Now that we have a sense of the layout of Copenhagen and how to get here to start with, I want to get into moving about the city. I already talked a bit about the metro and regional train from the airport, but I'll dive a bit deeper now, as well as cover a few other ways to move about, namely buses, boats and bikes.

For assistance with figuring out what transport to use to get somewhere, you can use the handy travel planner service Rejseplanen. At the bottom of that site, you can click on either English or German. I use this site extensively to help me sort out how to get form point A to point B, especially if there are buses involved.

Metro and trains are operated by DSB. The bus system, including the harbor buses, is run by Movia. Unfortunately the English versions of these sites are fairly well useless, so if I need to make sure I can understand it better (I read a small amount of Danish), then I use Google Translate to read the Danish pages. Generally I have no use for those sites though, Rejseplanen will have what most travelers need.

OK, so we're going to look at:

• Tickets and Zones
• Metro
• Trains
• Buses
• Boats
• Taxis
• Bikes

Tickets and Zones

Aside from walking, the main way to get around the city for visitors is to use public transportation. There are three main beasts of burden: bus, train (tog in Danish), and metro. There is also a harbor bus which ferries people around the harbor. They all use the same ticket and zone system for rates.

To go to and from the airport you need a 3-zone ticket. Once you are in the city, you will only need a 2-zone ticket for regular travel, unless you are heading to the suburbs or farther out. I (and many Danes as well) find the zone numbering here confusing, though they have color-coded the zones to match the ticket you need which means you don't really need to count the zones yourself, just have the right color. If you are at all unsure, I'd recommend that you simply ask someone when you need to buy a ticket for some place further out than the blue zone on the map.

You can purchase tickets at machines or kiosks at all metro and train stations, at many kiosks around the city, or from a bus driver when you board. It should also be noted that the checking for valid tickets on trains is random, so you may ride and never be checked. Be warned that the fine for riding without a valid ticket is very hefty (750 DKK, $127, 100€), so don't chance it. The tickets are pretty cheap and it isn't worth dealing with a nasty fine.

Tickets
Billetter is the word for the single tickets and Klippekort are "clip cards" which have 10 trips on it and you punch off a trip each time you travel. If you aren't using transportation very much, you can buy single tickets at 23 DKK ($3.90, 3,10€) each for 2-zone tickets. Children aged 12-15 are 11,50 DKK ($1.95, 1,55€) and children under 12 travel free with an adult.

If you are going to be moving around a bit, then you owe it to yourself to get a klippekort instead. Not only does it save you money once you travel six times, but it is also very convenient to not have to stop and buy a ticket every time. An adult 2-zone klippekort is 135 DKK ($22.90, 18,10€) for 10 hour-long trips, children 12-15 cost 70 DKK ($11.90, 9,40€).

You can also buy a City Pass, which is unlimited travel in zones 1-4 for either 24 hours for 70 DKK ($11.90, 9,40€), or 72 hours for 180 DKK ($30.50, 24,15€). You'd have to do a lot of traveling in a day to make that worth it.

Here is a chart with all ticket prices and zones (in Danish: voksne = adults, børn = children).

Another option for tourists is the cOPENhagen Card. It gives you unlimited travel (for 24 or 72 hours) and also gains entrance to museums and tourist attractions. You have to purchase them online before you arrive in Copenhagen and they aren't that cheap, so unless you are really planning to see a lot of sites that cost money for entry, it isn't really worth it in my opinion.

Keep in mind that you can use the ticket for one hour from the time stamp, so if you are transferring between train, metro, or bus (regular or harbor), you don't need to stamp again unless you run out of time. On a bus, just show the driver your time stamp when boarding.

Klippekort
The trick with using klippekort is that you will need to punch your card at the start of each journey so that you get a time stamp. There are yellow card punches at every station, and at the entrance to all the buses. You slide the card in, face up, holding the top (the part with the zone number on it) in your hand so that the biggest number in the list is going into the machine. Hear a ka-chunk sound and pull the card out. It will have chopped off one of your trip numbers and added a time stamp.

One handy trick with klippekort is that you can stamp them multiple times. This can be used to pay for more than one person on a trip, or to cover more zones than the card's designation. Some examples:

• Two people traveling together within the city and one has a 2-zone klippekort. You can punch the card twice, once for yourself and once for your companion. If you are checked for a time stamp, just explain that you stamped for two people.
• You have a 2-zone klippekort and want to go to Klampenborg, which requires a 4-zone ticket. You can just punch your card twice and that will count for 4 zones now. This is not uncommon so you won't need to explain this to the conductor. They will just calculate it.

