Hotels in Copenhagen

High season in Denmark is May to September, which pretty much coincides with the schedule at Tivoli Gardens. Once Tivoli closes for the winter, lots of rooms become available. Make sure to ask about winter discounts, and ask if breakfast is included (usually it isn't).

Nearly all doubles come with a private bathroom. Find out, though, whether this means a shower or a tub. At moderate and inexpensive hotels, you can save money by requesting a room without a bathroom. Keep in mind that in most moderate and nearly all of the inexpensive hotels, bathrooms are cramped, and there's never enough room to spread out all of your stuff. Many were added to older buildings that weren't designed for bathrooms. Also, get used to towels that are much thinner than you might like -- not the thick, fluffy types always demanded by Frank Sinatra when he checked into a hotel anywhere in the world.

Several moderately priced hotels in Copenhagen are known as mission hotels; they were originally founded by a temperance society, but now about half of them are fully licensed to serve alcohol. They tend to cater to middle-class families.

Reservations Service -- At Bernstorffsgade 1, across from the Tivoli's main entrance, the Tourist Information Center maintains a useful hotel-booking service, Værelsænvisningen (tel. 70-22-24-42). In person, the charge, whether you book into a private home, a hostel, or a luxury hotel, is DKK100 ($17/£10) per person. This fee is waived when booking by telephone or Internet. You'll also be given a city map and bus directions. This particular office doesn't accept advance reservations; it can arrange private accommodations if the hotels in your price range are already full. The office is open April 19 to September 30, daily 9am to 9pm, and October to April 18, Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm and Saturday 9am to 2pm.

In the same building is another service -- the Hotel Booking Service (tel. 70-22-24-42; www.hotel.denmark.com) -- that will reserve hotel rooms in advance.

Near Kongens Nytorv & Nyhavn

Once the home of sailor bars and tattoo parlors, Nyhavn is now a chic, up-and-coming section of Copenhagen. The central canal, filled with 19th-century boats and the 18th-century facades of the buildings around it, contributes to the area's evocative ambience.

Near Rådhuspladsen & Tivoli Gardens

Some of the most expensive hotels in Copenhagen are here. In the heart of the city, around Rådhuspladsen (Town Hall Square), Tivoli Gardens, and the Central Railway Station, you'll be near all public transportation and many attractions.

On Helgolandsgade & Colbjørnsensgade

In the 1970s, this area behind the Railway station became one of the major pornography districts of Europe, but subsequent hotel renovations, much-publicized civic efforts, and the gradual decline of the porno shops have led to a continuing gentrification. Today, with the original 19th-century facades mostly still intact and often gracefully restored, the district is safer than you might think and offers some of the best hotel values in Copenhagen.

The Southern Harborfront

Much of Copenhagen is expanding westward onto the harborfront of Copenhagen. This expansion of the city includes such hot new hotels as the Marriott and the Copenhagen Island Hotel, both of which are recommended below. City planners for this new district have insisted that pedestrians be granted unrestricted access to the harborfront promenade, allowing them to stroll between Den Lille Havfruen (The Little Mermaid) near the northern entrance to the harbor, as far south as the Copenhagen Island Hotel and the immediately adjacent Tyske Shopping Plaza. En route, across the harbor, rise hypermodern structures of international renown, among them the new Opera House.