In this mini Copenhagen Travel Guide you’ll get to understand the public transportation system in Denmark, how to buy tickets and good tips when trying to get around in the Capital of Denmark.
👇How to get around in Copenhagen
First of all – many sights in Copenhagen are within a short distance of each other so walking or biking is the optimal way of getting around.
Many bike-shops offer rentals. You can rent for a few hours or several days.
Recommended shops:
- BeCopenhagen
- Bike Tours Copenhagen
- MS Cykelcenter
But there’s also the option of renting electric bikes and E-scooters on the go. There’s 3 big companies you’ll find all over the streets:
- Lime
- Bolt
- Donkey Republic
📣 PRO TIP: Make sure to download the apps when you have wifi, so you save data on your phone. Also add your credit card to your phone to have a smooth check-out.
(E-SIMPLE AFFILIATE)
In Denmark there’s 3 main forms of public transportation. Common for all three are that they run all the time. So no rush. Here’s a breakdown:
1. Bus
🚌Busses are yellow (or blue if it’s electric) and is just called a bus.
✅Pros: You can get much closer to everything inside the city center.
❌Cons: You can get stuck in traffic (or worse: get stuck in a full bus)
2. Train
🚆There’s 2 forms of trains: regional- and S-trains (S-tog in danish). You will mainly use the S-train. The S-trains are red and you can always spot a train station by the big red S-signs.
✅Pros: You can travel far relatively quickly.
❌Cons: Longer distance between stops.
📣PRO TIP: Don’t cross the yellow dots on the station. They are safety lines, as the trains get quite close to the edge.
3. Metro
🚇The Copenhagen Metro has four lines M1, M2, M3 and M4 (they all go every 1-2 min.) M3 is also called the “city ring” as it goes in a circle and will mainly be the one you’ll use.
Many train stations are directly connected to metro-stations, and you will most commonly change lines at Nørreport station and the Central Station. But sometimes you have to leave the S-station and walk a few meters to reach the metro.
If you arrive in Copenhagen airport, there’s a direct metro-line (M2) from the airport to the inner city (takes 13 min.)
✅Pros: quick, easy and great accessibility to many sights.
❌Cons: there’s no system to getting on the metro, and often there’s a lot of people – so you have to PUSH forward (and no the next train won’t have fewer people).
📣PRO TIP: If you plan on using public transportation DOWNLOAD “Rejseplanen”. It’s a mobile-app where you can easily find the best route on how to get from A to B with public transportation. It tells you all the information you need, and tells you if you need to change from train to bus or metro.
How to buy tickets
There’s no gates or other systems which prevent you from using trains, metros & busses without a ticket, but there’s inspectors, who will randomly join a ride. You HAVE to have a ticket – always. The controllers don’t care if you’re a tourist, and the fines are €100.
There’s many ways you can buy a ticket.
- Machines in the station (they are big red boxes)
- 7/11 stores
- Rejseplanen app
- DOT app