Metro

The metro in Copenhagen is great. It is relatively new, clean, and runs 24 hours a day. The main drawback is that since it is pretty new, there only two lines (see a map), and they are essentially the same line for half of the route. There just aren't that many stations. If you are used to a system like Paris or New York, then it will be shockingly small. That said, if you are headed anywhere near where the stops are, it is a fast, efficient way to get there. You can identify a metro station by seeing a big silver pylon with a maroon M on it, along with a system map.

The trains are completely automated (no people making them go), so they run 24 hours day. During the day they run every four minutes and in the wee hours they run every 15-20 minutes. (The four minute intervals alternate between the two lines, so if you are at a stop serviced by both lines, trains come every two minutes.) So, during the day, if you see the train pull in to the station and are tempted to break your neck running to make it, just chill out. Another train will be along momentarily.

The lines run together from the center (starting at Christianshavn) out to the west (Vanløse). The lines split after Christianshavn; the M1 goes to Vestamager (which is the line the Bella Center is on), and the M2 goes to the airport (Lufhavnen).

As mentioned previously, make sure you have a stamped ticket. If you have a klippekort, go to the yellow ticket punch thingy and get stamped. Conductors will randomly check passengers by coming through the trains, but they will also sometimes stop you when exiting the train at a station as well.

Trains (Tog)

I'm treating trains separately from metro because they are entirely different systems, although people will use them within the city too, and they all use the same ticket. There are two types of trains you will encounter: commuter trains and regional trains.

Commuter trains (S-Tog)
The S-Tog are the commuter trains in the Copenhagen area. They are clean and provide free wifi (once you take the time to set up your account, which can take a few minutes). They run very regularly from around 5am to midnight. During normal commuting hours, roughly 6am - 6pm, they run every 10 minutes. In the off hours they run every 20 minutes. Most of the time visitors will only use S-Tog if they are heading off for a destination out of the city, but there are a number of stops inside the city, the most important/used being Nørreport (where you can transfer to the Metro), København H (the central station by Tivoli), and Nordhavn (close to the cruise ship docks). (See a route map.)

In the summer of 2010 they are doing major track work on the E line between Svanemøllen and Hillerød, so if you are headed that way, check at the station, because most likely you'll need to get off and take a bus to finish your journey.

S-Tog stations are identified by a big red hexagon with a white S in it and tickets are the same as for the metro. You need a valid time-stamped ticket and you may get a spot check by a conductor walking through to make sure you do.

Regional trains
For most tourists, the only encounter with the regional trains in Denmark is coming or going to the airport by way of København H (central train station). Either that, or striking out to other areas of Denmark. If you are looking at a train schedule you will often see regional train numbers beginning with IC, or ØR for the regional between København H and Malmö, Sweden. Those aren't the only designations, but the ones you will most commonly see in the city.

Buses

Copenhagen has an extensive bus system. I normally shy away from buses in unknown places because it is harder to know where you are and when to get off. If you do take the time to sort out the buses though, particularly if you will have a regular route for a few days, you will be able to hop around the city quite freely. A number of buses in Copenhagen have a visual display of the name for the upcoming stop, which is super handy, though they aren't in all the buses.

On the street you can find bus stops by looking for a yellow pylon with the bus numbers for that route at the top. Regular buses run on roughly the same schedule as the trains, about 6am to midnight. The night (N) bus lines run in the off time.

The bus system has several different types of buses, which are designated by letters and associated colors.

• The regular lines, which are plain yellow buses and only have a number (e.g. 30).
• There are six A line routes (1A - 6A), which have a red stripe. These run every few minutes on the backbone routes through the city.
• The S (blue stripe) and E (green stripe) buses are express buses, with the S generally going further out in the suburbs. Unless you know where you are going and that the bus will stop where you need to, you may want to avoid the express buses.
• The last kind of bus is the N, or Night, bus. These routes are limited and only run in the middle of the night (about 1am - 5am), when regular bus service has stopped.

My general trick for using buses in unknown territory is to take the bus, look for the place I want to get off, watch it go by, get off at the next stop and walk back. If it is a route I'll use again, I'll pretty much know where to get off next time. If you are going to a major stop, like a big tourist attraction, or a metro/train/bus station, then you'll see lots of people get off and it will be more obvious just by looking around. Alternatively you can ask the bus driver when you board and often they can help you out.

