COPENHAGEN AIRPORT TO CITY CENTRE BY METRO: FIRST-TIMERS STEP BY STEP GUIDE!

DISCOVER THE EASIEST & CHEAPEST WAY TO GET FROM COPENHAGEN AIRPORT TO THE CITY CENTRE!

I don’t know about you, but I get this weird anxiety about the journey from the airport to a destination, and get all flustered about it. So I always research it, extensively.

Same as me? Fluster no more, I’ve now put together this visual step-by-step guide (with my own photos) to put your mind at ease.

We’ve just spent a wonderful 4 days in Copenhagen, and can vouch Copenhagen’s Metro is the easiest, most convenient and budget-friendly way to get straight from Copenhagen airport to the city centre – in just 15 minutes!

If I’ve done my job right, you’ll get déjà vu and feel like you’ve already done the journey when you do arrive! 😝

It also includes: The cost of Copenhagen Metro, the routes and lines explained, how to buy a ticket, all other transport alternatives and much more!

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COPENHAGEN METRO: A QUICK INTRO

Copenhagen International airport (CPH) is Copenhagens closest International airport, located just 10km South-East from the inner city. Completed in 2002, Copenhagen’s modern Metro creates a direct link from the airport straight into the city.

It serves over 360,000 people daily, and over 1 billion and counting in its relatively short lifetime!

Copenhagen's 24/7 Metro service pulling into one of the underground stations. Photograph taken by Jordie. The Metro is absolutely the most convenient and budget-friendly way to get from Copenhagen Airport to the city. Photograph taken by Jordie. — A photograph of the Copenhagen Metro service pulling into Copenhagen Airport metro station. Photograph taken by Jordie.

IS THE COPENHAGEN METRO EASY TO USE?

Yes, the Copenhagen Metro is very easy to use. There are only four lines – named M1, M2, M3 and M4. Below is a clear map showing the Copenhagen Metro system in full, and colour coded, giving a much better idea of it.

Take a quick mental note of the stop named “Københavns Lufthavn”, at the very start of the Yellow M2 line. This literally translates to “Copenhagen Airport”, which is where you will board the Metro from the airport. A bit more on that later.

copenhagen-airport-to-the-city-metro — © All rights reserved by **https://intl.m.dk/**

HOW TO BUY A METRO TICKET AT COPENHAGEN AIRPORT

Before I deep dive into the journey, let’s get you a ticket first!!

There’s two ways to pay for the Metro from Copenhagen Airport:

OPTION 1: DOT Billetter App
The DOT app is the easiest way to pay for the Copenhagen Metro. We found the interface very user-friendly, particularly as it translates it all to English.

Download the free app on APPLE or ANDROID.

OPTION 2: On site ticket machines
If you don’t want to get techy / worry about downloading or connecting to the app abroad, don’t worry! There is still the option for buying physical tickets at a ticket machine.

Leaving Passport Control, walk a few paces straight. You’ll see an area slightly to the right with distinctive timber cladding and “DSB Tickets for Train, Metro and Bus” signage. There’s loads of ticket machines here ready for you to use.

There’s a staff member on hand too in case you need any help.

A photograph of the main ticket machine area in Copenhagen Airport, where you buy your train, bus or metro ticket into the city. Photograph taken by Jordie. — Exiting Passport Control, walk straight and you’ll soon see a corner of ticket machines. Look out for the distinctive timber cladding and “DSB Tickets for Train, Metro and Bus” signage. Photograph taken by Jordie.

WHAT TYPE OF METRO TICKET SHOULD I BUY?

So, there’s two options:

SINGLE ONE-WAY TICKET
You can buy a single one-way ticket or a “City Pass” for Copenhagen’s Metro. The one-way ticket is cheaper of course, and ideal if this is the only time you expect to use the Metro.

Important: When you buy a single one-way ticket, it is only valid for 1 hour and 30 minutes. Make sure you are ready to promptly get on the Metro before purchasing. This applies to both physical and digital tickets.

CITY PASS TICKET
However, if you intend to use the Metro throughout your stay in Copenhagen, a “City Pass” ticket is much better value for money overall, and super convenient.

You’ll only need to buy the “City Pass Small” option, covering Zones 1-4 (Copenhagen airport being in 4). We highly doubt you’ll go further out of the city than that.

You then choose your “City Pass” ticket time-frame — with 24, 48, 72, 96 and 120 hour options available! See the screenshots I took on the DOT app below when we brought ours:

A screenshot showing the digital ticket you get on the DOT Tickets App when travelling on the Copenhagen Metro. — A screenshot I took when buying a Copenhagen Metro City Pass. See all the “number of hours” options available, from 24 – 120 hours!

COST OF COPENHAGEN METRO TO THE CITY

Considering Denmark is renowned as an expensive country, we were pleasantly surprised when we realised how cheap it was to use the Metro from Copenhagen airport to the city!

For a one-way ticket:

ADULT = 30 DKK
(Approx. £3.40 GBP / €4 EURO / $4.40 USD)

CHILD = 15 DKK
(Approx. £1.65 GBP / €2 EURO / $2.10 USD

For a “City Pass Small” ticket (24 hour duration example):

ADULT = 90 DKK
(Approx. £10 GBP / €12 EURO / $13 USD)

CHILD = 45 DKK
(Approx. £5 GBP / €6 EURO / $6.50 USD

THE JOURNEY TO COPENHAGEN AIRPORTS METRO PLATFORM

I took quite a few snaps walking from Arrivals to the Metro (and got some veery dodgy looks) . So, let’s take you on the step-by-step journey to Copenhagen’s Metro platform:

1. WALKING INTO ARRIVALS

Walking into Arrivals towards the exit straight after Passport Control at Copenhagen Airport. Photograph taken by Jordie. — Walking into Arrivals towards the exit straight after Passport Control. Photograph taken by Jordie.

