How to Use Public Transport in Copenhagen

The thing about Copenhagen is: they have great public transport. As a person who has lived all over the world, I cannot stress this enough. Copenhagen has GREAT public transport. It is reliable, safe, and pervasive. Of course, like everything in Copenhagen, it is not cheap. There are elements of the system that can be a little confusing, even for locals, but we’re here to help simplify it all for you!

Explore the modes of transport here:

Metro	Train	Bus	Ferry	Bikes	FAQS

Metro

The metro is in service 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  Trains arrive every 2-4 minutes during rush hour, and 3-6 minutes outside rush hour and during the weekends. Double check with Journey Planner for times between midnight and 6 a.m. On the metro map, the numbers next to the station names show how many minute it takes on the train from Nørreport.

The original metro was 22 stops and only two lines. But since the end of September 2019, there are now an additional 17 stops thanks to Cityringen (also called M3), a circle line that that connects to the older lines at Frederiksberg and Kongens Nytorv. Cityringen includes Nørrebro, Østerbro, and Copenhagen Central Station (København H), making getting into the city easier than ever! The next line to open, M4 stretches diagonally from Fiskerikaj to Ny Ellebjerg, including the modern neighborhood development of Nordhavn. It will be partially open in 2020.

Although some parts of the city are still excluded from the metro (Nordvest, for example), there are more proposed extensions and this is a major step to having the city more connected via metro!

When is metro opening in Copenhagen?

The new Copenhagen metro opened on September 29th 2019.

Train

The S-trains (s-tog) are inter-city and run between 05:00 in the morning and 00:30 at night. Line F runs every 4-5 minutes, line A, B, C and E run every 10 minutes, and line H and Bx run every 20 minutes. On Friday and Saturday the trains run once an hour between 01:00 and 05:00, while line F runs every half hour during these hours.

 
When you change trains in Copenhagen, you always need to look at the screen for information, as you will often leave Copenhagen Central Station from a different platform every day even if you’re taking the same line.

There are also the regional trains that take you to parts of Denmark outside Copenhagen. These go beyond the zones of the s-tog network but operate on the same zone system when closer to the centre. These are the grey lines on the above map.

Bus

There are seven A-buses in central Copenhagen, which are the primary bus services, arriving every 3-7 minutes during peak times (07:00-09:00 in the morning and 15:30-17:30 in the afternoon) and otherwise every 10 minutes before and after rush hour. They also operate at night with reduced frequency.

The are eight S-buses that drive every 5-10 minutes during rush hour and every 20 minutes outside of rush hour. These are suburban buses that have fewer stops than the A-buses. They operate between 06:00 in the morning and 01:00 at night.

Other regular route buses that operate throughout Copenhagen are indicated by the yellow lines.

Movia provides maps of all the bus lines. It is a good idea to save these PDFs to your smart phone so that you have them when you need them.

• Map of bus services in inner city Copenhagen
• Map of bus services of Copenhagen
• Map of bus services in the Capital Region
• Map of bus services in the whole of Zealand

Ferry

All ferries (havnebusserne) in Copenhagen are in zone 2. You can sail from Nyhavn via the Black Diamond to the Fisketorvet in 2 zones.

Havnebusserne have six stops: Det Kongelige Bibliotek (Den Sorte Diamant) – Knippelsbro – Nyhavn – Holmen Syd – Holmen Nord – Nordre Toldbod. The ferry operates weekdays from 7:00 – 20:00, and on weekend 10:00 – 20:00.

Travelling with a Bike

Google maps is a great way to find out the best bike path to take. Alternatively, you can use the method favored by our Creative Director Freya, Maps app for iPhone: press “start” after determining your route, then Suri will dictate the directions for you, so you can keep your eyes on the road and enjoy the scenery.

Bikes on the Metro

Bicycles can be taken on the metro for an extra 13 kr. You need to pay for the bike with its own ticket (you can’t just clip your klippekort once more). You can’t take your bike onthe metro during peak rush hour, which is Monday to Friday 07:00 – 09:00 and 15:30 – 17:30.

Bikes on the Train

Bicycles can be taken on s-tog lines for free but you can’t take bikes through Nørreport station during peak hours (Monday to Friday 07:00 – 08:30 and 15:30 – 17:30). To take your bike on a train, you need to put it on the first or last carriage, so-called “flex carriages” that have space for bikes and stollers.  These carriages are clearly marked with large graphics of bicycles on the outside.

To take a bike on a regional train, you must buy a supplementary ticket.

Bikes on the Bus

You can bring a bike on a bus in Copenhagen but each bus is limited to two bikes even if the space isn’t taken up by prams and other people and it’s up to the discretion of the bus driver. Generally, people do not travel with their bikes on buses in Copenhagen.

Zones

Check out our full Copenhagen Public Transport Zones & Maps article.

After using your Rejsekort or buying a ticket, your have a certain number of minutes that you can go any direction in a zone:

Good To Know

• Danish public transport operates without turnstiles. But be warned: ticket collectors roam the system regularly and are not lenient towards tourists.
• Kids under 12 travel for free if they’re with an adult.
• Kids under 16 can purchase child fares.
• Small dogs and other pets travel for free, large dogs (ones that don’t fit in handheld carriers) need a child fare.
• Baby prams are free on all forms of transport.
• If you want to see exactly how the various lines of the Copenhagen Metro and S-toget fit together, look at this overall Copenhagen Zone map with the new metro and the S-trains all together:

  

   

  
   

  Get your own map

  We love this Copenhagen s-tog map, that includes the metro lines and the S-train lines. Check it out here.

  

   

  Help us keep Scandinavia Standard up-to-date! We do our best to update articles like this one as prices and policies change, but sometimes we miss things. If you see something that needs correction, let us know! We appreciate your help.