Boats: Harbor bus (Havnebussen)

The Copenhagen harbor runs right through the city separating most of the city from Christianshavn and Amager. It is a clean harbor which provides beaches, kayaking, and a great view of the city. You can move up and down the harbor using the harbor buses, lines 901 and 902. There are six stops, from Nordre Toldbod to Det Kgl. Bibliotek (the Royal Library), and the total round trip takes about an hour.

Taxis

When all else fails, you can always take a taxi. This is probably the most common way to get home after a night of partying when you aren't close enough to stumble. It is also useful if you have walked your feet off all day, and you're tired and cranky. Taxis are fairly expensive, though not crazy. You'll normally pay about 60-100 DKK ($10-17, 8-13€) for a trip within the city, perhaps more if the traffic is bad and you are sitting around for a while. (Generally I find that traffic is not that bad here, even at rush hour, compared to other major cities I'm used to. Probably because so many people ride bikes.) Taxis will also take up to 2 bikes as well, for an extra charge of 20 DKK ($3.40, 2,70€) per bike.

Taxis readily take credit cards, so you don't need to worry about having spent your last kroner on beer. It is nice to tell them when you get in that you are going to use a card so they can run it through and not take so long when they drop you off. Tipping is minimal, so if you just round up the amount, that's fine, and giving 10% is damned nice.

Bikes (Cykler)

Most people who live in Copenhagen get around by bike. The city is designed for it, and drivers are used to looking for bikes. That doesn't mean you can abandon caution. You still always have to pay attention and look out for yourself, but at least it isn't the crazy fight for your life that it is in many cities. Using a bike is a great, inexpensive way to see a lot of the city and I'd definitely recommend it.

Many hotels provide bike rentals, and of course there are bike rental companies around the city. You can rent a bike for as little as 50 DKK ($8.50, 6,70€). There is also a city wide free program called Bycyklen. Bycyklen aren't the sexiest bikes out there, but for only a 20 DKK ($3.40, 2,70€) deposit you can ride the bike around as much as you need, then return it to a bycyklen rack and get your deposit back.

If you are going to hop on a bike in the city, make sure you watch other folks and follow basic traffic rules. Bike in the bike lanes, not on the sidewalk, and you should stick to the right of the bike lane (or the street if there is no designated lane), AKA out of the way. There can be heavy bike traffic in the city and people can get quite cranky if you are blocking them up from getting where they need go while you leisurely take in the city. You should not ride your bike in pedestrian areas (like Strøget) and you need to obey traffic lights as if you were a car. For safety as well following the rules, use hand signals to indicate when you are turning and use lights at night. You can (and will) be fined for not obeying traffic rules.

A lot of people come to Denmark through the Copenhagen airport (Københavns Lufthavne, airport code CPH). Whenever I arrive someplace new I always sort out how to get where I'm ultimately going, but it can be bewildering to figure out, especially if you're jet-lagged and really don't feel like thinking very much. So this post will try to help the weary traveler sort out what is going on when you arrive in Copenhagen and how to get to the city center in the smoothest manner possible. (Note that many of the links in this post go to pictures I took while in the airport to help give some visual clarity.)

Terminals

There are three terminals at CPH, with terminal 1 for domestic flights, and 2 and 3 for international. All three are connected so, while stretched out a bit, you can walk from one end to the other. There is also a shuttle that runs, but I've only ever walked since I always fly either terminal 2 or 3 and it isn't that horribly far. Terminal 3 has all the good stuff for getting into the city, and is also conveniently where international arrivals are funneled. This is the area I'll be talking about in this post.

Immigration (Border Control)

Unless you are arriving from a Schengen country, you will have to pass through immigration. I find that the border control here is very quick and even with long lines, you won't be standing around for long. Every time I've gone through all lanes are for all nationalities so you don't have to split based on who issues your passport, but just read the signs over the counter to be sure. Once you smile at the agent and they stamp your passport, you are free to roam the Kingdom of Denmark.

Customs

Well, before you roam the Kingdom, you'll probably want to pick up your bags. If you are traveling with only carry-on (which is the only way to travel IMHO) then you can leave the sorry suckers behind who are waiting for bags and go straight to customs. Customs here is not as big a deal as it is in the US, where each person is stopped and reviewed individually. Once you have your bags, just proceed to the exit. There are colored lanes for customs, with Blue for arrivals from EU countries, Green for nothing to declare, and Red for declaration. A typical traveler does not need to worry about declaring anything unless you are bringing in more than the maximum amount of liquor (1 liter spirits/4 liters wine/16 liters beer) or cigarettes (200), or items for sale. In the many, many times that I have walked through customs I have only seen a customs official standing there twice, and only once have I seen someone pulled aside to be checked. Pretty much just walk through and go on your merry way unless an official flags you down.

