Legoland. The real one in Denmark. Plus Germany and Switzerland

[offshore171]

Why does the tiny town of Billund in Denmark (pop 7000) have a major international airport, the second busiest in the country of Denmark?

Answers to this and more in this trip report!

This was my first overseas trip in almost 3 years. First time on a plane in fact, since Jan 2020.

Travelling party is a family of 2 adults 2 kids, and the travel occurred in Sept-Oct 2022.

The plan:

• EK From SYD to CPH (Copenhagen)
• 4 nights in Copenhagen at the Hotel Coco
• Train CPH to Vejle in western Denmark
• 2 nights in Vejle
• Visit Legoland in Billund
• Train Vejle to Hamburg in northern Germany
• 2 nights at Le Meridien Hamburg
• Train Hamburg to Berlin
• 5 nights Marriott Berlin
• Train to Heidelberg
• 3 nights Heidelberg
• Train to Zurich
• 2 nights Zurich
• EK ZRH to SYD

Here we go...

 

[offshore171]

Having heard about the chaos in European airports over the northern summer, including mountains of lost luggage, flight cancellations, enormous queues and so on, the plan was to avoid plane travel within Europe.

So the fights we booked were an open jaw arrangement using Emirates (QF codeshare).

Outbound SYD > DXB > CPH
Return ZRH > DXB > SYD

As has been suggested on this site and others, we threw an airtag in every suitcase and carryon. Here's the reassuring sight of everything being loaded at SYD

 

[offshore171]

After an uneventful, but very full economy A380 flight, we reach Dubai. I went back to zero status during covid, but fortunately my wife still somehow retained Plat, so we hit the lounge in DXB.

The lounge is quite empty:







We had some fantastic sushi.

 

[offshore171]

The lounge has recently switched to a QR Code menu that you load up on your phone or ipad. This means you can save a copy!

For reference here's the current DXB EK F-Lounge menu attached

 

[offshore171]

If the lounge was quiet, the gate area was incredibly busy.

This suggested the DXB to CPH was going to be full. This turned out to be the case for all 4 sectors flown on the trip. Not a spare seat to be seen.

For reference, masks were not required on the DXB to CPH sector. This was a bit of a relief after the masked-up 15 hour stint from SYD.

UAE changed their rules while we were away, removing all mask requirements for flights to DXB and in the terminal.

Gate in DXB for the sector to CPH:

 

[offshore171]

Next sector was on a 777.

You do notice the difference from the previous sector's A380. The 777 is noticeably louder and the cabin air quality is inferior.

The flight is otherwise pretty straightforward and we touch down in Copenhagen, for the first few days of the trip.

Bags arrived too:

 

[mrsterryn]

Looks.like a great trip
Husband just returned a week ago form Billund. His first trip in three years back to Billund. He has missed it

 

[offshore171]

We get the train from the airport to Copenhagen station downtown, which takes about 12 minutes.

From there it's a short walk to our accomodation, the delightful Coco Hotel.

Coco Hotel - A new and unique boutique hotel in the heart of Copenhagen

Located in Vesterbro, Coco Hotel is close to all the big sights. With impeccable interior design Coco hotel is the ideal boutique hotel for your stay!

coco-hotel.com

This is a boutique hotel in a pleasant district of restaurants and shops, a few minutes walk from many attractions.

The hotel has a beautiful central courtyard where they serve a free glass of wine to guests daily from 5pm. They also offer coffee and cafe style food all day.

 

[Guvner]

The lounge has recently switched to a QR Code menu that you load up on your phone or ipad. This means you can save a copy!

For reference here's the current DXB EK F-Lounge menu attached

Thanks. Will be there in a few weeks. Have been looking for a menu.

 

[offshore171]

We begin our exploration of Copenhagen, mostly on foot, but also using their excellent public transport system. The hotel also has bicycles for loan, so all possibilities are covered.

