CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Leisure

Recommendations for Copenhagen?

(12 posts)
  • Started 7 years ago by rbrtwtmn
  • Latest reply from rbrtwtmn

  1. rbrtwtmn
    Member

    Asking for holiday advice on here is going to become an annual habit. Reading about Amsterdam 2 years ago was helpful and the answers to last year's question about Utrecht were invaluable.

    So who has been to Copenhagen or who knows it well?

    And no it's not me pulling the rest of the family there - everyone is keen. On our Amsterdam and Utrecht holidays the cycling trips were definitely the highlight.

    So recommendations? Advice on cycling? Places to cycle to? Cycle hire services? Cycle parking advice?

    Oh, and how excited should we be? Or will this be a let down compared to the Netherlands? I'm prepared for both - I can't imagine that Copenhagen is so far along the development path as the cities in the Netherlands, but then that's part of the point of going to look.

    Posted 7 years ago #

  2. Klaxon
    Member

    I've been a couple of times and have yet to do anything but walk. The city centre is similarly walkable to Edinburgh, even Den lille Havfrue (omg it's so far, say some) is not far and you get to walk through a cool castle

    Posted 7 years ago #

  3. cc
    Member

    The most memorable thing I did there was to get the train to Roskilde to visit The Viking ship museum. An intimate but very impressive wee museum.
    The second most memorable thing was a train trip to Sweden.
    Number three was probably the lovely food :-)
    Sorry, not much cycling there. Have fun anyway.

    Posted 7 years ago #

  4. Stickman
    Member

    I visited about 7 years ago, before I started cycling. I absolutely loved it and could easily imagine living there.

    It felt wonderfully civilised.

    Posted 7 years ago #

  5. jdanielp
    Member

    Go on the Rutschebanen at Tivoli Gardens, one of the oldest wooden rollercoasters in the world.

    Posted 7 years ago #

  6. Rosie
    Member

    Train trip to Helsingor, a pretty town. Great castle there on the sea - the Kronborg - the Elsinor of Hamlet, also maritime museum. A mixture of good modern design in a colourful, historical town.

    Copenhagen is a really nice city - buy a pricey drink in a moored boat and watch the locals potter about the waterways. Boat trip round the harbour is worth doing. And of course masses of cyclists.

    I didn't cycle there and spent a lot of time hauling my sister out of the very wide cycle lanes as she hadn't taken in these weren't pavements. But on our trip to Helsingor noted that there was a lot of cycling infrastructure in the countryside.

    Posted 7 years ago #

  7. HankChief
    Member

    We were there last year for a few days with the family.

    Where we stayed overlooked a busy junction. I spent hours just watching the wave after wave of happy cyclists coming and going in safety.

    Did an organised cycle tour which was very good way to see the city.

    Also rented a bike one evening and just cycled around trying to find somewhere without cycle infrastructure and trying to get lost. I failed...

    Have fun.

    Posted 7 years ago #

  8. rbrtwtmn
    Member

    Wow - loads of ideas already...

    Our experience in the Netherlands suggests that it'll be well worth renting bikes for at least a day or two - and we're considering finding somewhere to rent for the whole week. Although it was possible to get around both Amsterdam and Utrecht on foot the bike trips were a wonderful way to see much more than the tourist sights.

    Rosie - your comment about cycling in the countryside noted. I'm hoping that this might be the case. This was something nobody had told me about the Netherlands. There the countryside roads seem to have been treated in the same way as the city roads - making them unsuitable for through traffic. This means that 'quiet country roads' are actually genuinely 'quiet' and genuinely feel like they are 'countryside'. Oddly something that you don't realise is missing here until you see it there.

    Posted 7 years ago #

  9. BenN
    Member

    We went there last year with our 3 year old, and spent a wonderful few hours on a Copenhagen Family Tour (http://www.familytours.dk/) - It's a private tour, where the guide supplies a Christiania Bike (Huge, Sturdy family cargo trike) for the kid(s) to ride in, and everyone else gets an ebike. A totally relaxed pootle around the city centre, visiting markets and play parks (she customises each tour around your preferences). Our daughter absolutely loved the Guide / owner Maike who really could not have been more helpful and happy. Strongly reccomended!

    Posted 7 years ago #

  10. Morningsider
    Member

    We were there last summer (kids six and three at the time). We bought a Copenhagen Card and then blitzed lots of sites in three days (the card includes all public transport fares, but you need to visit quite a few places to make it worthwhile).

    We really enjoyed the Blue Planet (spectacular aquarium), canal boat tour and the National Museum (great mini museum for kids inside).

    Also worth a visit is the indoor street food market at Papioren and street food/bars of the meat packing district (from late afternoon onwards) - both family friendly. Other than that - it's a great place just to soak up the atmos.

    We rented bikes (including a Christiana kid transporter bike) from Baisikeli - all well maintained, decent value and they support bike projects in Africa.

    You can cycle anywhere in comfort and style - the man-made beach at Amager Strand is a good jaunt and the circular harbour route is great (very busy though). All flat as a pancake. If your kids like play parks, then a visit to Fælledparken in Østerbro is worth it and the Botanic Gardens are worth a nosey.

    I thought Tivoli Gardens eye wateringly expensive for what it was, but if you like funfairs (not really my thing) then it is probably worth a visit.

    Overall, a great place for a family holiday - be kind to your wallet for a while though, it's in for a sound thrashing when you get there (£5 for a coffee etc.).

    Posted 7 years ago #

  11. chdot
    Admin

    Random

    "

    Paul Hough (@the_hough)
    19/02/2017, 08:23
    @YVR_P @BrentToderian in Copenhagen at the moment.
    Great air quality,
    quiet roads and loads of cycle lanes

    "

    Posted 7 years ago #

  12. rbrtwtmn
    Member

    And longer cycling trips anyone?

    The kids are now middle-teenage years - but I'm pleased to hear the recommendations for younger ones because threads like this can be useful for others later.

    Anything special to know about hiring bikes? Amsterdam seemed to have things set up so that multiple days became cheaper, but we didn't find anything like that in Utrecht (where the daily rate was just that).

    Posted 7 years ago #

RSS feed for this topic

Reply

You must log in to post.


Video embedded using Easy Video Embed plugin