Take a map to get round the airport!! (Other airports...)

Member Name: machar

Product:	Other airports...
Date:	25/10/01 (430 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: easy (ish?) to get to and from, modern

Disadvantages: not much to do, expensive like the country!

I'm not joking - Copenhagen's Kastrup airport is probably THE worst signposted airport I've ever had the misfortune to land in!

Kastrup airport is situated 6 miles south east of Copenhagen on a little island called Amager. The fact that it is on an island makes no difference whatsoever but it's one of those useless little facts that I like to trot out.

Anyway, landing there is not a problem. I was flying in from Amsterdam courtesy of KLM and there was the usual problem of me arriving but my luggage being away on its own little holiday somewhere MUCH more exciting. The lovely men at the lost baggage counter were wonderful even when I couldn't remember the name or address of my hotel for love nor money (well I was in a bit of a flap!). They all spoke excellent English (who doesn't these days? It's embarrassing only being able to speak one language?.) and gave me lots of help and phone numbers to call etc.

So leaving that disaster behind the next challenge was to make my way into the centre of Copenhagen. Fair enough. Out the baggage hall and I followed the sign with the little train on it. Bit sneaky of them to put the ticket booth above the train station with no obvious sign on it but they didn't fool me! Yet another perfect English speaker behind the counter who made sure I had the correct ticket, told me the platform number and even helped me wrestle with the strange currency (dare I say roll on the Euro?). I think the train ticket cost about £5 - not cheap but it is the easiest way to get into Copenhagen.

Down the huge sloping walkway and onto the platform. Next challenge checking that I got on the correct train and that I knew when to get off again! This obviously had quite a few people a bit confused as there were lots of confused looking tourists stumbling about. There was no one official to ask so it was a bit hot or miss. A quick question to a Danish girl of the same age as myse
lf reassured me that the train approaching the platform would get me to Copenhagen. The helpful Dane even told me how long the journey should take and that I should get off at the Central Station (but it wasn't called this on the screen announcing the train departures!)

The train was big, clean and very European i.e. modern and actually worked unlike ours! The journey in only took about 10 mins and then there I was in the centre of Copenhagen in a big bustling train station. My hotel was right next to the station so I didn't need any further transport. If you do, this certainly isn't a problem! There is a huge taxi rank right outside the station and it seems as though every bus in the city stops there as well.

For me the biggest problem with Copenhagen airport was trying to get back home again! The trains left the Central Station every 15 minutes. There are plenty of automatic ticket machines or you can be a coward like me and go to the extremely efficient ticket booth. There are lifts down to the platforms so you don't have to wrestle your big suitcase (my luggage had finally decided to join me on holiday by this point!). The train I took was the actually the train to Malmo in Sweden so don't fall asleep or you may find yourself in the wrong country!!

Once back at the airport I was in the familiar territory of the train station but this was where the confusion began. Up the stairs to the check in desks and I looked at the board to find my desk number. Fair enough I though number 280 (or whatever!). However, when I looked around all the desks were SAS and only went up to number 50 something. There was absolutely no indication of where the rest of the desks were! I wandered around aimlessly pulling my huge suitcase behind me, tripping people up and running over their feet etc. After fruitlessly searching and looking dubiously down what seemed to be service corridors I eventually found a map hidden behind
the staircase. This informed me that I had what seemed to be a 5 mile walk to my check in desk down a maze of corridors! Please leave plenty of time for checking in at this airport - you'll need it. Off I soldiered down corridors full of shops and cafes. Suddenly I turned the corner and here was this HUGE check in hall and I mean huge! How they could have hidden it I do not know. Unfortunately the hall was packed with people and long snaking queues so it was a bit of a rugby scrum to reach my check in desk, which was at the other side of the hall and was totally empty.

After checking in the rest was a breeze. There are plenty of shops to keep you occupied but they are a bit expensive like the rest of the country really. I took advantage of the vast amount of seats and sat and read until my plane boarded. I would recommend taking a good book as there is not a lot to do there really!

So in summary - leave plenty of time for checking in as you have to walk miles, take a good book, make sure and ask about the train platform and DON'T fall asleep on the train unless you plan on ending up in Sweden!

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