By plane

Copenhagen Airport (CPH)

1 Copenhagen Airport (CPH IATA) on the nearby island of Amager is the central hub for Scandinavia's largest international air carrier SAS — Scandinavian Airlines. Copenhagen Airport consistently gets high marks for both design and function — this is a much more pleasant place for transit than, say, London Heathrow or Frankfurt and several carriers have direct intercontinental routes to Copenhagen, including: Air Canada, Delta Air Lines, Egyptair, Qatar Airways, Thai Airways, Singapore Airlines, etc. Check-in lines can get long during peak hours however, so make sure to allocate extra time in the summer. Self-service check-in counters are available, which can cut down on wait times.

Low-cost carriers also fly to the airport. EasyJet serves Copenhagen from London Gatwick, Manchester, Milan, Geneva, Paris CDG and Berlin. Norwegian offers budget flights to (among others) Liverpool, Oslo, Stockholm, Amsterdam, Budapest, Paris, Geneva, Vienna and Warsaw.

While CPH is one of Europe's busiest airports, with a flight taking off every 2 minutes on average well into the night, many facilities have limited opening hours. Little in the way of gastronomy or retail remains open after 20:00, even the CPH Apartment Lounge closes at 20:00 and the frequent fliers and business/first class passengers are required to wait in the empty terminal halls. If your flight is in the early hours, you can take advantage of the facilities (snacks, drinks, free Wi-Fi, relaxation and work facilities) of the CPH Apartment 05:00–20:00 for DKK239 (as of August 2022), unless your frequent-flyer plan or ticket tariff covers that already.

Transport to/from Copenhagen Airport

It takes 12 minutes by train to travel from Copenhagen Airport to the Central Station (Hovedbanegården) in Copenhagen city centre. You need a ticket for 3 zones (30kr) which can be purchased from one of the machines in the arrivals hall. The Copenhagen Metro also connects the airport with central Copenhagen, with trains leaving every 4 minutes during the day and every 15 minutes at night, taking 14 minutes to the city centre (for the same ticket and same price of 30 kr). Consider buying a City Pass or Copenhagen Card instead if you plan on visiting attractions the same day.

The airport has different stations for mainline trains (underneath the arrivals hall) and for the metro (upstairs from the arrivals hall), both are in Terminal 3. The next metro station is named Kastrup — the historic name for the airport — but has nothing to do with the airport.

Malmö Airport

Malmö Airport (MMX IATA) across the Øresund brigde has flights with Wizzair from Budapest, Gdańsk, Katowice, and Warsaw. Neptunbus provide connecting buses from Malmö Airport to Copenhagen Central Station, these are timed in accordance with the Wizzair flights. Domestic flights within Sweden also serve Malmö Airport, but do not have direct bus connections — see Malmö#Get in for routes.

By train

Links between the capital and the rest of the country are frequent and excellent. There are several trains each hour to Malmö and further to Lund and Gothenburg. There are 12 daily connections on weekdays to Stockholm. There are further train services in the direction of Karlskrona and Kalmar. There are six fast connections to Hamburg and one to Berlin.

From the rest of Denmark connections are frequent and numerous. In Jutland several railway branches from Aarhus/Aalborg in the North, Struer in the north-west, Esbjerg to the west, and finally Sønderborg in the south convene in Fredericia, where they connect to a main line with up to four intercity trains per hour, divided into Express and Intercity trains, which runs across Funen before crossing the Great Belt (Storebælt). From there it reaches across the length of Zealand before terminating at Copenhagen's central station. If you are going in the reverse direction without a seat reservation, be mindful that the train is often broken up at Fredericia to serve the different branches, so if you do not have seat reservation, it is a bad idea just picking a random carriage in Copenhagen — check the screens on the platform to see where you should board, or ask the ticket inspectors once on the train. All cross-belt trains are operated by DSB (Danish State Railways).

From the island of Bornholm, a high speed ferry shuttles passengers to Ystad in Sweden, where you will have to board the Swedish Pågatåg commuter train, then change trains to the Øresundstog (see below) again at any of the stations in Malmö to continue on to Copenhagen. A one-way combined ferry/train ticket will only set you back DKK149.

