Train or metro?
So you arrived at Copenhagen Airport, and now you have to find your way to your hotel – which means of transport do you choose? Well you’re in luck, because the airport is actually only 7.5km from the central station and it is absolutely no hassle to get there. Depending on where in town your hotel is situated, you either choose the train or metro.
The train will take you to the central station (Københavns Hovedbanegård or in short Kbh. H) in just 12 minutes. The metro lines will cover Amager, Frederiksberg, Kgs. Nytorv and Nørreport, just to mention a few main areas/stops and is just as fast as the train. The price? 36DKK
Remember the ticket!
When you have found your luggage, you will exit the arrival area and find yourself in Terminal 3. Just keep walking straight till you get to the end of the terminal. Before you take the lift or stairs to the tracks, remember to buy your ticket in the terminal.
Vending machines can be found just next to stairs, so you can’t miss them. You need a 3-zone ticket to get to the city centre, regardless of your choice on train or metro. That is the beauty of Copenhagen public transportation – you use the same ticket for train, metro, bus and boat! The ticket from Copenhagen Airport to Central Copenhagen will cost you 36 DKK. Now that’s 3 times 12 DKK, which is the price for 1-zone. When you have to board some mean of transport, you always have to buy a minimum of 2-zones (24 DKK) and you always buy the ticket in advance, before getting on the train/metro/bus/boat – otherwise you can face a fine of 750 DKK.
The ticket is just a paper slip with all the details printed on it. Depending on how many zones you bought, the ticket will be valid for 75 minutes (2 zones) and an additional 15 minutes per purchased zone. To figure out how many zones you need for your trip, look at the zone map and count from the red (that’s the zone you’re in) and to the zone your destination is at. Remember to include the zone you’re in when counting!
A really useful tool, if you’re uncertain on how to get to your destination, is the Journey Planner. Here you just type in from where you want to start your trip, where you want to go and when you want to start or arrive. Press enter and it will provide you different alternatives to get there and departure/arrival times. There are all kind of features in the advanced settings at the top, if you for example want to avoid buses or don’t want to walk more than 500 meters.
You can also find it as an app in App Store and Google Play.
The Copenhagen City Pass
Now if you plan on using the public transportation a lot, you might want to consider getting a city pass. They can be bought on this official site (in English). It comes in 2 sizes and 5 different durations, depending on the length of your stay. With a single ticket costing 24 DKK each time, the city pass is a good idea unless, you’re only going back and forth to the airport. Check the link for information on prices, coverage and duration. By the way – the small pass covers a really large part of Copenhagen, so unless you know you’re going outside that area, it will be well sufficient.
Taxi, bus or boat?
Now you can grab a taxi, but the price is well over 150 DKK and even double that sometimes, depending on where you’re going and the time of day/night/weekend.
If you do decide on a taxi to get you straight to the door of your hotel, they can be found just outside terminal 3. Just turn right when you exit the arrival area and go out the doors. You might have to stand in line to get one, but the waiting time usually isn’t that bad and it’s well organized with designated lanes and staff assigning taxis to travelers.
You can also catch a few buses from just outside the airport, but it will three times the time to get to city center, than with the train or metro. But to get around in town buses are just fine. The downside is that you have to plan your trip a bit and find the right bus line and make sure you get of at the correct stop. The bus lines are named with numbers and the ones with an “A” after the them (e.g. “4A”), are running much more frequent, so here you just find the bus-stop and wait – it will probably only be a few minutes till the next arrives.
It said boat in the last headline. Well you can’t catch a boat from the airport, but you can get around Copenhagen by boat. They use the same ticket system and are just like the buses. Go to the harbor-front and find the stop and just jump on when a bus-ferry arrives. Remember to have purchased your ticket before you jump on!
Don’t know where to stay yet? We wrote this article recently, if you need a little inspiration!