Get to the city

Ok, you are footloose and fancy free, but still in the airport. When you walk out of customs you will be greeted by a wall of people waiting for arrivals. Walk straight out beyond them and you will be in the heart of terminal 3. Here is a super short video which gives some orientation from the perspective from the arrivals area.

Trains
The airport is well connected to the city with public transportation. The end of one of the city metro lines terminates here and there is a regional train stop under terminal 3. All public transport in Copenhagen (metro, regional and commuter trains, and buses) use the same ticket and the same zone system for calculating fare. You can buy one ticket and then use whatever means you want to get where you are going.

The important thing to know when coming from the airport is that you will need to have a 3 zone ticket to get into the city. You can buy them at the DSB ticket office, which is located on your right and ahead as you walk straight out from the arrivals area, past the check-in counters. You can either walk up to the window and ask a person for what you need or use the ticket machines on the side. The window personnel all speak excellent English and know what ticket you need so it is the simplest way to go. If you walk up to the metro platform and you forgot to get your ticket in the terminal, there is a ticket machine right there as well, often with a DSB person hanging around to assist confused tourists.

All you need is a single 3 zone ticket (34,50 DKK / $5.80 / 4,60€) to get to the city. Children (børn) under the age of 12, accompanied by an adult, travel free. Children from 12 to 15 years old get a reduced rate ticket (23 DKK / $3.90 / 3,10€).

Your ticket will be time-stamped when issued and you can freely ride public transportation on that ticket for one hour, which is plenty of time to get where you need to in the city. If a conductor comes through the train asking for tickets, just show them the ticket and keep it. They aren't collecting them, just looking at the time stamped on them.

When deciding which to take, metro or train, you need to make sure that you know what station you are trying to get to. The metro and train lines only overlap at one station, Nørreport. If you need to go to the central train station, Københavns Hovedbanegård or København H, then you should take a train. Otherwise you are generally better off taking the metro instead. If you get on the wrong one, either way, you can go to Nørreport and then transfer to where you should be, but be aware that it isn't the easiest station to figure out where you are going, so best just stop and ask someone to help you out if you get yourself turned around.

Metro
The M2 metro line terminates at the airport. This is very handy since you don't have to worry about which train to get on. Just get on any train at the station and you will go the right direction. The M2 and the M1 lines merge together and essentially become just one line once you get to the center. The three stations in the center (København K) are Christianshavn, Kongens Nytorv, and Nørreport. If you need to get to a station on the M1 in Amager (south of the center), like Bella Center, you can transfer at Christianshavn station. Cross the platform and get a train that is going to Vestamager (not back to the airport, Lufthavnen).

Once you have your ticket, you need to get to the metro station. You will see an escalator which goes up one floor near the DSB office, conveniently labeled with a sign for the Metro. Go up the escalator (or elevator) and keep walking down the corridor. You will eventually end up on the metro platform. Get on a train and you are good to go. They depart every few minutes so if there isn't one waiting, one will arrive shortly. It takes about 15 minutes into the center, depending on which station you are headed to, of course.

Regional Train
To take the train, you will go down one level to the train tracks under terminal 3. The only important thing to watch for here is that you get on the Copenhagen train, not the Malmö train. When standing in front of the DSB office, looking at it, the Copenhagen train track is to your left. The Danish word for "track" is "spor." You want Spor 2 towards København H. It is clearly marked, so just read the signs.

Once on the track, just wait for the next train and board. You may have to wait for up to 20 minutes for the next train, but typically it is less than that. There are a number of stops on the way and the ride takes about 15 minutes. Obviously København H is a big stop and a lot of people get off there. They will also make an announcement in English as they get close to the station.

Taxis
I am normally a big taxi person, especially when I first arrive somewhere new. Taxis will obviously be more expensive and with the great train and metro service at the airport, they aren't necessarily any faster. I haven't used a taxi from the airport since my first visit. Sometimes if I have a lot of crap with me or I'm headed away from public transport, I'll take the train into the center and then catch a cab from there to reduce the overall cost. If you are headed somewhere off the beaten path of the train/metro, or you are too tired to think at all, then taxi is the way to go.

Once you walk past the wall of greeting people, go to the right and you will see a revolving door which leads to the taxi stand. Taxis here take credit cards, so you don't have to worry about getting cash before hopping in. Of course the price will vary but, on average, the cost for a ride into the city center will be around 240-280 DKK ($40-$47, 32€-37€). You don't have to tip, but it is nice to at least round up the amount.

