to go out the wrong way when looking for Tivoli. Lots more questionable characters along Copenhagen's main shopping drag of Stroget. In Malmo, the areas most commonly checked out by say American tourists are not at all as shady as the areas around main tourist gathering points in Copenhagen.


Gothenburg and Copenhagen have a grungy criminal vibe, which may explain why preppy old me didn't fancy those places as much as some others. :D I do like both cities in some ways, but I can also see why some tourists and others may like Malmo more than Gothenburg or even Copenhagen.

Oh, that explains it. Probably it reminds me of my rebellious rocking youth :D

Hmm, ok. Never heard that before, but like they say... Whatever floats your boat :D

Yes,certainly,it was dirty,and drab,urine stains on benches outside the station,I took the bus to the Carlsberg brewery stop,it looked like an old car park with overgrown weeds in it,I went back to the station area and was looking for a nice bar/pub,only found some Irish bar adjoining the station,it was ok but not perfect,at 66 I am too old for the Tivoli gardens,none of the rides appeal to me,plus it was SO expensive to get in!!!.All the streets seemed full of litter,and to be honest it all looked rather tired,I was glad to leave.Stockholm is so much better,Copenhagen is NOT a place I would go back to,sorry.

That's a shame. I agree that the area round the station is, well, probably the least desirable in the city. However, you don't have to go far for it to change. Istedgade is what it is - and if you take it as the red light district (a relatively safe one as these things go) you can relax and enjoy the people watching.

Just round the corner from there is the Kodbyen - the meat-packing district, with all sorts of interesting places to eat and drink.

But it's the heart of Copenhagen that's charming, and the country's love of cosiness. No bright lights inside or out - dimly-lit streets and candle-lit bars and restaurants, plenty roaring fires in the winter. At first glance, it can appear bleak and seedy, but if you get into to, you quickly find yourself hating the obsession we have with floodlighting the world in this country.

There are outstanding galleries, all sorts of bits of waterfront, whether touristy, party-orientated, relaxing, or even swimming for the brave. There's curiosities like the Rundetaarn. There's the lakes, and the restaurants lining it, wonderfully relaxing in the summer. There's the laid-back suburbs, plenty good food to eat (at a more reasonable price than the tourist areas, too). And there's all sorts of trips out to castles, the countryside, and plenty of coast and forest.

Plus, it's a cyclist's paradise. No better way to discover the city than on two wheels.

I love the place. But you do need to get away from the station and Stroget to appreciate it.

Indeed.

If more tourists unfamiliar with the place would do as suggested above and broaden their rounds around the city, fewer people would have a first and lasting impression of Copenhagen not being as good as it really can be. But that also sort of speaks to how it's also understandable how some visitors would come off with the impression that Copenhagen isn't as nice as it can be. That said, I find Malmo rather charming too, even as I know its good and bad sides rather well too.

Yes, I have rather taken to Malmö, too. Like my local city of Cambridge, it's one of those places that works particularly well when it's misty (and the Øresund is happy to oblige). Plus, after Copenhagen, it's nice to have a little diversity!

Yes, isn’t that funny? Maybe they just figure it’s best to rely on the English language serving as the common denominator, or maybe using another language is like putting on a mask acting as a shortcut to snap out of the everyday Danish gloom, enabling them to display their genuine hospitality in a manner swift enough to comply with the three to four day stays of Americans.

If it’s your first time in Denmark, don’t be surprised that they eat a burger or a salad with a fork and a knife. Danish children appear to master dining utensils, not unlike their bicycles, before they can talk without ever having been told about Emily Post, who in 1928 entertainingly claimed that "to 'zigzag' the fork from left hand to right hand at nearly every mouthful is a ridiculous practice of the would-be elegant that is never seen in best society.”

Common in most of Europe, not a very Danish experience. Being German, living in Sweden I ate Burgers all my life with "tool support" and can't believe people actual crush the burger between sticky fingers to take a bite.