Thank-you for all of your input. Very helpful.
We were in Copenhagen for two days two summers ago. First day - Climbed to the top of Rundertaarn, walked around Nyhavn. Then we took a free walking tour (Grand tour) with copenhagen free walking tours. Great tour for a couple of hours, lots of information and humor. A lot of walking too! After the tour, we walked over to see the Liittle Mermaid statue (more walking! If you are going to take the canal tour, you could skip this - you’ll see it on that tour). After we got back from the cruise, we had an almost full day - we took a tour of the Rosenberg Castle (the best one to tour - they give you audio guides), took a canal tour around the different neighborhoods and then ended the day at Tivoli Gardens. Canal tour gave us a different perspective, tivoli gardens was beautiful. Not that much for the rides - but the gardens were gorgeously lit, there was a great sound and light show and it was nice to wander around.
The Little Mermaid is over-hyped. The walking tour took us past all the three palaces, the different neighborhoods and gave us a really good overview of the city/history etc. I’d suggest doing that and then picking and choosing one or two other attractions to visit.
We are going to Copenhagen next May. I will bookmark this thread.
Keep checking the Anne Frank site for tickets - the tickets for the pre-tour program + tour go on sale a couple of weeks prior.
Unless you are a really experienced urban cyclist, do not ride in Amsterdam itself. They are ruthless. Pay close attention while walking to avoid collisions.
The (temporary) Museum pass has been changed to a total of 5 museums in 30 days, not the unlimited number it was only a month ago. We are counting up where we want to go to see if it makes sense for us as we were there 3 years ago. Our co-travelers haven’t been so want to see everything.
Cafes = food, Coffee shops = marijuana
I love Amsterdam. The museums are wonderful but the lines to get in many of the more famous ones are not. We had the museum pass and it was great because in many cases you can bypass the long line for tickets. They also are great because you can go in even if you don’t have a lot of time. We also went to the contemporary art museum because it was included in the pass. We did half the museum late one afternoon and went back the next day. We also enjoyed the Portuguese synagogue.
The pass we had worked at the Anne Frank house but the lines were long and we hadn’t preordered tickets. H and I were walking by late one evening after dinner and saw it was still open and no line. We went in about 9 pm. The told us we might not have enough time but we had visited the house back in 1981 so felt it was enough time.
We also did a Jewish tour of Amsterdam that was excellent.
I think if you get to the Anne Frank House either very late or very early you will be able to gain admission. Last time I was there it was late October and so not height of tourist season but as we arrived before 9 AM, DH and I were admitted without any problem. If staying at a hotel with concierge, definitely ask for assistance as that is the reason that hotels offer this service. I recommend the Jewish Museum with the renovated synagogues and the Spanish and Portugeuse synagogue, cannot recall if part of same admission. If you have time for a quick trip out of Amsterdam you can go to the Hague and visit the Mauritshaus to see The Girl with The Pearl Earring and other outstanding works. Another train ride to see outstanding art is to visit the Kroller-Mueller Museum which is a national park. Vondelpark in Amsterdam is beautiful to stroll through.
It has been a long time since I was last in Copenhagen but I would recommend the trip to Kronberg.
I kind of thought coffee shops maybe for marijuana. 
These are all Amsterdam tips
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If the weather is nice I recommend doing one of the Mike’s Bikes tours. We did the countryside one and enjoyed getting a bit out of the city.
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Boom Chicago is a comedy club (in English). They used to be near Leidseplein but I think they’ve moved. They used to have staff walking around offering discount tickets so keep an eye out for that
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Leidseplein. Sit down for an overpriced beer and consider it the price to people-watch. Do a websearch for images of the square and you’ll see what I mean.
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Jazz Club Alto (also called Cafe Alto). Music starts around 10pm but get there earlier since it is a small club. Lots of fun if you like live music. Every time we’ve been there a couple of musicians on the road are in the audience and join the band on stage for a number or two.
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think about a day trip (or half-day trip) to a place such as Delft, Utrecht, the Hague. All are easy and inexpensive to get to by train which run pretty frequently. You can look up schedules in advance of your trip and play it by ear whether to go or not and which train to catch back. I prefer this over planning exactly 4 hours in some city; if we like it we want to stay longer, sometimes we are ready to leave in an hour or two.
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look up the schedule for the weekly markets. These are fun in any city.
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ask the front desk where you are staying (esp. if it is a smaller place) to suggest a place locals would go. We did this and were sent to a small cafe a few blocks away that was clearly not for the tourist crowd! As we walked in the waitress pointed to the menu on the wall in Dutch and said “don’t worry, I will translate”. Good food, and a experience many tourists won’t get.
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watch out for the trams. They are on tracks, they are fast and quiet, they won’t turn out of your way. Don’t step in theirs… Same goes for bikes in the bike lanes.
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you have to try a pickled herring from a street vendor. Surprisingly tasty, especially with the chopped onions.
I was in Copenhagen for a week while my husband went to a conference. I’d second the recommendation for the Rosenborg Castle and the National Museum. The first day, I went on a canal tour–you can get on the boat in Nyhaven. The following day, I went on a walking tour. (Concierge at the hotel arranged it.) Both tours mprovided a great overview of the city. I don’t get the popularity of Tivoli Gardens (it’s basically a very old amusement park). The Little Mermaid statue was disappointing too.