Other Tidbits

A few other things that can be handy to know around terminal 3:

• There is an ATM outside the arrival area. It is a Nordea bank machine, located all the way to the left as you come out of customs, at the beginning of the corridor to terminal 2.
• There is an information booth to the left when you walk out of customs. If you are dazed and confused, go there and they will get you set in the right direction.
• If you need a coffee fix, there is a Starbucks all the way to the right from the arrival area. I point this out, in particular, because there are only two Starbucks in all of Denmark and they are both located right here in the airport. One is behind security and the other one is publicly available outside of arrivals. That's it. So if you need to get your Starbucks fix, you best get it now. If you don't have to have Starbucks, there is also a Baresso up on the left, which is the largest coffee shop chain in Denmark.

I recently wanted to do some quick vector image work, which I haven't really needed to do in quite a while. I am by no means a graphics person and certainly not a power-user. I just need to do some of the basics occasionally, preferably without getting totally overwhelmed. I limped along for a while when I first got a Mac using my beloved linux apps, Gimp and Inkscape, which I used for years previously, but I really can't stand using X11 on a Mac; really, it makes me a bit batty. A while ago I ended up buying Pixelmator to replace Gimp and I've been pretty happy with it. It satisfies most of my minimal graphics needs, but I never got around to finding a decent vector editor, and sometimes you just need vector. Today I ended up doing a quick search on The Google and asked for recommendations through Twitter. My criteria are pretty simple: under $100, native Mac app, and simple enough for me to get a basic project done without reading a whole damned manual. I ended up downloading four apps to try out:

• DrawIt ($38)
• EazyDraw ($95)
• VectorDesigner ($70)
• ZeusDraw ($90)

My project was to create a simple floor plan of the Copenhagen airport that I want to use as a graphic in a post about getting into Copenhagen – not complicated stuff. It requires drawing lines, some boxes, arrows, and text. One of my requirements is to make a rectangle and then rotate it to an angle to fit along one of my diagonal lines. That doesn't sound complicated but it ended up be an hurdle in almost all of the apps. I popped open each app, didn't read any instructions and just tried to get the basics of my floorplan set up to see how it went. I spent about 5-10 minutes per app. No extensive review here, but here are my first impressions, along with the one I ended up buying.

DrawIt is the cheapest of the ones I looked at, so was of course of high interest to me. The toolbar is pretty sparse and just getting started I couldn't view a grid background on the canvas, which I wanted to help me draw my lines right. Then when I went to draw my outline I couldn't sort out how to close the path. Finally I saw a check box for that, but I wasted a good amount of time generally drawing spurious paths. Another thing that just sort of confused me was when selecting fill color, there was no option for "none" or "transparent." If you close the panel for that attribute, then it just turns black. I never did sort out what was going on there. Overall, I just felt like things were set up oddly and therefor very limiting for me. I could probably make it work for me, especially since it is the cheapest, but I really didn't want to take time trying to figure it all out.

EazyDraw has a pretty ugly website, especially considering this is a graphics app. This is also the most expensive app in the pack. The default interface has lots of things with big icons, but for my level of experience (practically none) it is nice to just see the things I can do and click them. I figured out how to use this one quickly. Definitely felt like I could get up and running and take care of the main kinds of tasks I would need it for.

VectorDesigner was the most recommended app and is priced between the cheapest and more expensive ones. Things went fairly smoothly but for the life of me I couldn't figure out how to rotate my rectangle. After glaring at it for a while, I realized that there is a little status bar at the bottom of the workspace which gives you helpful hints on how to do things, in context of what tool you are using. Ah. Not intuitive, but once I saw that, I could see how to rotate (hold the command key down). Would be nice if there were menu items for that stuff since that is where I end up clicking around to figure out what I can do. That said, most things made sense once I spent a few minutes with it and I generally liked the default interface best.

ZeusDraw is up at the top with EazyDraw price-wise. The interface is all greyscale, which I guess some graphicy people may like so that it doesn't distract from the canvas, but I wasn't a big fan. I didn't get far with this one at all. I created the outline for the floorplan and wanted to edit the path points to adjust it a bit. I couldn't even figure out how to do that, so I never got to the rotating rectangle. Definitely my least favorite of the four.

So, at the end of the day, I chose VectorDesigner. It wasn't quite as stupid simple for me to get up and running as EazyDraw, but it wasn't much harder to figure out (especially once I saw that status bar thingy). It is cheaper and I like the interface more than EazyDraw as well. After playing around with it for another 30 minutes or so, I was sold that it was good enough for my needs.

