Arrivals
A Copenhagen layover is worth leaving the airport for from about 4.5 hours, because the city centre is only 12 to 15 minutes away by metro.
Copenhagen Airport (CPH) is at Kastrup, about 8 kilometres from the city centre, and the metro and the train both leave from Terminal 3, a short walk from the baggage hall.
- Bags. On one ticket, checked bags normally go straight through to your next flight, so you carry only your hand luggage. On separate tickets you collect them after passport control. Self-service lockers on the first floor of car park P7A, under the Clarion Hotel and next to the metro, cost DKK 50 an hour for a small bag, up to DKK 100 a day, and open around the clock. Rosenborg Castle lets in no suitcases or backpacks, so leave them there.
- Tickets. Buy one before you board: there are no ticket barriers, but inspectors check, and riding without one means a fine. The ticket you want is a 3-zone single, DKK 30, valid for 90 minutes on the metro, the train and buses alike. The machines at the metro station take cards and coins but not notes, or buy in the Rejsebillet app. Buy another for the ride back.
- Money. Denmark uses the Danish krone (DKK), not the euro, and cards are taken almost everywhere, from cafés to the ticket machines. Tipping is optional.
- Phone. The airport’s Wi-Fi is free, with no password, before and after security. A Denmark eSIM set up before you fly keeps maps working in town.
Left luggage, lounges and rooms: at the airport.
eSIM
Data before you land
Set up a Denmark eSIM before you fly, so maps and the ticket app work on the metro platform. The airport's Wi-Fi is free with no password, so it matters most once you're in town.
Get an eSIM from Airalo (opens in a new tab)Get a Saily eSIM (opens in a new tab)
Border
Whether you can leave depends on your passport, and you’ll meet passport control if you’ve flown in from outside Europe’s Schengen area.
Not needed when you stay at the airport.
- Where you’ve flown from. Denmark belongs to Schengen, the group of European countries with no border checks between them. Arriving from London, New York or Dubai, you queue for passport control at Copenhagen. Arriving from Oslo, Paris or Berlin, you walk out like a domestic passenger, and meet passport control only on your way back, if your next flight leaves Schengen.
- Visa-free passports. US, UK, Canadian and Australian passports need no visa for a short stay, and EU, EEA and Swiss citizens need only their passport or ID card. Your passport must be valid for 3 months after you leave the Schengen area and have been issued within the last 10 years.
- India and other visa passports. You need a Schengen short-stay visa to leave the airport, applied for before you fly.
- Changing planes without leaving. Plan on meeting passport control at Copenhagen. The airport sends passengers flying from or to outside Schengen through it and doesn’t describe a way round it for connections, so if your passport needs a visa for Denmark, ask your airline whether your connection needs one too. Nationals of 13 countries, including Pakistan and Nigeria, need an airport transit visa even to change planes.
- Time. Allow about an hour from landing to the metro. Visitors from outside the EU, EEA and Switzerland now register at a self-service kiosk before the passport desk, entering details such as the purpose of their visit, which can slow the queue. If it’s slow, you lose sightseeing time, not your flight, because your leave-by time in town doesn’t move.
Who needs which visa: visa and transit rules.
Into Copenhagen
The M2 metro is the way in: a train every few minutes from Terminal 3, 12 to 15 minutes to the centre, all day and all night.
Not needed when you stay at the airport.
| Ride | Into town | Fare |
|---|---|---|
| Metro M2 to Kongens Nytorv, the best for most | 12 to 15 minutes | DKK 30 |
| DSB train to Central Station (København H) | About 15 minutes | DKK 30, the same ticket |
| Taxi | About 20 to 25 minutes | About DKK 250 to 400 |
Follow the signs to the metro station, which adjoins Terminal 3, and take the yellow M2 line towards Vanløse. Christianshavn, Kongens Nytorv and Nørreport, the three stops for every plan except one, are all 12 to 15 minutes away. The metro runs all night, every night, so there’s no first train to wait for and no last train to catch.
Tickets, the train and taxis: getting into the city.
What to do
Start at Kongens Nytorv: Nyhavn’s harbour is a short walk away, and Strøget, the Round Tower and Rosenborg Castle are all near the metro.
Not needed when you stay at the airport.
The fastest plan for a short layover
- Take the M2 towards Vanløse to Kongens Nytorv, 12 to 15 minutes from the airport.
- Walk a few minutes to Nyhavn, the canal harbour lined with coloured townhouses and old wooden boats. It’s outdoors and open at all hours.
