Explore Copenhagen Without Breaking The Bank!

The Danish capital Copenhagen is beautiful - and expensive. DW reporter Aisha Sharipzhan has some ideas about how to have a good time there without splashing the cash. Her tips range from city sights, through public transport to lunchtime deals.
Maybe you've got some too? Share them in the comments!

00:00 Nyhavn
00:44 How to get around? Public transport
01:05 Rent a bike
01:35 What to see? Free sightseeing tour
02:33 Museums: Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek
02:49 What to eat and drink?
03:10 Reffen street food market
03:25 Pastries
03:36 Danish fastfood: Pølser
04:00 Where to stay?
04:22 Discover Nørrebro, Vesterbro and the harbour
05:16 Harbour boat tour
05:28 Parkin garage and gym Konditaget Lüders
05:58 Tivoli and Bakken amusement parks

CREDITS:
Report: Aisha Sharipzhan, Anne Termèche
Camera: Marko Borowski
Editing: Philipp Czegka

Contains footage from @visitcopenhagenofficial
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[Ar-obgz]

My feedback from a consistent Copenhagen visitor.

1) Cph card is only worth it if you plan on doing many “touristy things”. Otherwise, separately paying for the small city metro pass for transit and individually paying for attractions is way more worth it. Additionally Cph card only gives you admission to Tivoli gardens but no rides. I did the calculations for each of my trips to Copenhagen and its way cheaper to just buy the Tivoli admission and ride pass separately from the Cph card. Same goes for the zoo.

2) for bike rental, and specifically donkey bike, if you are from north america or asia and only have access to esim and dont have access to texts (outside of apple imessage) you wont be able to use the service. Its better to go with a company like tier or rent private for a day.

3) to save money on food dont go to restaurants. Rather go to food markets like reffen or my favourite Broensgadekoekken. Dont buy alcohol from these places. Open carry of alcohol is legal so go to a grocery store and buy a bottle of wine or a 6 pack and you can get 6 times the amount of alcohol for the same price.

4) If you enjoy nature, go to visit Traktørstedet Vestamager in the Amager Nature Centre. Admission is free and you can go up close to beautiful sheep and cows roaming a wetland just outside of an urban centre. Breakfast is cheap and delicious. Additionally take transit north to Dyrehaven (Deer Park) for Sightseeing and Cycling. It’s free and you can see hundreds of wild deer.

5) avoid coffee at coffee shops. It is an absolute rip off. About $8 USD per coffee. Pastries are an exception that is worth the cost at locations like Kobenhavns bakery, Lille, etc.

6) Don’t stay right downtown Cph. I highly recommend East Amager close to the airport and 10 minutes downtown. The benefit of staying in East Amager is being right on the beach!!!

[dhananjaymalhotra]

It is a blessing to be born in a Scandinavian country. What a life!

[drdewott]

Just some more tips from a local if anyone is curious.

If you still want a narrated boat tour on the cheap, you actually can. You'll see the big flashy white and yellow canal boats a lot but go down a bit further and you'll find a more rustic and cheap dock. Specifically at Holmens Kirke near Christiansborg palace and the Stock exchange, or on the southern side of Nyhavn opposite the colourful buildings. There you'll find the blue "Nettobåde" or "Netto boats". These light blue canal boats have tours less frequently and slightly fewer options, but cost less than half of the other canal tours. These are more commonly used by native Danes than the other ones but still have english narration.

And yeah Bakken is also cheaper than Tivoli Gardens. If you wanna go and ride the rides though, they have wristbands that are cheaper than paying per ride, but the earlier you buy a wristband the cheaper it gets. Sometimes you can save as much as 15 euros by booking one for a specific day early rather than going up on the train and getting there. Speaking of that, Bakken is just a 15 minute train ride from downtown on the C-line but its located outside the valid area of the City Pass daypass. At least the 80kr one. So if you wanna go to Bakken, you either need to pay a normal train fare from the edge of the city pass validity in Hellerup to the end of the line, or get a City Pass large.

The City Pass Large is twice as expensive but cover all of the capital region instead of just the inner city. Very useful if you plan on visiting attractions around Copenhagen instead of just in it, like the Roskilde Cathedral, the Viking Ship museum in Roskilde, Kronborg Castle, the Maritime museum, and Danish museum of Technology in Elsinore, Frederiksborg castle and the Gribskov forest in Hillerød, or the many seaside towns like Hundested, Tisvildeleje, Gilleleje, or Hornbæk.

