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Getting There By Air:

København Lufthavn (CPH)
Tel: 3231 3231.
Website: www.cph.dk

Copenhagen Airport is among the most modern and efficient in the world and is located at Amager, just 8km (5 miles) from the city center. The airport is the main hub serving Scandinavia and the Baltic and is the principal airport for Scandinavian Airlines (SAS). International flights use terminals 2 and 3. Terminal 1 handles domestic services to destinations on Jutland and Funen. Flight information is available from the airlines operating here or from the airport website. Registered users can also take advantage of a system that sends messages direct to their mobile phones, relaying gate and boarding information, any changes or delays and the arrival time of flights and baggage. This service is available through the website. A free transit bus connects the domestic and international terminals as well as the parking facilities.

Approximate flight times to Copenhagen: From London is 1 hour 45 minutes; from New York is 8 hours 30 minutes; from Seattle is 11 hours; and from Sydney is around 24 hours.

Airport facilities: These include banks (with currency exchange), ATMs, tourist information and hotel reservations in the international arrivals hall, travel agencies, duty-free shops, restaurants, children’s play areas, childcare facilities, 24-hour first aid and left-luggage lockers. There is a five-star Hilton Hotel (tel: 3250 1501; website: www.hilton.dk) linked to terminal 3 by a covered walkway, steps and elevators. Car hire is available from Avis, Budget, Europcar, Hertz and Sixt.

Business facilities: There are meeting facilities with 14 meeting rooms and AV equipment operated by Hilton Meetings (tel: 3244 5208) on the fourth floor in terminal 3. Scandinavian Airlines, British Airways, Servisair and Novia each provide executive lounges for their passengers and customers.

Transport to the city: Copenhagen has the fastest and cheapest airport-to-city-center rail link of any European capital (just 13 minutes). DSB (tel: 7013 1415; website: www.dsb.dk) trains run every 10 minutes to the city center. Services operate Monday to Friday from early in the morning until around midnight. Tickets are available from the ticket office in terminal 3. The new Metro line (tel: 7015 1615; website: www.m.dk) between the city center and the airport opened in September 2007 (journey time - 14 minutes). Public buses 12, 30, 96N and 250S (see Public Transport in Getting Around) run from the airport to the city center (journey time - 20 to 25 minutes) and beyond until midnight daily. Night bus 96N runs from after midnight until around 0400 from terminal 3 to City Hall Square (Rådhuspladsen). A taxi to the city center costs around Dkk200 (journey time - approximately 20 minutes).

Getting There By Water:

Københavns Havn (Port of Copenhagen), Nordre Toldbod 7 (tel: 3347 9999; website: www.cphport.dk), is Denmark’s largest port and the most important cruise destination in Northern Europe. Most cruise ships that dock in Copenhagen are heading for the Norwegian fjords or the Baltic. These big summer cruise ships dock along Langelinie Pier, which is 15 minutes’ walk further out from Nyhavn, where the year-round ferries listed below currently dock. The harbor area has been extensively developed in recent years. The city’s magnificent new opera house on Holmen opened in 2005, the Danish state has built an extension to the Royal Library on the waterfront, and there are lots of new facilities, including an information center, telephones and lounges. In addition, various shops, pierside cafes and restaurants have appeared, and a new theater opened in February 2008 at Kvæsthusbroen.

Ferry services: There are services to Oslo (journey time - 16 hours) run by DFDS Seaways (tel: 3342 3060; website: www.dfdsseaways.com) and to Swinoujscie, Poland (journey time - 9 hours) run by Polferries (tel: 3313 5223; website: www.polferries.com).

Bornholmstrafikken (tel: 5695 1866; website: www.bornholmstrafikken.dk) runs daily ferry services between Køge, some 45km (28 miles) south of Copenhagen, and Rønne, on the island of Bornholm in the Baltic (journey time - 7 hours).

Ferry companies have been unable to compete with the transport services on the new bridge over to Sweden. The closest ferry service between Denmark and Sweden runs across Øresund between Helsingør (Elsinore) and Helsinborg and is operated by Scandlines (tel: 3315 1515; website: www.scandlines.dk).