I’m a big fan of gardens so I went to see the Botanical Garden, which I really enjoyed. While there, I started a conversation with a woman who recommended that I go to see the Haveselskabs Have, which is stunning park and garden area.
Two restaurants that we liked: Era Ora and Kong Hans Kaelder. We also went to Noma (serious foodie place), which closed–I am not sure if it reopened. Lots and lots of people on bikes–be careful when you cross the street. Everyone speaks English–it’s easy to get directions and the people are friendly.
^^^Noma has reopened, but reservations are undoubtedly taken for months out.
I agree with @Bromfield2 on Little Mermaid, surprisingly small and out of the way. Likewise, we were underwhelmed by Tivoli. But, both locations are so iconic, that I wouldn’t discourage anyone who wanted to go. Tivoli was a dream from my childhood - now fulfilled!
Another plus for Copenhagen - taxi drivers all speak great English and take credit cards. I converted $100 US to kroner at the start of our trip. The only time I needed kroner ( a 2 kroner piece) was for the lockers visitors are often required to use before visiting Rosenborg and a few other places. No problem with credit cards anywhere we went.
I should have explained that visitors at Rosenborg and a couple other museums must use lockers for purses and bags. The coin is returned when you retrieve your items.
I am getting excited about the trip with all of those recommendations. To be honest, I was only go those two cities because I have never been. I have been to many European cities, and many multiple times. When D2 asked me to travel with her (I know why I was invited), I said to pick 2 places where we have never been.
I am back from our vacation and D2 is traveling with her cousin for two more weeks.
We were underwhelmed by Copenhagen. It felt very grey to us, there wasn’t much color and not many people having fun. We did go to some nice restaurants, and they were all expensive.
We liked the Design Museum. I didn’t realize there was so much Japanese influence in the Danish design. We went to the Tivoli Gardens and Rosenborg Castle. I was not that impressed with the Rosenborg Castle, it was a bit dark and dreary.
Our favorite event was a food tour. It lasted 3 hours. It was a very small tour. The tour guide told us about history of Danish food. We tasted a lot of different food and visited few breweries.
We really liked Amsterdam. It was a lot more livelier than Copenhagen, food were great and very reasonably priced, especially wines ($5-$8/glass at a nice restaurant). We did a Jewish quarter tour (not so good), and actually lucked out with getting tickets for Anne Frank’s house. Of course we visited the Van Gogh museum and Rijksmuseum. We also took a day trip to Giethoorn - cute little town on canals with no cars. D2 and I took public transportation and walked all over. We happened to hit their midyear summer sale. We ate a lot of good seafood. I wouldn’t mind going back again. No, we didn’t go to any coffee shops.
Great trip, but I am exhausted.
Thanks for the trip report! We flew into Copenhagen on a bright sunny Sunday afternoon before the Monday May Day holiday. In retrospect, that was the only day we really saw people relaxing at the outdoor cafes in the Strøget area and along Nyhavn. Maybe it takes a combination of inviting weather and an upcoming holiday to get the crowds out. A food tour in Copenhagen sounds fun if I make it back. Glad to hear about current Amsterdam prices as I plan on that city later this year.
Which jewish Amsterdam walking tour would you recommend or in the case of @oldfort would you not recommend? I’m visiting with my teens.
@oldfort, thank you for confirming that Copenhagen is very gray. That’s my impression also. Our daughter lives there, and she loves it. There just isn’t much to draw us there, and we almost have to force ourselves to visit. This time we will be visiting in June. Hopefully it will be brighter and prettier.
@silverpurple we did a Jewish Amsterdam walking tour with Naomi Koopmans. I think you can Google the name. She also has lots of reviews on Trip Adviser. We thought she gave an excellent tour. I can’t recall which CCer gave me the recommendation.
We went to Copenhagen for a couple days (part of a family visit to Germany) over the Christmas holidays, so it was almost more dark than gray. I found it no less colorful than other northern European cities I’ve visited, but I get that point of view.
We didn’t have time to do everything I would’ve liked, but in brief, I thought a harbor tour is a must (you’ll get to see the Little Mermaid from a short distance, and that’s all you really need), Nyhavn was fun to stroll around, Rosenborg was a little dark and more… old than I was anticipating, and Tivoli Gardens is a great little amusement park. There are rides there that I took one look at and I thought, no way in the world am I riding that, that looks far too intense. (D19 rode them; she’s made of stronger stuff than I.) We visited at night while the Christmas markets were set up, so it was crowded, but I found it charming and fun.
And get a Danish breakfast as part of your hotel stay. You might think, $25 for breakfast, are they insane? A good Danish breakfast is, I assure you, very much worth $25.
I just got back from a 6-day business trip to Copenhagen, and I found the food to be excellent. I wasn’t expecting much from Scandinavian cuisine (pickled fish, anyone?), but I found a lot very nice restaurants with excellent modern cuisine that wonderfully combined a lot of flavors in interesting new ways.
The weather was mostly cold and rainy, which is what I was expecting for early March. For touristy things I enjoyed a tour of the Christiansborg Palace - the former royal residence and current seat of the government. And after a 40 minute train ride to Helsingborg (Sheakespeare’s “Elsinore”) I toured Kronborg Castle - a huge medieval castle and the setting for “Hamlet.” Both were very interesting.
Overall I was pleasantly surprised by Copenhagen.