CC’ers, looking for some suggestions on what to do. D2 and I are spending a week at those two cities. Flying into Copenhagen next Sat, leaving on Wed to Amsterdam for 4 days. We have never been to those two cities. I was so busy with D1’s wedding, I didn’t get a chance to do much planning.
We only like to do few things a day, not into getting up at 8 and do 12 hours of sightseeing. We like to do some sightseeing, shopping, and with very good meals in between.
Would be interested in some must sees/dos. I tried to get tickets to go inside of Ann Frank’s house, but it is all booked. I have a food tour at Copenhagen scheduled.
Anne Frank house in Amsterdam. See if you can book ahead online to save waiting in line. Also try to book ahead of the Van Gogh museum (and do the audio tour there - it’s really good).
I took a bus tour that got me into the Anne Frank house, as well the diamond district, the Heineken brewery and a canal boat ride at sunset. On my own, I did the Van Gogh museum and the Rijksmuseum and the Red light district. I also took another day tour to Delft and the Hague. I loved Amsterdam and would love to go back.
We just spent a week in Amsterdam visiting our daughter. Great dinner at Zaza’s — look it up. Probably our best meal of the trip.
We really enjoyed the Museum Willet-Holthuysen, which is actually a canal house museum, fully furnished and with details about the couple who lived there. Similar to the Jacquemart Andre Museum in Paris.
Lunch and shopping in the De Pijp neighborhood.
We visited Rembrandt’s home BEFORE visiting the Rijksmuseum, and I was glad since it provided some context to much of his works.
I really liked Amsterdam Museum because of its gallery with enormous portraits. It seems they consolidated the portrait collection of proud Dutch citizen from both Amsterdam and Rijksmuseum at Hermitage Amsterdam: https://portraitgalleryofthegoldenage.com/
Thanks for your suggestions. D2 is checking Ann Frank’s house tour daily. I have a tour booked for a Jewish quarter walking tour, but it wouldn’t get us into the house. I bought Copenhagen card to get us into many museums (I am not much of a museum person, but D2 is).
In Amsterdam we stayed in the Jordaan neighborhood. We did the Eating Amsterdam Food early in our stay to get a lay of the land. Two restaurants I would recommend are PIQNIQ for a casual meal and MAX Amsterdam for a delicious Indonesian tasting dinner.
Within walking distance of the Rijksmuseum we had a nice meal at Bakers and Roasters. It is very popular so read up on suggestions on TripAdvisor about timing. There can be a very long wait…emphasis on very.
I also recommend Rick Steve’s Amsterdam book. We enjoyed his walking tours.
A canal boat tour is a great way to spend a chunk of a day in Amsterdam, and it is pleasant rain or shine. If you feel energetic, renting bicycles is really enjoyable, lunching at a sidewalk cafe in the process.
A canal boat tour is a great way to spend a chunk of a day in Amsterdam, and it is pleasant rain or shine. If you feel energetic, renting bicycles is really enjoyable, lunching at a sidewalk cafe in the process.
And also at Geranium. http://www.geranium.dk/en/. That may be harder to get reservations as they’ve been getting more press lately.
Boat rides in both cities is a must.
I would also at Rosenborg castle to your list in Copenhagen as well as climbing up the Church of our Savior (if you can do stairs and aren’t afraid of heights).
In Copenhagen I would take a short trip to Roskilde to see Domkirke and I would second Rosenborg. If you have transportation Kronborg (Hamlet’s castle) is worth a day trip.
We were in Copenhagen last month. It is a very easy city to walk around, center is fairly small. @skieurope’s list is good, some other stops may be interest dependent. We did not get outside of town at all, but my advisor (a friend married to a Danish man) mentioned all the out of town locations noted above - Roskilde, Kronberg and also Louisiana Museum of Modern Art to be well worth the journey.
I would second the recommendations for Rosenborg Castle and the National Museum as being “must sees”. The National Museum has stunning, comprehensive exhibits on Danish history - the Viking rooms are incredible as are the “Stories of Denmark Rooms” covering 1600 - current times. I wanted more time for the ethnological and world culture rooms - so much and extremely well curated. We risked missing our flight home to have a rushed return visit. The restaurant there is quite good for a meal or coffee break.
Art history is my strong avocation - we visited all the major art museums in town. Copenhagen does not have the masterpieces that you’ll find in Amsterdam, probably not any must sees unless you have a specific interest in Danish art. I’m happy to give my assessment of NY Carlsberg Glyptototek, the State Museum, Thorvaldsens or the museums on the parks near Rosenborg if you have specific questions about any. I loved getting to know the works of several major Danish artists, but as I said, this is a strong personal interest.
We stopped in at Christiansborg Palace to see the Royal Reception Rooms just because we happened to walk by at an opportune time. It turned out to be one of my favorite stops. (and I’ve seen numerous European Royal residences and official buildings)
If you plan to walk by Amalienborg Palace, time it for noon and you can see the changing of the guard. (Not a must see, but fun if you are in the area.)
We found food and restaurants with a VAT of 25% to be very high. We aren’t foodies and just did the walk-around-check-menu method mentioned above. We didn’t ever have a bad meal, but things were very high. Understandable if you are contemplating Noma or one of the top rated spots, but paying over $20 US for 2 cups of coffee and a shared pastry did get old fast. I’d been warned about prices, but was still taken aback that we couldn’t really find anything we thought was “reasonable”.
Please excuse my verbosity. I get over enthusiastic on these travel threads. Have fun. I’m returning to Amsterdam in December - I hope you will give us a trip report!