Also just a correction. The Roller coaster at Bakken is not the oldest in Denmark. Its from 1932, but the mountain roller coaster within Tivoli Gardens is actually even older. That one is from 1914 and is the oldest roller coaster in all of Europe and the 3rd oldest in the whole world.

[Burma]

we are escaping with the boat with this one

[MartinAndersenDane]

If you want cheap drinks, you can go to Old Irish Pub near Tivoli. Sunday - Thursday they sell you a pint of Carlsberg for just shy of 3€ (20kr) all night. Friday and Saturday it´s till 9.00 PM (21), but till 11 PM (23) you can get 2 alike cocktails for the price of 1. A great place for any football fan aswell, as they broadcast most games.

As you mention the life in København can be very expensive, so as a 🇩🇰 I also try my best to find the cheaper joys..

PS: next time you feel like eating a hotdog in København, you should go to Johns Hotdog stand close to the central station. Its the best ever!!

[klausolekristiansen]

A recommendation: the tower of Christiansborg Palace is open to the public. It is he tallest tower in the city, it is free, and there are elevators.

[feylezofi]

Darn. I wish you have released this video earlier. Last week we were there for 3 nights :( But one thing that is not mentioned here and I think everyone should check is the Copenhagen Card. It gives you unlimited public transport and free admissions to almost every attraction and museum. The most value for money is the 72 hours option but since it is calculated by hours and not calendar days you can make the most of it with 48 and even 24 hour options. Don't go back without seeing sights such as Rosenberg castle, Roundtower, Amelienborg, Church of our saviour, Tivoli etc. just to make it cheap. Most probably you won't visit Copenhagen a second time.

[MultiOranuch]

Amaazing! Copenhagen is my favorite city in Scandinavia... Yeah.. I have just visited Copenhagen again on 16-17 August, 2023. My son who visited for some days has told me that it is more expensive there than in Stockholm.
I see... I had a lunch for 2 persons - it cost me 638 Danish Crown.. Then when I see statement from my account it cost 1014 Swedish Crown - Not surprised at all. 💗 Thank you for sharing Next year some thai friends will visit me and surely we shall take a trip to Copenhagen.. Best Wishes from STOCKHOLM - SWEDEN 🌼🌷🌲🌻

[xtebdch]

Definitely depends when you go. Copenhagen was freezing during the winter.

[Burma]

10 percent tour 90 percent guts and blackpowder

[brotahojk]

You still have to eat additional real meals, coffee, pay for accommodation, and other drinks if that's something you would want to do during your holidays. Expect 100 to 130 euros per day overall for a decent stay on a budget. But it's totally worth it, it's the best city in Europe for sure.

[dariyanagashi]

Thank you! We used the tips from your video and enjoyed Copenhagen 🤗

[alexchristmas]

Tip for hotels- off season you can get room in normal hotel with private bathroom for $65 just 10 minutes walk from central station. Alternatively there are plenty of good hotels for about $70-85 with good breakfast included in neighbor city of Malmo Sweden- which is 35 minutes train ride from Copenhagen central station or CPH airport. 24h pass cost about $30 and valid for all trains and metro/buses within Malmo and central Copenhagen area. So you can stay in Malmo and also enjoy walking its beautiful old town and take train to Copenhagen- this is what I plan to do to save money on hotel in August.

[benvpl]

Went there for the first time last weekend, for four days. I already miss this city!
An interesting spot not shown in the video is Fristad Christiania (free).

[nannaboysen]

Loved the video 😄 however hygge isn’t a lifestyle and it most certainly isn’t just in Nørrebro and Vesterbro. I think lots of danish people from Jutland fx would argue that those places are too rushy to be called hyggelige. Hygge is more like a feeling or a state of mind. It’s like having a good time (alone or with people you care of) 😄

[BetaTestingUrGf]

the hotdog u ate is called a Risted hotdog, directly translated to roasted hotdog. pølse just means sausage. a roasted hotdog is different cause the pølse is grilled, where as in a normal hotdog the pølse is boiled.

[Ananya-ysrf]

OMG! we were just planning to go here. Much needed video and great tips. Thanks a lot!

[danielcaceres]

Airbnb, buy at a supermarket, and walk

[michaelandersen]

We don't call hotdogs "pølser" in Danish. Pølse just means sausage, and pølser is just plural (sausages). They are just called hotdogs like in English

[tranngochuan]

Thanks for sharing. It is worthing visiting Copenhangen.