Across the Øresund strait in Sweden, the Øresundstog trains departs from various towns in Southern Sweden, and via Lund and Malmö, crossing the Øresund bridge to Copenhagen, with a stop at the airport. The journey time from Malmö to Copenhagen Central station is 40 minutes and trains run every 15-20 minutes all day on this stretch, and every hour during the night. A one-way ticket between Malmö and Copenhagen is DKK92 when using a Rejsekort or SEK150 if purchased using the Skånetrafiken mobile app, with the added benefit of unlimited local public transport on both sides of the border (except the bridge/ferry where only one crossing is permitted) for the highlighted zone until 04.00 the following day. Swedish Railways operates up to seven X2000 express trains from Stockholm every day (five and a half hours) and one night train that continues on to Hamburg. An easy change in Malmö almost doubles that number (including one additional night train option). Passengers taking a day trip from Scania or are returning within 24 hours may consider purchasing a 24-hour ticket using the Skånetrafiken mobile app or ticket machines as it can cost as little as the price of two single tickets (e.g. SEK150 or approximately 194DKK between Copenhagen and Malmö) and includes unlimited use of public transport in the zones you purchased the ticket for. Foreigners should carry a valid passport or national identity card as identity documents are sometimes checked at the border.

To continental Europe, Intercity Express and Eurocity trains (and one Euronight train) connect Hamburg with Copenhagen, up to seven times per day. Standard prices are €130 from Berlin and €78 from Hamburg (€130 for a couchette space on the night train), but it's often possible to find discounted tickets — in Denmark those are called Orange Europa or "sightseeing fares" which are the same price as a bus. Snälltåget operate seasonal night trains between Sweden and Germany with a stop in suburban Copenhagen, the routes vary depending on the time of year. Only some of these trains use Copenhagen Central station, so you may need to search using "København Ørestad" or "København Syd" to find tickets.

2 Copenhagen Central Station (Københavns Hovedbanegård), Bernstorffsgade 16–22. (updated Aug 2021)

By bus

Buses between Jutland and Copenhagen are only marginally cheaper than the train, although there are considerable discounts offered Monday to Thursday. International buses on the other hand offer considerably lower prices than the train, and destinations east of Berlin may also be faster by bus.

The new Copenhagen Bus Terminal (Københavns Busterminal) next to Dybbølsbro Station in the Vesterbro district opened in June 2024.

Many of the companies listed below are defunct, or have merged with Flixbus.

From Jutland and Fyn the bus company EkspresRuten connects Copenhagen with Aarhus, Vejle and Odense South several times per day. There is also a stop in Roskilde.

Ekspres Ruten, ☏ +45 40 75 11 71.

From Jutland bus number 888 connects Copenhagen with Aarhus and Aalborg several times per day. Journey time is 5 hr 15 min from Aalborg. On Zealand there are additional stops in Holbæk and Roskilde. Line 882 runs between Copenhagen and Fjerritslev in Northwestern Jutland once every day.

Abildskou, M–F 08:00–17:00, Sa 08:00–14:00, Su 09:00–17:00, ☏ +45 70 21 08 88.

Links from Scandinavia are fairly frequent and very economical compared to the train. Most buses arrive and depart from DGI Byen, near the southern overpass of the central station. Passengers are generally encouraged to buy tickets on-line, but tickets can also be purchased at the Copenhagen Right Now tourist information desk near the central station. In the winter (Dec-Apr) Fjällexpressen whisks skiers between Copenhagen and the Swedish ski resorts. When booking on-line, it's useful to know that Copenhagen is called Köpenhamn in Swedish.

GoByBus, ☏ +45 33 23 54 20, info@gobybus.se. M-F 07:30–18:00, Sa 07:30–17:00, Su 09:00–18:00. Oslo (8½ hr) via Gothenburg (4½ hr), line 300. ~DKK225.

Gråhundbus, ☏ +45 4468 4400. Local operator Greyhound Bus has several daily connections to Malmö and once daily to Malmö Airport. Also works with partners elsewhere to Europe.

Swebus Express, ☏ +46 771 218218, info@swebusexpress.se. M-F 08:00–18:00, Sa 09:00–15:00, Su 09:00–18:00. Oslo (9 hr) via Gotenburg (5 hr) ~SEK300, line 820; Stockholm (9 hr) via Jonköping (4½ hr) ~ SEK350, line 832..

Nettbuss/Bus4you. Oslo (9 hr) via Gothenburg (5 hr).

Flixbus. Oslo (9 hr) via Gothenburg (5 hr); Stockholm (9 hr) via Jonköping (4½ hr).

From continental Europe there are several bus companies which offer numerous daily connections from Germany often at very competitive rates, most run via the ferries from Rødby to Puttgarden or Gedser to Rostock. Many of these services, especially if headed to points east such as Berlin, are considerably faster than the best train connections. Most of these buses stops near DGI byen on Ingerslevsgade.