Transport to the city: The port is a 10-to-15-minute walk from the center of Copenhagen, 4km (2.5 miles) from the central station and 15km (9 miles) from the airport. Bus 26 passes along Havnegade past the ferry terminal and taxis are readily available.

Getting There By Road:

Motorways are designated by the letter ‘E’ followed by two digits, main roads by two digits on a yellow background and minor roads by three digits on a white background. The speed limit is 130kph (80mph) or 110kph (68mph) on motorways (see signs), 80kph (50mph) on main roads and 50kph (31mph) in urban areas. Drivers must keep their headlights switched on at all times during the day. The use of fitted seat belts is compulsory for persons over the age of three. The maximum legal alcohol to blood ratio is 0.05%.

An International Driving Permit is not required but may be preferable if the national driving license is not in English. Although not necessary, Green Card insurance is recommended. The legal driving age in Denmark is 18 years.

The Danish Road Directorate operates a Traffic Information Center (tel: 1888) offering traffic information 24 hours a day, seven days a week. There are emergency phones along all Danish motorways at intervals of 2km (1.2 miles).

Emergency breakdown service: Dansk Autohjælp A/S (tel: 7010 8090).

Routes to the city: Highway E20 (with a connection to E45) crosses Denmark from west to east and intersects with E47 and E55 to the southwest of Copenhagen. The E47 runs south to Rødbyhavn, with ferry connections to Germany. There is a toll bridge across the Store Bælt between Sjælland and Fyn. The construction of the Øresund 16km (10-mile) bridge and tunnel complex, between Sjælland in Denmark and Scania in Sweden, was completed in 2000. Odense is located in Fyn, on the E20, connecting with the E45 highway in Jylland, which travels north to Århus and Aalborg.

Approximate driving times to Copenhagen: From Odense - 1 hour 30 minutes; Århus - 3 hours; Aalborg - 3 hours 40 minutes; Malmö - 40 minutes.

Coach services: There is no one main coach station in Copenhagen, and the several companies that provide coach services to and from the city call at different places in the city. One coach station is located in front of the Sofitel Plaza Hotel, Bernstorffgade. Eurolines Scandinavia (tel: 7010 0030; website: www.eurolines.dk) operates bus services with connections to more than 500 towns and cities in Europe, among them big cities like Berlin, Frankfurt, Vienna, Hamburg, Paris, Munich and London.

Bus company Abildskou A/S (tel: 7021 0888; website: www.abildskou.dk) runs services from Aalborg and Århus to Copenhagen and also a number of services linking the capital with various other destinations in Jutland.

Getting There By Rail:

Danish State Railways - DSB (tel: 7013 1415; website: www.dsb.dk) operates punctual, clean and well-equipped trains. All international trains arrive in and depart from Hovedbanegården central station (tel: 7013 1415), located on Bernstorffsgade near the Tivoli. Facilities include currency exchange (Danske Bank and Forex), a post office, shops, fast-food outlets and a supermarket.

Rail services: Direct trains run from Copenhagen to various European destinations, including Stockholm, Oslo and Hamburg; all require seat reservations. InterCity Lyn Express trains offer a direct connection between Copenhagen and other major Danish centers, such as Odense (journey time - 1 hour 15 minutes), Fredericia (journey time - 2 hours 30 minutes), Århus (journey time - 3 hours 30 minutes), Esbjerg (journey time - 3 hours 30 minutes) and Aalberg (journey time - 5 hours 10 minutes). There are also frequent regional train departures to cities in the surrounding area, including three trains an hour to Helsingør (Elsinore).

Getting Around:




Public Transport
The transport company Movia (tel: 3613 1400; website: www.movia.dk) runs the urban transport system. Information on trains can also be obtained from Danish State Railways (see Getting There By Rail). There is an integrated bus and urban train network, known as S-tog (tel: 7013 1415; website: www.dsb.dk). In addition, Copenhagen’s new Metro (tel: 7015 1615; website: www.m.dk) has 22 stations currently in use.

Buses and trains run daily 0500-0030 and there are additional night buses from City Hall Square (Rådhuspladsen) to the suburbs. There is a harbor bus service (buses 901 and 902) connecting the Royal Library’s Black Diamond building on Christians Brygge with Nordre Toldbod, with stops along the waterfront, including Nyhavn. The shuttle operates from early morning until early evening throughout the year (weather permitting) with four departures per hour.

