One of the most liveable countries in the world, and priced accordingly. Copenhagen on a bike, cinnamon buns for breakfast, and a design culture you notice in everything from chairs to bus stops.
Copenhagen is one of the great small capitals: compact, flat, walkable, and organised around bicycles to a degree that reorganises how you move around a city. It is also expensive, and pretending otherwise helps nobody — this is a place where a beer costs €7 and a sandwich €10.
What you get for it is a city that works. Harbour swimming in clean water in the middle of town, Tivoli Gardens, a design and food culture that punches far above the population, and neighbourhoods — Nørrebro, Vesterbro — that are genuinely interesting rather than decorative.
Outside the capital, Denmark is small and quiet. Aarhus is a student city with a fraction of Copenhagen's prices, the Jutland coast has wide North Sea beaches, and Bornholm in the Baltic is the summer island. Nothing is more than four hours away.
Trains connect the three cities, and Skagen is the long ride north that people still make.
Bikes, harbour swimming, Tivoli and the best food scene in Scandinavia.
Copenhagen is beautiful, laid back, and has plenty to offer from their food scene to the canals. Yes, things are a bit expensive here, but plan your trip accordingly and the visit is worth every dime.
A traveller, on Hostelworld
The second city: students, a museum with a rainbow walkway on the roof, and lower prices.
Beautiful city with a ton of great museums and good vibes. Loved my weekend away here, it felt like a fairytale!
A traveller, on Hostelworld
Hans Christian Andersen's town, midway between the two, and a easy stop between them.
The northern tip, where two seas meet and the light made a painting school. A summer town people stay in.
Denmark is a city-break country with a good summer coast attached.
Three or four days in Copenhagen, mostly on a bike.
New Nordic changed how Europe cooks, and the street food is affordable.
Design, Vikings and modern art in a former villa by the sea.
Flat, safe cycling on a national network of routes.
North Sea dunes and Baltic sand, best in July and August.
Copenhagen and Aarhus, and expensive in both.
In Copenhagen, rent a bike on the first morning. It is how the city is designed to be used, it costs €12 to €20 a day, and it turns a compact capital into a very small one. The Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, 35 minutes north by train, is one of the best galleries in Europe and sits on a cliff over the sea.
Harbour swimming is free and the water in the middle of the city is clean enough for it — Islands Brygge and Kalvebod Bølge are the spots, and locals use them from May to September.
Tivoli Gardens, opened in 1843, is both a theme park and a garden, and pricier than it looks once rides are added. Christiania, the self-governing free town, is worth walking through. Residents dug up Pusher Street, its old cannabis market, in 2024, and ask visitors to check before photographing people or their homes.
Denmark exported New Nordic cooking and the top end is famous and unaffordable. The everyday version is better value than expected: smørrebrød, open rye sandwiches, run €8 to €15 apiece and two make a lunch.
Street food markets are the answer for most travellers. Reffen in Copenhagen and Aarhus Street Food do proper meals for €10 to €15, which in this country counts as cheap.
Bakeries are the genuine bargain. A cinnamon bun or a kanelsnegl is €3 to €4 and enormous, and Danish bakery culture is the thing people miss most when they leave. Supermarkets — Netto, Rema 1000, Fakta — make self-catering straightforward.
Copenhagen's nightlife centres on the Meatpacking District in Vesterbro — former slaughterhouses turned into bars and clubs — and on Nørrebro, which is younger and cheaper. It runs late, to five at weekends, and it is expensive: €7 to €9 for a beer in a bar.
Pre-drinking from supermarket beer is standard practice among Danes for exactly that reason, and hostels here tend to have good bars because everyone is doing the same arithmetic.
Aarhus has the student population and prices maybe a fifth lower. Roskilde Festival in summer is one of the largest in Europe and turns the whole country into a festival for a week.
DSB runs the trains and the country is small enough that everything is within four hours. Copenhagen to Aarhus is about three hours; Orange tickets, released in advance, cut the fare sharply.