Swebus Express, ☏ +45 80 70 33 00, info@swebusexpress.se. M-F 08:00–18:00, Sa 09:00–15:00, Su 09:00–18:00. Tickets sold at the central tourist information desk. This company does allow for bicycles under certain conditions. Please check their website. Berlin (7 hr) via Rostock (4½ hr) ~SEK450, line 902. (updated Oct 2016)

Autoprevoz, ☏ +387 51 317 333, info@autoprevoz.org. Banja Luka (25 hr, twice weekly) ~BAM300 (€150)

Toptourist, ☏ +45 48 25 38 37, info@toptourist.dk. Tickets can be paid on the bus, but advance booking and payment is recommended. Sarajevo via Salzburg (twice weekly) ~DKK1000 (€140) return.

From and to Poland there are a host of different bus companies each with a few weekly scheduled departures. Unfortunately the market is very fluid and routes and operators tend to change rapidly. Agat provides four round trips per week between Copenhagen and Katowice (20 hr) in Southern Poland, and Eurobus for connections with Warsaw (20 hr via Hamburg) once per week. If any of these companies have shut down, try searching for alternatives, as there is a good chance someone else will have taken over the traffic.

By ferry or cruise ship

Copenhagen's spanking new DFDS Seaways Terminal (Dampfærgevej 30) is close to Nordhavn station. City bus line 26 stops at the entrance of the ferry terminal, it also stops at Copenhagen Central Station, Town Hall Square and Østerport Station.

There are two regular connections straight into Copenhagen's harbour. The most known is from Oslo, Norway, with daily departures, and an over night trip that takes 16 hours. It is marketed as a cruise line, and occasionally a cruise round-trip fare can be less expensive than a one-way fare, that begin at €181 (incl. car €206). The other ferry connection is the less known roundtrip-connection to Fredericia, Denmark and Klaipėda, Lithuania. Since the latter is a Ro-Ro freight line, you need to contact DFDS for more information.

If you are arriving under your own sail, Copenhagen has several marinas, the biggest of which is Svanemøllehavnen. There are no designated visitor berths but it is almost always possible to find one with a green sign. Daily charge: DKK75-120. Copenhagen is also a very popular port of call for cruises touring both the Baltic Sea and the Norwegian fjords. The main cruise terminal is on Oceankaj in the North harbour. Bus 27 connect to Østerport station.

By car

Visiting Copenhagen by car means planning for where to park. Driving during working hours in the centre of Copenhagen is not advisable, except of course when going to and from your hotel or where you might spend the night. It is quite expensive to park in the medieval part of Copenhagen, 20 to 36 kr (approximately €2.65 to 4.80) an hour during working hours. If the car is just the means of sightseeing, the cheapest would be to park at one of the S-train or metro stations in the outskirts of Copenhagen Municipality and take the train or a bus to your destination.

As of 1 October 2023 a low emission zone have been introduced in Copenhagen, see Driving in Denmark#Low Emission Zones.

Parking

There is paid parking on public roads for cars and motorcycles in large parts of Copenhagen Municipality. Paid parking areas are divided into four colour coded zones with different rate levels. There is free parking in all zones for vehicles with a valid and visible disability badge. Parking during weekends from Saturday at 17:00 until Monday at 08:00 is for free, as well as parking on public holidays. Copenhagen Municipality has issued a mini parking guide. Consult the map from Copenhagen Municipality to find areas without paid or time-restricted parking (in white). The map also indicates S-train and metro stations but excludes Frederiksberg. Parking in Copenhagen is subject to stringent regulations aimed at curbing congestion and promoting sustainable transportation methods. The city actively encourages residents and visitors alike to opt for public transit, cycling, or walking whenever feasible. However, for those requiring parking facilities, a range of options exists, including metered street parking, multi-level parking structures, and designated zones.

Frederiksberg Municipality is encircled by Copenhagen Municipality, and driving around a street corner to find a parking spot could mean entering another municipality with different pricing. Frederiksberg has different rules for parking with a single two-hour parking zone in force on public streets from 07:00 to 24:00 on weekdays and 07:00 to 17:00 on Saturdays. This means there is 2 hours free parking using a parking app in most places in Frederiksberg. See Frederiksberg#By car for details and always look for local restrictions.

By yacht

Copenhagen is on Øresund. There are marinas.

Hellers, Kastrup strandpark 9. The biggest shop for boat equipment.