Overview in Copenhagen

Overview

Copenhagen is small, with most sights within 2 1/2 square km (1 square mi) at its center. Wear comfortable shoes and explore downtown on foot. Or follow the example of the Danes and rent a bike. For those with aching feet, an efficient transit system is available.

The Copenhagen Card offers unlimited travel on buses, harbor buses, and Metro and suburban trains (S-trains), as well as admission to some 60 museums and sights throughout both metropolitan Copenhagen and Malmö, Sweden. They're valid for a limited time, though, and therefore only worthwhile if you're planning a nonstop, intense sightseeing tour. The Card also offers discounts on many other attractions and activities, including car rental and Scandlines' crossing of the Sound (Øresund) between Sweden and Denmark. An adult card also includes passage for two children up to 9 years old. The card costs DKr 199 (24 hours), DKr 429 (72 hours), and is DKr 129 and DKr 249 for children ages 10 to 15. It can be purchased at bus and train stations, tourist offices, and hotels, or from travel agents.

Trains and buses operate from 5 AM (Sunday 6 AM) to midnight. After that, night buses run every half hour from 1 AM to 4:30 AM from the main bus station at Rådhus Pladsen to most areas of the city and surroundings. Trains and buses operate on the same ticket system and divide Copenhagen and surrounding areas into three zones. Tickets are validated on a time basis: on the basic ticket, which costs about DKr 11 per hour, you can travel anywhere in the zone in which you started. A discount klip kort (clip card), good for 10 rides, costs DKr 85 and must be stamped in the automatic ticket machines on buses or at stations. (If you don't stamp your clip card, you can be fined up to DKr 500.) Get zone details for S-trains on the information line. The buses have a Danish information line with an automatic answering menu that is not very helpful, but try pressing the number 1 on your phone and wait for a human to pick up. The phone information line operates daily 7 AM-9:30 PM. You might do better by asking a bus driver or stopping by the HT Buses main office (open weekdays 9-7, Saturday 9-3) on the Rådhus Pladsen, where the helpful staff is organized and speaks enough English to adequately explain bus routes and schedules to tourists.

The HT harbor buses are ferries that travel up and down the canal, embarking from outside the Royal Library's Black Diamond, with stops at Knippelsbro, Nyhavn, and Holmen, and then back again, with lovely vistas along the way. The harbor buses run six times an hour, daily from 6 AM to 6:25 PM, and tickets cost around DKr 25. If you have a klip kort, you can use it for a trip on the harbor bus.

The Metro system runs regularly from 5 AM to 1 AM, and all night on weekends. Until the end of 2007 only two Metro lines are in operation linking the northern neighborhood of Vanløse to the beginning of southern Amager through the downtown area.

Contacts

Bus information (36/13-14-15. www.ht.dk). Metro information (33/11-17-00. www.m.dk). S-train information (70/13-14-15. www.rejseplan.dk).