Frankfurt hot, but so can hamburg be.
Denmark is somewhat later next year (aug). I did CPH last year which is an awesome race. But next year i will do frankfurt (already signed up using the tri club program), i want to do my event earlier in the year so i can take summer somewhat off and relax and enjoy.
But if heat is a problem DK will much better temperature than Frankfurt (at least on avg.)

I did the inaugural IM Norway on 1 July and it was stupendous. There were only 525 finishers in the full giving it a small town feel. And with 6500 ft net gain on the bike plus 22 moto refs I did not see any drafting. This is a tough course to challenge yourself.

I just did Frankfurt. Split transition is a small hassle but not too bad. The bike course was a bit breezy this year but it kept it cool. Was in the low 80's and low humidity so the weather was actually nice. There were quite a few marshals so the drafting wasn't too bad, at least near me. Overall I really liked it. I'd say the run along the river was 2/3 sun 1/3 shady. The city itself isn't that great. Not a lot of sightseeing to do, mostly a business city. (my family came with me)

I really liked Copenhagen. Course was very flat and fast. Split transition but really easy to get to on the metro. The town was great. Whole family really liked it. Pretty small so you can walk everywhere. When I was there in 2016, the weather was in the mid 70's for the race. Really great race weather, got cool at night though. I could see if the weather wasn't good it could get cold pretty quickly. Am thinking of going back in 2020. Family really loved the city and wants to go back. My other thought is Hamburg or Sweden.

In Frankfurt we stayed at the Adina Hotel Apartment. About 2 blocks from the river/run route and 5 min walk to the finish/expo. Rooms were big and had a mini kitchen. Our room was a bit bigger and we had a small washer/dryer in the room which was nice to wash all the gear after the race.

In Copenhagen we stayed at the Best Western Hotel City. About 5-10 min walk to the finish and 200 yards from the run course. Rooms were nice, and average size for European rooms. Location was very good though. Nice for the family to watch the run and be able to run back to the room if they needed anything.

I did Frankfurt a couple of years ago, it was a good race, the split transition was a bit annoying but manageable, I did actually ride my bike to T1 following googlemaps but ended up going on some tracks which wasn't great with racing tyres and a disc wheel!

On the day the weather was actually quite cold, a few pro's DNF'd with hyperthermia as wetsuits were banned but air temp was cool for the start of the bike, it rained at the backend of the bike for me, but the year before it was 40c with a massive DNF rate.

The actual race was good, swim is pretty easy, bike has a few bumps but is pretty quick if the wind is calm. The run was flat, from what I remember about half is covered by trees.

I've been in Hamburg this weekend for the WTS Olympic, I also did a recce of what is supposed to be the new bike loop, I did just over 50 miles with about 170m of climbing and most of that was in the town when I went back to my room, it is absolutely flat but could get windy, and I think it might be a draft-fest, although it was a narrow road so could get busy in the MOP.

The water was about 20c, and on Saturday it was perfect conditions, calm, overcast but dry and about 21c, Sunday though got quite hot, 29c in the afternoon.

I think the run uses a lot of the same course and there was some tree cover which might help.

Logistically it should be easier, everything is in one transition and there's plenty of hotels or Airbnb in town, public transport is also very good and like most Germans they speak very good English.

Jeff

Nobody has any experience with the new Hamburg course. Practically everything is different - bike course is eastwards instead of the old south-west course, and the swim and run courses slightly revised. Most of my team are supposed to race it in two week's time, my coach raced Hamburg last year and found it excellent. Yes, it was drizzling during parts of the bike. The new bike course looks like it's snaking through some pretty small roads, but very, very flat. It might just end up the European equivalent of IMTX...

I just did Frankfurt. It was my first IM but I've been racing 70.3s for a while, including some with split transitions. It was a superb experience even though I had a no-legs day, and I've already re-registered for next year.

Pros (Frankfurt):

• Superb organisation - yeah, split transitions are a pain but I spent a total of 5 minutes in queues. Shuttle to T1 at check-in was super easy and quick, dropped my T2 bag off at the same time.
• The crowds on the run are deafening. This is possibly a con if you're having a bad day and just want to suffer in peace... But getting passed by Frodeno and Lange going mano-a-mano is quite something.
• Clear, fast swim and run courses. The lake is warm-ish but still the probability of wetsuits for AGers is very high. The run course is simple, and 4 loops make it mentally easy to break down.
• Access to the city: Huge airport, fast and convenient inner-city transportation, everything. Excellent swim facilities in the region, 50m outdoor pool costs 2.30eur to enter.

Cons:

• Split transitions - yeah, they're organised to perfection but it's still more of a pain compared to Hamburg's super-central single transition location.
• Hilly bike course with 5 extra kilometres (not 100%, but likely to remain for next year's course too) - it's not slow, but it's not exactly the course for record breaking attempts unless your name is Daniella Ryf.
• Quite a bit of sun exposure if it's sunny. I was racing in a sleeved suit and actually didn't find the temperatures too hot, but thank god I slathered myself with sunscreen in T2.
• Bike course includes some pretty major roads, so doing a recce is not particularly easy. I drove the loop, which was good enough to know where attention was needed.

Hamburg is, statistically speaking, less warm. But these days any European area experiences hot spells in June-August. Just a week before, England was sweltering and two days after the race, Frankfurt had a breezy ~24c. Many friends races Frankfurt over the years, from 2015's absolute furnace (40c!) to 2011's hail and torrential rain. European weather...


I stayed at my grandparents who live right on the run course (near the western turnaround), so obviously Frankfurt wasn't too boring for me. There's some good shopping to be done in town, and my spouse enjoyed train trips to nearby cities to check out PhD options.

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