Denmark has no covid restrictions whatsoever, and the people are out and about enjoying themselves with not a mask to be seen anywhere. Restaurants and attractions are all very busy, despite being past the summer peak.

The weather is fantastic, with mild temperatures and mostly clear skies.

Many prominent buildings are proudly displaying the Ukrainian flag:



Soon enough, as with most visitors to Copenhagen, we find ourselves at the entrance to the famous Tivoli Gardens. Not actually a garden...


In we go...

 

[offshore171]

Looks.like a great trip
Husband just returned a week ago form Billund. His first trip in three years back to Billund. He has missed it

Was he there for Legoland or something else entirely?

 

[mrsterryn]

Was he there for Legoland or something else entirely?

He was there for the Skaerbaek (aka Lego ) weekend. He took up Lego only a few years ago as a rehab situation.

 

[offshore171]

Tivoli Gardens is hard to put into a single box

Beautiful places in the Garden

Designs, aromas and colours draw you into the heart of Tivoli

www.tivoli.dk

It wears a few hats: Theme park, garden, restaurant precinct, indoor/outdoor concert venue, public exhibition and conference venue. It's all of those in one, and it's right in the centre of town.

It was busy, but not excessively so. We were so impressed, we came back again the following day.

There's so much to see and do, you can have a terrific time without going on a single ride.

Some of the rides afford terrific views across the city.


Others did not.

 

[offshore171]

Onto some other sights in Copenhagen

The Nyhavn waterfront district looked resplendent in brilliant weather


We also walked around the "Citadel", an old fortress that continues to operate as a military barracks

 

[offshore171]

The canal tours are excellent. This ran for about an hour and took in several landmarks and districts, and the host provided an excellent commentary in English, Danish and German - seamlessly.

Photo of the old stock exchange building from the boat


We walked back to some of the sights we saw from the boat. One of these is the Black Diamond Library which is an architectural wonder

Black Diamond (library) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

The name of the boat company doesn't carry well across the languages...

 

[offshore171]

Castles and Palaces time

Rosenborg Castle





The crown Jewels are housed in the basement and guarded by the military

 

[offshore171]

Next is Amalienborg Palace, which is where (as the press likes to say) "Australia's own", Princesss Mary lives.

This is also within short walking distance of the main downtown area. Such a walkable city.



Then it's on to the Botanical Gardens.

In the centre of the gardens is a large iron and glass "wintergarden" structure as well as a separate Butterfly House. This was a real surprise, as you enter via a double door airlock style arrangement and emerge into a tropical jungle filled with thousands of butterflies of species from all over the world.

 

[offshore171]

One thing that stood out in Copenhagen was how far ahead they are with electric cars.

Just wandering around the Vesterbro area, there were several EV showrooms

VW EV showroom, right next to Tivoli gardens


Xpeng showroom across the road



And lots of infrastructure has been installed. Here's some teslas charging right outside Amalienborg Palace


About half the taxis that I saw were EV's

 

[offshore171]

After 4 nights at the Hotel Coco, we farewell Copenhagen and get a train to our next stop, Vejle.

Vejle is at the southern end of the Jutland peninsula, and is a significant sized town as it is a regional capital. Danish pronunciation rules are notoriously difficult, and I heard Vejle pronounced several different ways. I *think* it's "VIGH (rhymes with high) LA" but happy to be corrected!

This will be our base for the visit to Legoland, about 30 mins bus ride away




Vejle has a popular pedestrian mall that runs the length of the town centre, and includes a restaurant precinct covered by umbrellas.

 

[offshore171]

We stayed at Vejle rather than Billund for a couple of reasons.

One is that it's on the main train line from Denmark to Germany, whereas Billund involves a bus. Not wanting to schlep our bags on a bus to Billund and back, made Vejle an attractive option.

Second is that Vejle is a significant regional town with a number of its own attractions.

We found a couple of great restaurants while we were there. The pick of these was a Japanese/Pan-asian establishment called Oasia.

This turned out to be the best meal of the trip so far