- Walk back across Kongens Nytorv onto Strøget, the long pedestrian shopping street, towards Højbro Plads.
- Leave Kongens Nytorv 2 hours before your flight.
Would you rather have a guide? Tours of Copenhagen start in town, not at the airport, so check where yours begins and add about 3.5 hours to its length for getting out of the airport, the metro both ways and your 90 minutes before the flight. GetYourGuide (opens in a new tab) and Viator (opens in a new tab) list walking, bike and canal tours.
Watch the calendar
- Mondays. The National Museum, the Glyptotek, the Design Museum and Rosenborg Castle are all closed. Nyhavn, Strøget, the Round Tower, the Church of Our Saviour’s tower and the Torvehallerne food halls stay open.
- Sundays. Shops on Strøget open later and close early, most often from noon to 4pm. The museums and towers keep their usual hours.
- Christmas season. Tivoli Gardens, next to Central Station, holds its Christmas season from 13 November 2026 to 3 January 2027, and the Christmas market on Højbro Plads, at the end of Strøget, runs from 14 November to 20 December. Tivoli’s ticket prices and each day’s hours are on its own website.
- Christmas and New Year. On 24 and 25 December most sights close, including Rosenborg, Christiansborg, the National Museum, the Round Tower, Torvehallerne and the Church of Our Saviour’s tower; Torvehallerne stays shut on the 26th, and the Glyptotek from 23 to 26 December. On 1 January the Round Tower, Torvehallerne and the Glyptotek close again. The Design Museum opens on all these holidays. The metro runs every day of the year.
- January and bad weather. The Church of Our Saviour’s tower is closed all of January, and it shuts on days of rain, snow or strong wind. On a wet day, pick a museum.
Timed plans from 4.5 to 24 hours, including museums, a castle and a plan for night arrivals: itineraries.
Layover tour
Tours of Copenhagen
Walking, bike and canal tours of Copenhagen. They start in town, not at the airport, so check where yours begins and add about 3.5 hours to its length for the border, the metro both ways and your 90 minutes before the flight.
See tours on GetYourGuide (opens in a new tab)See tours on Viator (opens in a new tab)
Head back
Be back at Copenhagen Airport 90 minutes before departure, with your onward boarding pass.
Not needed when you stay at the airport.
- Time. Leave Kongens Nytorv, Nørreport or Christianshavn 2 hours before your flight: that covers the wait for a train, the 12 to 15-minute ride, the walk through Terminal 3 and 90 minutes at the airport. From Central Station by train, leave 2 hours 10 minutes before. That makes 4.5 hours the realistic minimum: about an hour in town, and 8 hours gives about 4.5.
- Why 90 minutes is enough. With your boarding pass already issued and no bag to drop, you need only security and, if your flight leaves Schengen, passport control on the way to the gate, the main one near the C gates. The airport’s advice to arrive 3 hours before a flight outside Schengen is for passengers who are checking in. If you still need to check in or drop a bag, allow longer.
- Late at night. You don’t need to watch the clock for a last train: the metro runs all night, about every 8 minutes on Friday and Saturday nights and every 20 minutes on other nights between 1am and 7am. Engineering works sometimes put buses in place of trains overnight, which adds time, so check the metro’s website on the day if you’ll be out late. A taxi from the centre costs about DKK 250 to 400.
Time in town at each layover length: how much time you’ll have.
Departures
Best for your layoverStaying at the airport instead: the terminals stay open all night, but there are no rooms past security.
- The terminal. Terminals 2 and 3 are open 24 hours, and you may stay overnight as long as you can show a valid boarding pass if staff check. It’s free.
- Lounges. Five lounges sell entry, from DKK 229 for up to 3 hours at the Carlsberg Aviator Lounge to DKK 349 at the SAS Lounge, which has showers. The latest closes at about 10:30pm, so none is a place to spend the night.
- Hotels. The Clarion Hotel and the Comfort Hotel stand beside Terminal 3 and the metro, before passport control, so you need to be able to enter Denmark to use them. Neither publishes a daytime rate, so for a few hours’ rest ask the hotel, or book the night.
- No airline hotel. SAS, the main airline here, doesn’t advertise a free transit hotel or stopover deal at Copenhagen.
Rooms, lounges, showers and left luggage: at the airport.
Hotel
Hotels at Copenhagen Airport
The Clarion and the Comfort Hotel stand beside Terminal 3 and the metro, before passport control, so you need to be able to enter Denmark. The easy choice if you land late and fly on in the morning.