There are quite a few ways to get to Denmark. There are the typical airplane and train methods, as well as a ferry or two, which isn't surprising for a country with so much shoreline. Most everyone arrives in Denmark through Copenhagen, so I'm focusing there, though it is possible to arrive through other ports of entry.

Flying

The Copenhagen Airport, Københavns Lufthavne, is a European hub and is the main hub airport in Scandinavia. It is located in Kastrup, on the island of Amager, just to the south of downtown Copenhagen. It is quite close to the city and has frequent, direct, and fast (15 minutes) connections into the city on both metro and train. There are three terminals which are all connected, so if you end up not where you need to be, you may have a little hike, but you can walk all the way through to the one you need. The metro and trains to the city (and Malmö, Sweden) are in terminal 3. My next post will dive into getting from the airport to the city center.

I've flown through this airport a lot in the last year and generally found it to be a good, smooth airport as airports go. Outgoing, the security lines are normally a 5 to 10 minute wait and outgoing border control goes quickly even if there is a large line (never taken me more than 5 minutes). The incoming border control is fast and efficient. There is no entry paperwork to fill out (at least for sure not for EU or North American flights), you just need your passport. Like every European airport I've been in, I've never been stopped for customs and there is no line up and individual stop, as there is in the US. Just walk out with your stuff. (For those who may not travel internationally a lot, border control or immigration is where you get your passport checked and is your first stop off the airplane. (If your flight originated in a Schengen Visa country, you won't go through this.) After you go through that, you collect your bags and then you pass through customs, which is concerned with you bringing stuff into the country that you shouldn't, or that you should pay taxes on.)

Trains

Copenhagen is also a good place to get to by train. Of course Europe has myriad tracks and the kind of train, how many trains and how long, depends on where you are coming from. Either way, you will end up passing through either Sweden if you come from Norway or Sweden, or Germany from any other location.

All of these trains will set you down at Copenhagen's Central train station, Københavns Hovedbanegård, which is often seen as just København H. The station is located where the city center (København K) and Vesterbro meet, right next door to Tivoli Gardens. Many accommodations are walking distance from the station, but be aware that the Metro does not run from here. If you need to take the Metro to your final destination, then you will need to catch a local commuter train (S-Tog) two stops up to Nørreport station, where you can transfer to the Metro. The S-Tog run very regularly so it isn't a big hassle, but something you should be aware of. Alternatively, you can just get off at the Kastrup airport station instead of going all the way in to the center. You can catch the Metro upstairs from the train tracks at the airport.

Trains from Germany
Germany has a great train system (the Deutsche Bahn) and you can get to Copenhagen from a number of major cities using the comfy City Night Line. The three lines that run to Copenhagen are:

• Amsterdam, Netherlands via Cologne.
• Basel, Switzerland via Frankfurt.
• Innsbruck, Austria via Munich.

Trains from Sweden
If you are coming from or through Sweden, then you will be taking an SJ train, which is the Swedish rail. From Norway you can book through the Norwegian rail, NSB. No matter where you start, you will pass through Malmö, Sweden which is only 40 minutes away from Copenhagen across the Øresund strait.

Ferries

Copenhagen is also a major port (Københavns Havn) in the north and is a common stopover for cruise ships. There are a few ferries to Denmark from surrounding countries, although the only ones that go directly to Copenhagen are from Oslo, Norway with DFDS Seaways and from Świnoujście, Poland via Polferries.

The ferries arrive on the north side of Copenhagen in Østerbro so once you land, you will either need to walk about half a mile (1 km) to the Nordhavn train station and catch a train for a few stops in to the center, or get a cab.

Scandlines offers several ferries to Denmark, none of which actually go to Copenhagen. The Swedish ferry runs the shortest distance between the two countries, which is north of Copenhagen at Helsingør (from Helsingborg, Sweden), and then you'd need to take a train down to Copenhagen (about 45 minutes). From Germany, you would get dropped on the south coast of Sjælland (the island on which Copenhagen is located), very far from Copenhagen, so don't even bother.

Where to stay is one of the first things I think of when visiting a new city. There are a lot of things to consider. Will I be in a fun place? A safe place? If I'm going for work or an event, how easily can I access where I need to be? I'm not going to give recommendations for specific places to sleep (i.e. hotels or apartments) since I've only stayed in a few myself, but I do want to point out things to consider when looking at where to stay in Copenhagen. In my last post I mapped out the main areas of the city and I'll frame this post using those guidelines. If you don't feel like reading the whys and whatnots, and you just want to know the gist of it all, I'd say that most visitors are best served staying in the city center (København K). If you want to have a little more insight and some specifics to play with in your decision, let me dive in.

