Practical Information for visiting Denmark

Cycling is the national mode and the infrastructure is the best anywhere: separated lanes, priority at junctions, and eleven signed national routes. Bikes are cheap to hire, go on most trains for a small fee, and Copenhagen is genuinely faster by bike than by car.

Trains run by DSB connect the cities frequently and reliably, crossing to Funen and Jutland by the Great Belt bridge and tunnel. Book ahead for DSB Orange saver fares.

Copenhagen’s metro is driverless and runs around the clock, with buses and the S-train on the same ticket and zone system. The Rejsekort card or the app covers everything.

Ferries serve Bornholm, Samso, Fano and the small islands, and are part of the ordinary transport network.

Driving is easy but car ownership is taxed heavily and parking in the cities is expensive; there is rarely a reason to hire one outside rural Jutland. The Oresund bridge to Sweden carries a substantial toll.

The currency is the Danish krone (DKK). Denmark is in the EU but negotiated an opt-out from the euro; the krone is nonetheless pegged closely to it.

Denmark is close to cashless. Cards and contactless work everywhere, including buses, market stalls and public toilets, and many shops no longer accept cash at all. Danes use MobilePay, which needs a local account, but a foreign card covers everything a visitor does.

ATMs have become noticeably scarce outside town centres, so draw cash before heading to a small island if you want any.

VAT of 25 per cent is included in displayed prices; non-EU visitors can reclaim it on larger purchases.

Tipping is not expected. Service is included by law, staff are properly paid, and rounding up for something exceptional is the most anyone does.

Denmark has some of the best connectivity in Europe. Coverage for mobile networks is effectively complete, with 5G across the cities and strong 4G on the islands and at sea near the coast, from TDC, Telenor, Telia and 3.

EU and EEA roaming applies at domestic rates. Prepaid SIMs are cheap and sold in supermarkets and kiosks for everyone else.

Wi-Fi is free and fast in hotels, cafes, libraries, trains and the metro, and public libraries are open to anyone.

Almost everything official is digital — tickets, parking, restaurant bookings — so a working phone is close to a necessity rather than a convenience.

Danish is a North Germanic language, closely related to Norwegian and Swedish on paper but pronounced in a way that makes it much harder to follow — heavily reduced vowels, swallowed consonants and the glottal stod. Danes themselves joke about it.

English is spoken almost universally and to a very high standard, by essentially everyone under sixty. Foreign television is subtitled rather than dubbed, which is most of the reason. A visitor genuinely needs no Danish, and Danes will usually switch to English before you have finished trying.

German is common in south Jutland and among older people.

Worth having anyway: hej for both hello and goodbye, tak for thank you — used constantly and doing a lot of work — and skal as a toast, with eye contact.

Denmark is one of the safest countries in the world, and violent crime affecting visitors is very rare. The hazards are mostly mundane.

• Bicycles. The lanes are fast and used seriously. Look left before stepping off a kerb, never walk in a cycle lane, and if you are riding, use hand signals and lights — lights are legally required after dark and fines are issued.
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• Pickpocketing around Copenhagen central station, Stroget and Nyhavn in summer.
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• Bicycle theft is the most common crime in the country; lock a hired bike properly.
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• Christiania. Photography is prohibited on Pusher Street and the prohibition is enforced by people you should not argue with; the cannabis trade there is illegal and periodically violent.
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• The North Sea coast has strong rip currents and few lifeguards. Swim at flagged beaches.
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• Wind and storm surges on the west coast in autumn and winter.

Healthcare is excellent and publicly funded. EU and EEA visitors are covered by the European Health Insurance Card for treatment on the same terms as Danes; everyone else should carry insurance, since costs are high.

Vaccinations: routine cover is enough. Tick-borne encephalitis is a localised risk on Bornholm and in a few forested spots, and Lyme disease is present in long grass and woodland — check for ticks after walking.

Tap water is excellent, drawn from groundwater and untreated; bottled water is a waste of money.

The dark winter genuinely affects people, and seasonal low mood is taken seriously here. If you are staying through it, get outside in the middle of the day.

Pharmacies — apotek — are well stocked but sell much less over the counter than in many countries; even mild painkillers come in small packs.

No malaria, no dangerous wildlife, and one small venomous snake nobody meets.

Be punctual. Danish time-keeping is exact, and arriving late to a dinner or a booking is genuinely rude.

First names, no titles. Formality reads as odd rather than polite, and hierarchy is downplayed everywhere.

Toasting: skal, with eye contact before and after drinking. At a seated dinner, wait for the host.

Remove your shoes in a Danish home.

Queueing is by numbered ticket in bakeries, pharmacies and public offices — take one on entering, or you will not be served.

Cycling rules are laws: lights after dark, hand signals, no phone in hand, and the police fine tourists as readily as anyone.

Alcohol is legal in public and the limit for driving is low and strictly enforced.

Danes are reserved with strangers and do not make small talk on public transport; it is not coldness.

Emergency number: 112 for police, ambulance and fire, with English-speaking operators. For urgent but non-emergency medical help, call the regional doctor-on-call service — 1813 in the Copenhagen region — before going to a hospital, as walking into an emergency department unannounced is not how the system works.

Non-emergency police: 114.

Medical. Emergency treatment is free for everyone; follow-up care is covered for EU and EEA visitors with an EHIC and charged to others.

At sea and on the coast, call 112 for the maritime rescue service; the west coast currents are the most common cause of serious incidents.

Pharmacies post the nearest all-night one, and the larger cities always have one open.

Most embassies are in Copenhagen.