Copenhagen Getting there & around

Getting around

Public transport

Copenhagen has an extensive public transit system consisting of a metro, rail and bus network. The metro system – which is driverless – runs through the eastern side of the city centre connecting Nørreport with Kongens Nytorv and Christianshavns Torv. The system now runs to the airport. The S-train network has 11 lines passing through Central Station (København H), and a vast bus system called HUR (Hovedstadsens Udviklingsråd; bus terminus), the main terminus of which is at Rådhuspladsen, a couple of blocks to the northeast of the Central Station.

Buses & trains

The bus and train network has an integrated ticket system based on seven geographical zones. Most of your travel will probably be within two zones. Single tickets are valid for one hour’s travel (one to two zones adult/child aged 12 to 15 19/9.50kr; three zones 28.50/19kr; children under 12 travel free if accompanied by an adult). Also available are discount 10-ticket cards (one to two zones adult/child 120/66kr; three zones 160/80kr), which you must stamp in the yellow machines when boarding buses or on the train/metro platforms. Tickets are valid for travel on the metro, buses and S-tog (S-train or local train) even though they look slightly different, depending on where you buy them. One ticket allows you to travel for one hour on all three types of transport.

Trains and buses generally run from about 5am (6am on Sunday) to around 12.30am, though buses continue to run through the night (charging double the usual fare) on a few main routes.

The free Copenhagen city maps that are distributed by the tourist office show bus routes (with numbers) and are very useful for finding your way around the city.

For schedules or more details try HUR (36 13 14 15; www.hur.dk in Danish; 7am- 9.30pm), DSB (70 13 14 15; www.dsb.dk; 7am-10pm), for trains and S-tog local trains, or Metro (70 15 16 15; www.m.dk; 9am-4pm Mon-Fri).

Copenhagen card

The Copenhagen Card (www.cphcard.com; 24hr adult/child 10-15 199/129kr, 72hr 429/249kr), available at the Wonderful Copenhagen Tourist Information Bureau or online, gives you free access to around 60 museums in the city and surrounding area, as well as free travel for all S-train, metro and bus journeys within the seven travel zones.

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Car & motorcycle

Except for the weekday-morning rush hour, when traffic can bottleneck coming into the city (and vice versa around 5pm), traffic in Copenhagen is generally manageable. Getting around by car is not problematic, except for the usual challenge of finding an empty parking space in the most popular places.

To explore sights in the centre of the city, you’re best off on foot or using public transport, but a car is convenient for getting to the suburban sights.

Rental

The following car hire companies have booths at the airport in the international terminal. Each also has an office in central Copenhagen.

Avis (33 73 40 99; www.avis.dk; Kampmannsgade 1)

Budget (33 55 05 00; www.budget.dk; Helgolandsgade 2)

Europcar (33 55 99 00; www.europcar.dk; Gammel Kongevej 13)

Hertz (33 17 90 21; www.hertzdk.dk; Ved Vesterport 3)

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Local transport

Taxi

Taxis can be flagged on the street and there are ranks at various points around the city centre. If the yellow taxa (taxi) sign is lit, the taxi is available for hire. The fare will start at 19kr and costs 10.20kr per kilometre from 7am to 4pm, and 11.20kr from 4pm to 7am, Monday to Friday. On Friday and Saturday, it’s 13kr from 11pm to 7am, and on Sunday and holidays the cost is 11kr. The cost is 10.20kr on Saturday from 7am to 11pm. Most taxis accept major credit cards. Four of the main companies are Codan Taxi (70 25 25 25), Hovedstadens Taxi (38 77 77 77), Taxa 35 35 35 35) and Taxamotor (38 10 10 10).

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Bicycle

Copenhagen is a great city for getting around by bicycle. Most streets have cycle lanes and, more importantly, motorists tend to respect them.

Except during weekday rush hours, it’s possible to carry bikes on S-trains (10kr per ticket). You can load your bicycle into any carriage that has a cycle symbol and you must stay with the bike at all times.

Virtually all of Copenhagen can be toured by bicycle, except for pedestrian-only streets such as Strøget. Bicycles are allowed to cross Strøget at Gammel Torv and Kongens Nytorv.

When touring the city, cyclists should give way to bus passengers who must traverse cycle lanes to reach the pavement and have right of way, and to pedestrians (particularly tourists) who sometimes absent-mindedly step off the kerb and into the path of oncoming cyclists.

Cycling maps, including a 1:50, 000-scale map of the greater Copenhagen area called Københavns Amt, are produced by the Danish cycling federation, Dansk Cyklist Forbund (33 32 31 21; www.dcf.dk; Rømersgade 5), and can be purchased at bookshops.

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