Safety

This is an easy thing to cover in Copenhagen because it is a safe, comfortable city. It is still a good sized city and you always need to pay attention when traveling, but Copenhagen is regularly listed in the top world cities for safety and "woman-friendly" travel. The one area of Copenhagen that is probably known for some safety concerns is up in Nørrebro. There has been an increase in gang shootings in some areas for the last few years (basically since they closed Pusher Street in Christiana, but that is a whole other story for another post). That said, even that area is still safe in the big picture of worldwide city crime. It is statistically safer to wander anywhere in Copenhagen than in any US city of the same size and I've wandered Nørrebro (and many areas of CPH) with no problem or concern.

Stuff to do

Each neighborhood in the city offers "stuff to do," as I began to outline in the other post, but here is a quick list:

• Tourist heaven: København K
• Beaches: Amager or Østerbro
• Nightlife: Vesterbro
• Shopping: København K or Nørrebro

The main thing to keep in mind about this though is that getting from one place to another is very, very easy, so you can stay in the center and easily visit the Amager beaches with a 10-minute metro ride, which leads me to the next topic...

Transportation

As a traveler I love metros (or subway, or underground, or whatever you call it where you're from). They provide easy access, clearly marked routes and stations, and I feel like I can sort them out much better than buses (that is, it is easier to know when to get off). The Copenhagen Metro has two lines which run through the center of the city from Amager (and the airport) to just outside Frederiksberg. Trains run 24 hours a day, constantly. So, basically outside of Amager, the Center, and Frederiksberg, you will need to use buses, bikes, or feet to get around. The bus system here is quite excellent as well so if you take a little time to get familiar with the routes you'll use, it is a great way to move around.

I'll do more posts on the specifics, but in terms of where to stay, if you don't feel comfortable using buses or walking long distances, then staying along the metro line will provide you the simplest way to move around. There are three metro stations in København K (Nørreport, Kongens Nytorv, and Christianshavn) and you are within 1000 meters (about half a mile) of at least one of them, no matter where you are in the center.

The eastern side of Vesterbro is where the central train station (Hovedbanegård) is. Note that this is for the regional and commuter trains – no metro line stops at the central train station. The commuter trains (S-Tog) run very regularly though (every 10-15 minutes normally), so you can use them for regular travel in the city as well. Just be aware that taking a train there doesn't put you anywhere near a metro station.

Red lights

Speaking of Vesterbro and train stations, there is one little bit I should point out. East Vesterbro, right by the central train station, is Copenhagen's red light district (mostly running along Istedgade). For some, this may be a feature, but for others, something to consider carefully. There are many hotels in this area and is a common place for folks to stay. It isn't necessarily a "bad" place to stay. It is safe and you'll often find good room rates, but if you have kids and decide to go for a stroll you may need to explain things that you aren't prepared to do yet (lots of shop windows display "toys"). It is a relatively small area, and Vesterbro as a whole can be a fun place to stay. If you don't want to deal with "that stuff" then you should avoid Istedgade for several blocks out from the station. Staying up on the main road of Vesterbrogade or north is fine. Overall though, if you have kids, staying on the other side of the station, in København K, is probably a better idea.

Bella Center

If you are going to Copenhagen for a big conference or event (like maybe Drupalcon) chances are that you will be going to The Bella Center (Bella Centeret) which is the largest conference center in Scandinavia. It is located in Vestamager (West Amager), which is definitely not in downtown Copenhagen (it is off the bottom of my 'hood map, under the green Amager Fælled). It is a fine area, just totally dead really. There are places to stay right by the Bella Center and if you are planning to pretty much only attend the event and not go out to see much then that makes sense. If, however, you would also like to experience some of Copenhagen, I'd strongly advise staying more central and taking the metro (M1) out to the venue instead. There is a metro stop right at the Bella Center, so if you stay at a place that is in the city center you have a 10-minute metro ride down to Bella, and you get all of the benefits of staying in the middle of the city where all the fun stuff is. For folks that feel like Vesterbro is a better fit than the city center, there is a bus (the 30) that goes to the Bella Center station from the central train station as well.

Where will you stay?