2. PASS TICKET MACHINE AREA
Pass the main ticket machine area on your right-hand side, recognisable by its timber cladding and ‘DSB’ sign. Stop here to get your ticket or, if you’ve gone digital, just keep going.

After passing the ticket machine, you’ll immediately see another overhead sign for the Metro. This time, it’s leading you straight up the escalator / lift directly in front of you to continue straight. See my zoomed in photograph below.

You might just be able to see the escalator behind the sign.

3. UP THE ESCALATOR / LIFT
As the sign says, go up a level using that escalator or the lift directly next to it. I took this photo below “looking back” just to show you how close the two are together.

Looking back at the escalator and lift from Copenhagen Airport arrivals leading you to the Metro platform. Photograph taken by Jordie.

4. WALK STRAIGHT TO METRO PLATFORM
From here it’s super easy. Walk straight for a few minutes and you’ll arrive at the Metro platform.

This is what you'll see straight away after going up the escalator / lift from Copenhagen Airport arrivals. Keep walking straight. Photograph taken by Jordie. — This is what you’ll initially see after going up the escalator / lift. Keep walking straight. Photograph taken by Jordie.

After a few minutes walking straight, this wide pathway will become a dead end and become the Metro platform.

5. ON THE METRO PLATFORM
As you can see, this modern enclosed platform is very compact, clear and spacious with two short platforms, one each side of the wide pathway. You ca

As mentioned earlier, this Metro stop at Copenhagen Airport is called “Københavns Lufthavn”. It’s at the very end of the Yellow M2 line, terminating here before going straight back into the city.

This means there is literally only one direction it can go – back into the city – so you physically cannot go wrong. See in the photograph below the screens all say the same destination. You can jump on a Metro train at either platform, it doesn’t matter, they all go the same way.

The main Metro platform outside at Copenhagen Airport. — The wide pathway you were just on becomes a dead end, turning into the Copenhagen Airport metro platform, with two platforms (one each side). Can you spot the metro service about to pull in on the left platform?

PLAN YOUR METRO ROUTE FROM COPENHAGEN AIRPORT

Okay so, we highly suggest hopping onto Google Maps before you arrive to find the closest Metro to your chosen hotel.

Using us as an example, we stayed at the WIDE Hotel.

We opened Google Maps, zooming in around WIDE Hotel before typing the word ‘Metro’ in the search bar. This came up with all the Metro stops in the area, and we saw its closest Metro stop was Rådhuspladsen, a 4-minute (300m) walk away:

A Google Maps screenshot how close the WIDE Hotel is to Rådhuspladsen Metro stop in Copenhagen.

Let’s look at the Metro map again to plan the route together:

M2 Yellow Line: 8 stops
(Københavns Lufthavn to Kongens Nytorv)

Disembark at Kongens Nytorv and follow signs to M4 Blue Line.

M4 Blue Line: 2 stops
(Kongens Nytorv to Rådhuspladsen)

Good to know: Reaching your final stop (in our case Rådhuspladsen), use the platform lift to get straight up to street level. You’ll see the sign “Gade” above it, which literally translates to “Street”.

At your final Copenhagen Metro stop, use the platform lifts to get straight up to Street level (pictured waiting on platform for lift). Photograph taken by Jordie. — Disembarking the Metro, use the platform lift to get to street “Gade” level.

A photograph of the Rådhuspladsen Metro entrance from street level, a modern fully enclosed glass structure. Photograph taken by Jordie. — The lifts take you up to street level (pictured is Rådhuspladsen Metro entrance). Use these lifts to go back down too.

HOW OFTEN IS THE COPENHAGEN METRO?

Brace yourself. Just when you thought the Copenhagen Metro couldn’t get better, here’s a fact to blow your mind:

The Copenhagen Metro runs 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. AND, you never have to wait more than 10 minutes for a train.

This is because the Copenhagen Metro is a self-sufficient fleet of fully electronic, automated and driverless trains. Never worry about timetables, strikes etc – it’ll always be running when you need it. You can’t get much more convenient than that!

CONCLUSION: COPENHAGEN AIRPORT TO THE CITY CENTRE BY METRO

And there you have it! The most convenient, reliable and budget-friendly way of getting from Copenhagen Airport to the city centre. The fact a single ticket cost the equivalent of £3 GBP in Denmark and only takes 15 minutes was mind-blowing to us!

Likewise, with the Metro platform being so well-signposted and in close proximity at the airport Arrival exit, the transition to the Metro is smooth and seamless.

From personal experience, we found the Copenhagen Metro to be very clean, modern and spacious with ample seating and standing space. Overall, the journey for us was very stress-free and enjoyable.

We truly hope this visual step-by-step guide has been helpful for you and gets rid of any initial worries or queries you may have had.

Have the most AMAZING time visiting Copenhagen!

Oh! Little tip: Try sit on the seats at the very front of the Metro in the direction it’s going in to feel like you’re driving these fully electric trains! It’s super fun to watch.

Top tip: Sit at the front of the Metro in the direction it is going to feel like you're driving the Copenhagen Metro! It's so fun to watch, as shown here. — Try sit at the front of the Metro in the direction it is going to feel like you’re driving the train! It’s so fun to watch.

A photo of Jordie, the author of this specific blog post and owner of the wesbite.

This blog post was written by Jordie Flain!

Founder of TheFlainsTravel.com

A travel-obsessed Sagittarius creating honest, easy-to-follow guides. Powered by tea, chocolate and a slightly concerning amount of tomato ketchup.

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