sitereactor

This post is a bit off-topic from my usual blog posts, but I thought I'd write up this post to help CG10-attendees who are coming to Denmark for the first time or those who have been here before and would like some insights into public transportation in CPH. There has been a lot of buzz on twitter about which hotels to choose and where to stay, and while I have been living in CPH all my life I have never stayed at a hotel here so I won't be able to tell you which hotels are really good, but I do know which areas of the City are nice and common prices. I won't go into to much detail about each hotel, but simply focus on which part of the City they are located in and how to get to the CodeGarden10-venue from there. I have selected the hotels that I have seen mentioned on twitter, so if you have been looking at a hotel which is not mentioned below feel free to add a comment and I can supply a couple of notes on how to get to CG10, which is the most important ;)

First off, when staying in Copenhagen you should take advantage of the public transportation which is pretty easy to come by. There is always a bus, train or metro going to where you wanna go (CG10). Copenhagen is divided into zones, and when you buy a ticket you should buy for the number of zones you are traveling within (which can never be below two). The center of the City is Zone 1, and the other parts of (greater) Copenhagen is Zone 2 or Zone 3 (airport is Zone 4). So this means that if you are staying in Copenhagen and going to the CG10 venue (which is located in the City of Frederiksberg - Frederiksberg is surrounded by Copenhagen) you should buy a ticket for 2 zones - Price DKK 23. If you want to take the metro, train or bus from the Airport (Kastrup / CPH Airport) to the center of the City or the other way around you should buy a ticket for 3 zones - Price DKK 34,50. Remember that when you buy a ticket you can use it for an hour in both the metro, train and bus - one ticket to rule them all. You will probably be going by public transportation 2 times each day for maybe 3 days, so you might as well buy a 10-trip card ("Klippekort" in Danish). This card costs DKK 135, its blue and is for 2 zones and can be bought at train stations, in the bus or in some kiosks. A taxi from the center of Copenhagen to the venue would probably run you around DKK 100.

And now to the hotels:

Kong Arthur As you might have heard this is where a majority of the hip Umbraco crowd is staying: HQ, Core Team and MVPs. This hotel is located north of the center Copenhagen with a nice view of the lakes (the old entrance to Copenhagen - not sure if you would call it a 'moat'). If you are staying here you are only 400 meters from Nørreport metro, train and bus station. I would recommend you take the metro (direction: "Vanløse") to the station called "Fasanvej", which is only 3 stops after you got on at Nørreport. When you get off at "Fasanvej"-station you walk in the direction that the metro is leaving, and when you come up to the road you go right and walk about 4-5 min. to traffic light number two and then turn left. Walk a couple of minutes and you should start to feel the CG10 buzz :) Prices: As far as I can tell the prices range from DKK 800-1300/night during CodeGarden 10. I'm not sure whether the discount that Niels tweeted about is still valid, but as far as I remember it was 10% off/night. Check out the website: www.kongarthur.dk (website in english). Airport: When arriving you can take the metro from the airport to Nørreport station.

Wakeup Copenhagen This is a brand new hotel, and was I actually surprised to see how cheap it is. For a hotel in central Copenhagen you probably won't find it cheaper (unless you don't mind junkies in front of the hotel :-P ). This hotel is located a few minutes from the center (the center being the Copenhagen town hall / city square), and also just a few minutes from Copenhagens Central Train station. If you are staying here you are about a 10 min walk from the central station and Tivoli Gardens. So this would also be a nice choice if you are bringing the family, as you are 3 min from an outdoor harbour swimming pool, 3 min from a shopping center with Cinemas and about 10 min from the City center and a serious shopping spree. When going to the CG10 venue, I would recommend that you walk to the central station, go to track 9-10 and take any train to Nørreport station (thats the second stop after the central station). You get off at Nørreport and go down and take the metro to "Fasanvej"-station (direction: "Vanløse") - same as above. Prices: As far as I can tell from the website the prices starts at DKK 365, and I guess thats only for online booking. Go check it out: www.wakeupcopenhagen.com (website in english). Airport: When arriving you can take the train or bus (250S) to the central station.

Hotel Cabinn This is another cheap hotel. I don't know much about it other then its considered to be cheap, and its a chain that has multiple hotels around the City. Two of them are located in Frederiksberg and are very close to a metro station, and actually located on the other side of the Copenhagen lakes then the Kong Arthur hotel although you probably won't be able to see it from there. If you stay at one of the Cabinn hotels located in Frederiksberg you should be about 300 meters from the metro station called "Forum", which is only two stops from "Fasanvej"-station. So I think you could get from the hotel to the CG10 venue in 15-20 min. Like with the other two hotels above the direction of the metro should say "Vanløse", and the station you should get of at is "Fasanvej". Prices: Starts at DKK 485/night Airport: You can simply take the metro from the Airport to "Forum"-station if you decide to stay in the City of Frederiksberg. Locations: In the city of Frederiksberg you have two options: the one on Vodroffsvej 55 (which is closest to the city) or the one on Danasvej 32 (which is closest to the metro). In the city center you have the one on Mitchellsgade 14, which is right behind Tivoli Gardens and very close to Wakeup Copenhagen and the central station. Other then that its right next to the main offices of the Danish police, so I would be very surprised if you were robbed outside the hotel :-P Check out the website: www.cabinn.com (in english).

Other things: Yes, I wouldn't really recommend the hotels that are on the opposite side of the central station from the Tivoli Gardens. The streets called Istedgade, Reventlowsgade, Colbjørnsensgade and Helgolandsgade are packed with hotels, but it isn't really the nicest part of Copenhagen (to put it nicely). I have friends who have lived nearby, so its not because its a ghetto, crackhouse or anything like that. But I wouldn't want to stay there myself, as its THE place to be if you are a junkie or prostitute.

Useful links: Metro: www.m.dk CPH Airport: www.cph.dk Movia - bus information for tourist: www.movia.dk Wonderful Copenhagen - tourist information: www.visitcopenhagen.dk

Lonely Planet Copenhagen City Guide for iPhone as tweeted by Bram Loquet

I think that was about it. Hope you find the information in this post useful. If you want to see another hotel on the list, drop me a comment and I will add some transport information. Just remember that I really don't know anything about the hotels, but rather how to get to the CG10 venue ;)