Copenhagen's metro runs 24 hours and the airport is thirteen minutes from the centre by train, which is among the best airport connections in Europe. The Rejsekort app covers everything, or buy tickets in the DOT app or at station machines. Bank cards cannot be tapped in and out.
But the real transport is the bicycle. Copenhagen has more bikes than people, the lanes are separated from traffic, and the etiquette is strict — signal with your hand, keep right, and never stop in a lane. Bornholm and the Jutland coast are laid out for cycling too.
Denmark is expensive and Copenhagen is the most expensive part of it. Dorms start around €32, a beer is €7 to €9, a restaurant main €25 to €35, and a museum ticket €12 to €20.
The controllable costs are food and drink. Supermarket lunches, bakery breakfasts, street food markets and pre-drinking are what locals do too, and they bring a day from €120 down to around €70.
Free things are genuinely good here: harbour swimming, the city's parks, the free walking tours, Christiania, and a lot of the design and architecture that people come to see is simply on the street.
Denmark is among the safest countries in the world and Copenhagen is comfortable at any hour. Crime against visitors is rare and mostly limited to pickpocketing around the central station and Strøget, the main shopping street.
The practical hazard is the bike lane, as in the Netherlands. Stepping into one without looking is the most common way visitors get hurt, and Danish cyclists move fast and assume you know the rules.
Christiania's Pusher Street, for decades an open cannabis market, was dug up by residents in 2024 and the stall trade has gone, though individual dealers still operate. Cannabis is illegal in Denmark: do not buy, and ask before photographing residents or their homes.
Denmark is in the EU and the Schengen area but not the eurozone. EU citizens need an ID card; UK, US, Canadian and Australian passport holders get 90 days in any 180 across the whole Schengen zone.
Passports need three months' validity beyond departure and to have been issued within the last ten years. ETIAS has been delayed repeatedly — check the official EU site.
Greenland and the Faroe Islands are part of the Kingdom of Denmark but outside the EU and Schengen, with their own entry rules and currencies in practice. If either is on the itinerary, check them separately.
Denmark is a summer country. The daylight swing is severe, and the difference between a June evening and a December afternoon is the whole personality of the place.
Average highs for Copenhagen. Daylight is the bigger factor: about 17.5 hours in June and under 7 in December.
Pick how you travel and how long for. Per night, for one person. Denmark rewards self-catering more than most countries in this guide.
Prices are in kroner locally; these are euro equivalents. A bike at €12–20 a day replaces most of the transport line in Copenhagen.
Roskilde is the one that fills the country. The rest are worth timing around.
Staff pick
The Hundested Sand Sculpture Festival is a must-see attraction that will make your summer unforgettable. Every summer, this charming Danish coastal town transforms into…
Staff pick
Comic Con Denmark is the country’s largest celebration of pop culture, uniting fans of films, TV series, gaming, and cosplay. Visitors can explore interactive…
Staff pick
Westlife is an internationally acclaimed Irish pop group renowned for their powerful harmonies and chart-topping ballads. Since their debut in 1999, Westlife has sold…
Staff pick
Be a part of the buzz at Northern Europe's largest agricultural fair, Agromek. Stay informed about industry advancements and explore a plethora of new…
Staff pick
Aarhus Together at Godsbanen, Aarhus, Denmark, is a lively craft beer festival that brings together over 75 top breweries from around the world, offering…
Staff pick
Mike Rice is an Irish stand-up comedian known for his brutally honest storytelling and unfiltered sense of humor. His comedy explores relationships, mistakes, and…
Staff pick
Noah Kahan is an American folk singer and songwriter signed to Republic Records in 2017. His debut EP, "Hurt Someone," was released in 2018.…
Explore 400 years of Christmas traditions with glowing lanterns, decorated streets, and historic treats dating back to 1616. Meet the town's people and learn…
The highest-rated hostels in the country, live from Hostelworld. Copenhagen has the most, and almost all have kitchens, which matter here.
The ones we get asked most.
Compare hostels across Denmark — live prices, real reviews and free cancellation on most bookings. Then meet the people already there in the app.
Get the App.
Get the App.