Baltic Cruise the end of June

We are going on this cruise June 26th -and arriving in Copenhagen two days early. Is it possible to see the sites in Copenhagen on our own? Would we need to take public transportation? Our hotel will be near Tivoli Gardens.

We also wondered about doing Helsinki on our own. Would transportation be a problem? We will be there from 7 am until 4pm. Recommendations on things we should see in both cities? Thanks for your help.

Lynne

Copenhagen is an easy city to get around. I would go to the port of call board for more information. If you can take a canal boat, you will be able to get a great view of the city

Very easy to tour Copenhagen on your own. There are HOHO bus tours as well as canal tours.

When I was in Copenhagen in September, I stayed at the Hotel Bethel in Nyhavn. Very reasonable, great location literally right where the HOHO bus stops, the canal tours leave and lots of cafes and restaurants within a 2-5 minute walk.

:) Pam

We are going on this cruise June 26th -and arriving in Copenhagen two days early. Is it possible to see the sites in Copenhagen on our own? Would we need to take public transportation? Our hotel will be near Tivoli Gardens.

We also wondered about doing Helsinki on our own. Would transportation be a problem? We will be there from 7 am until 4pm. Recommendations on things we should see in both cities? Thanks for your help.

Lynne

Copenhagen:

Your hotel will be right near the HoHo bus stop which is diagonally across the street from Tivoli and the Hard Rock Cafe. The HoHo also includes a canal tour at Nyhavn. The downtown area is very walkable and there is are pedestrian only walkways between Tivoli and the Nyhavn area. Be prepared for very high prices, for example burgers in the $40 range.

Helsinki:

There was a bus shuttle at the pier that brings you to the downtown market square. You can get a boat there or just walk around.

Copenhagen:

 

Helsinki:

There was a bus shuttle at the pier that brings you to the downtown market square. You can get a boat there or just walk around.

We took the shuttle to downtown and then had no problem with taking public transportation (local bus; not the HOHO) in Helsinki.

We found Rick Steves' Scandinavia book very helpful. St. Petersburg and Gdansk (no longer on the itinerary I think) were the only 2 ports where we went on organized tours, everything else (including 2 days in Copenhagen) was DIY and that worked out very well.

We also used John Lawrence's (formerly a wonderful lecturer on Princess but now retired) Baltic Treasures CD which was invaluable.

Capriccio,

Do you know where I can get John Lawrence's Baltic Treasures CD? I can't find it on line. I haven't checked out Rick Steve's Scandinavia book yet.

Thanks.

We are going on this cruise June 26th -and arriving in Copenhagen two days early. Is it possible to see the sites in Copenhagen on our own? Would we need to take public transportation? Our hotel will be near Tivoli Gardens.

We also wondered about doing Helsinki on our own. Would transportation be a problem? We will be there from 7 am until 4pm. Recommendations on things we should see in both cities? Thanks for your help.

Lynne

I arranged for my brother and his wife to do Baltic cruise on Princess. I arranged a 2-night pre-cruise hotel stay in Copenhagen. To this day my sister-in-law thanks me for insisting they do the pre-cruise stay. This is due to the long transatlantic flight and dealing with jet lag. Copenhagen is a very walkable city and when I was there I didn't need to use any public transportation to get around. Yes, most all Baltic cities are easily toured on your own as most of these ports are fair compacted with some of the best public transportation. However, I think in St. Petersburg you'd be better off on either a ship sponsored excursion or reputable independent tour company due to the logistics of St. Petersburg & Russia. Just go to a book store and get a good tour book on the Baltic/Scandinavian countries. Most of these books should have a section on city highlights for one day independent sightseeing.

Copenhagen is very doable in two days. We took a bus to the Little Mermaid. Get directions, though.

Helsinki I did a shorex, DH went on his own, took buses and saw everything I did.

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Convoy,

We have a two day tour of St Petersburg with SPB Tours so we should be fine there and I understand Tallin is an easy city to walk on your own. I just wasn't sure about the other ports. Thank you and jagsfan for the info. I am checking into a couple of tour books.

Helsinki is a very doable port on your own. Rick Steves' Northern European Cruise Ports book provides all the information you will need for Helsinki, Tallinn, etc. There is a bus stop outside of the cruise port that will take you right into the heart of Helsinki. Its a quick walk to the market, City Hall, etc. You can take a tram from there to the Rock Church and other sites. Also, for what its worth, there is a free restroom and free wi fi in City Hall.

Capriccio,

Do you know where I can get John Lawrence's Baltic Treasures CD? I can't find it on line. I haven't checked out Rick Steve's Scandinavia book yet.

Thanks.

Unfortunately, it looks like his website (http://www.johnlawrencecd.com) is no longer active. Maybe someone here on cruise critic has a copy? I know I 'lent' mine out to a friend a couple of years ago and never saw it again :D.

Thanks Orbeachlover. Good to know. I plan on getting Rick Steve's book.

Capriccio that was what I found. I'll see if I can find it some place else. Thanks.

Yes, Copenhagen is very doable on your own. At worse, a taxi ride back to your hotel after a long day of walking and sightseeing. As someone else pointed out prices are really high in Copenhagen compared to the U.S. Since you're so close do go to Tivoli Gardens.

In Helsinki the ship has a shuttle from the dock to downtown, if there was a charge it was minimal. Very easy to walk around in downtown Helsinki.

I used the Steve's book on Scandinavia to plan what we were going to see.

We did the two-day SPB tour in St. Petersburg, it was excellent.

SAS

SAS,

Thank you and every one so much for your help! Doing it on our own will save us some money,

Helsinki-be careful of shuttles on return trip-a few missed the ship on our voyage

Copenhagen-easy DIY stop

Convoy,

We have a two day tour of St Petersburg with SPB Tours so we should be fine there and I understand Tallin is an easy city to walk on your own. I just wasn't sure about the other ports. Thank you and jagsfan for the info. I am checking into a couple of tour books.

used SPB in Tallin-guide was great and well worth the little extra cost

bigpaluka thank you so much for the warning. What do you think is our best way to see Helsinki? Should we book a tour or is it pretty easy to get a taxi? What did you do? We certainly don't want to miss the ship.

We had a package of tours with SPB. Used them for two days in St. Petersburg and also Tallin, Helsinki and Sweden. Could have used them in Copenhagen (some of our group did) but we did a ship's tour instead.

Check with SPB and see what they have to offer.We saved a lot of money with the package.Most people that did the 2 day tour also did the listed ports.

We are going on this cruise June 26th -and arriving in Copenhagen two days early. Is it possible to see the sites in Copenhagen on our own? Would we need to take public transportation? Our hotel will be near Tivoli Gardens.

 

We also wondered about doing Helsinki on our own. Would transportation be a problem? We will be there from 7 am until 4pm. Recommendations on things we should see in both cities? Thanks for your help.

Lynne

See these threads:

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

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1606720 (HEL)

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1772831 (old CPH thread)

Jane I just saw your post. Thank you so much for the information. Greatly appreciated! Where did you stay in Copenhagen? I understand it is an expensive city but it will be nice to do it on our own. I had read that another Cruise Critic poster had written that in Helsinki a few people missed the ship because they had problems getting transportation getting back to ship. You didn't have a problem? Thank you for your help!

Lynne

Very easy to tour Copenhagen on your own. There are HOHO bus tours as well as canal tours.

 

When I was in Copenhagen in September, I stayed at the Hotel Bethel in Nyhavn. Very reasonable, great location literally right where the HOHO bus stops, the canal tours leave and lots of cafes and restaurants within a 2-5 minute walk.

 

 

:) Pam

Thanks for the hotel bethel recommendation