The Metro opened in 2002 and runs from 0500 to 2400 from Mondays to Wednesdays, all night on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays and then until 2400 on Sundays. The expansion of the Metro is continuing and the link to the airport was completed in September 2007. The trains are fully automatic, but that doesn’t mean they are unmanned. There is a Metro steward on every train, whose job it is to check the tickets, provide information and help passengers.

Tickets for the Metro, the buses and the trains are all the same. Fares are calculated on a zone structure indicated on colored maps at stations and bus stops. The price of a ticket depends on the number of zones traveled through (minimum two zones). Tickets are available from the bus driver, at ticket offices or vending machines at stations and at the bus terminus at City Hall Square (Rådhuspladsen). Ticket tariffs are doubled if you board the metro or night buses between 0100 and 0500.

Discount cards (klippekort) for 10 journeys (calculated according to the number of zones you travel but generally saving around 40%) and 24-hour tickets are available at stations, at the bus terminus or from the tourist information office. It is cheaper per journey to use a discount card than to buy a ticket. The Copenhagen Card (CPHCARD; see Passes in Tourist Information) entitles the holder to free, unlimited travel on buses and trains in the metropolitan area, as well as discounts on car hire and canal and harbor tours. Tickets and discount cards must be held throughout the journey and are subject to inspection.

Taxis
Major taxi companies in the city include Taxa 4 x 35 (tel: 3535 3535; website: www.4x35.dk), Codan Taxi (tel: 7025 2525; website: www.codantaxi.dk), Hovedstadens Taxi (tel: 3877 7777) and Taxamotor (tel: 7033 8338; website: www.taxamotor.dk). All taxis are licensed and can be booked by telephone or hailed in the street. Most taxis accept credit cards but visitors should inform the driver at the beginning of the trip. It is not customary for customers to tip the driver (a service charge is included in the fare), but to round up the final amount instead.

There are also cheaper cycle taxis, including rickshaws from Copenhagen Rickshaw (tel: 3543 0122; website: www.rickshaw.dk). Cycle taxis can be ordered by telephone, hailed in the street or found at dedicated ranks in the center, such as Tivoli, City Hall Square (Rådhuspladsen) or Kongens Nytorv.

Driving in the City
Copenhagen is remarkably and refreshingly free of traffic. Environmental awareness and the compact nature of the city mean that many residents prefer to cycle, walk or rollerblade.

Parking meters are in operation in large sectors of the Old City. These are contained within three parking zones, where parking fees are payable: the Red Zone (the most expensive), the Green Zone and the Blue Zone (the cheapest). Tickets are available from coin-operated parking meters, which are color coded to indicate which zone you are in.

Multi-story car parks in the city are open 0600/0800-2000/0000. Some are closed Saturday afternoon and Sunday.

Car Hire
Self-drive cars are only rented to people over the age of 21, who hold a valid driving license and an international credit card. Individual car companies may impose their own age restrictions. 

Main operators include Avis (tel: 3251 2299; website: www.avis.dk), Hertz (tel: 3317 9000; website: www.hertzdk.dk), driveon.net (tel: 3393 0393; website: www.driveon.net) and Europcar (tel: 3355 9900; website: www.europcar.dk). At the top end of the range, Copenhagen Limousine Service (tel: 7026 0601; website: www.cphlimo.com) offers luxury car hire.

Bicycle Hire
Cycling is the preferred method of transport for many of Copenhagen’s residents and there are cycle routes along all the major streets, through some of the city’s most scenic areas. Between April and September, the city provides its visitors with free bicycles to get around. There are 110 City Bike Parks (website: www.bycyklen.dk) located around the city, where bikes can be collected for a small deposit. Several companies hire bicycles for trips outside the city, including Københavns Cykelbørs, Gothersgade 157 (tel: 3314 0717), and Københavns Cykler, Central Station (tel: 3333 8613; website: www.rentabike.dk). ID and a deposit are required. Bikes can be taken along on trains and the metro, except during rush hour.

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