So, in conclusion, given a number of factors, I come back to my main recommendation, which is to stay in the city center and strike out from there. For visiting Copenhagen, especially for a short period, it just makes the most sense. After the center, I'd say second choices are Vesterbro for nightlife and easier access to the train station, or north Amager for a quieter area than Vesterbro, closer to beaches and the airport. Keep in mind that Copenhagen is not a massive city, so staying anywhere in the main areas won't put you too far from fun things to do.

Before I start blogging a lot about where to stay, what to do, etc., you need a little orientation to the neighborhoods of Copenhagen. There are a lot of travel guides out there which explain different aspects of the various areas of the city, but I like to have a clear map of where things are. I just generally love maps actually. There are a fair number of official districts (bydele) in the city, like many cities, but postal codes are grouped into a smaller list of areas for addresses. I'll start with these areas since that is a simpler breakdown and when you look at an address for a place, you'll at least have a rough idea of where it is located.
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These are the most common codes you'll see on addresses as a visitor, along with the common English reference, and the Danish names for the area name or areas within it which are commonly referred to (Frederiksberg is just Frederiksberg all around). You can click on the map to see a larger version.

• København K [Center] (Indre By, Slotsholmen, Christianshavn)
• København S [South] (Amager)
• København V [West] (Vesterbro)
• København N [North] (Nørrebro)
• København Ø [East] (Østerbro)
• Frederiksberg

København K (the Center)

This is the center of the city and is still pretty much delineated by the old city fortifications. You can see the border along the string of lakes (Søerne) to the northwest and follow it around the bastions on the outside of Christianshavn. There are a few areas in there, but I'll stick to these three:

Indre By (Inner City)
This is where a lot of touristy things are, including Tivoli, Amalienborg Palace (where the Queen lives), Nyhavn, the Botanical Gardens, etc.

Slotsholmen (Castle Islet)
This is actually a tiny island, surrounded by canals and the harbor. It is home to lots of governmenty things like Parliament, the Supreme Court and such. It is dominated by Christiansborg Palace, which houses said governmenty things.

Christianshavn (Christian's Harbor)
Christianshavn is an island that lies between Indre By and Amager, the big island to the south. It is probably most well known for Freetown Christiania, which is an autonomous neighborhood on one side of the island. Christiania has quite the history and I'll be writing more about that in future posts. Aside from that, the island is also sometimes called Little Amsterdam because of the canals and cute buildings. It definitely has its own flavor separate from the rest of København K. I'm also partial to the island because it's where I live.

København S (Amager)

South of the city center lies an island called Amager. I suppose that maybe there is technically something like a Sydbro, but everyone here refers to this area of Copenhagen as Amager. It has beaches along Øresund (the Sound, between Denmark and Sweden) and the airport is on the southeast side of the island at Kastrup. This is also where the Bella Center is located (the conference center where the 2009 climate talks were held).

København V (Vesterbro)

Vesterbro runs along Vesterbrogade (Vesterbro Street) west out from the central train station. It is probably the most "happening" area of the city. It has tons of restaurants and bars, and is pretty much the place to be most of the time, especially in the nightlife department. (For those who are Drupalistas, Morten.dk lives here. ;-)) But there are also some other things like the Planetarium and the City Museum. It is also the home of the city's red light district.

København N (Nørrebro)

Nørrebro is across the Lakes from the city center. This is another area with a lot going on and plenty of food and bars. It is home to the Assistens Cemetery, which is used as a park and houses the graves of many famous people, including Hans Christian Andersen and Søren Kierkegaard. This area is also known for antique and vintage shopping.

København Ø (Østerbro)

Østerbro is a large area north of the city center, which is generally considered a quiet, residential area. There are beaches along the coast here as well. It is home to the national stadium, Parken, and a hands-on kids science museum called the Experimentarium.

Frederiksberg

Frederiksberg is its own municipality and is actually not part of Copenhagen, but surrounded by it. It is located between Vesterbro and Nørrebro. It's probably most well known for Frederiksberg Palace and the huge public park surrounding it that houses the Zoo, one of the largest in Europe.

I'll dive into more details of these areas as I address various things about Copenhagen. Each area has its own flavor and where to stay is a decision that needs to be based on a number of factors. I'll get into that discussion in my next post.

One concern about visiting Copenhagen is the expense. I'm not gonna lie, Copenhagen is not a cheap city, but it also isn't completely over the top, especially compared to other major cities. Most big cities in Europe and North America are in the top list of expensive cities. In the last EIU report from December 2009 Paris is the most expensive city in the world these days, and most of the top destination cities in the world are near the top. But big cities also have a lot things going for them that can help a traveler save money. I am willing to admit that I may also be a bit biased because I have been living in or around big (expensive) cities and am very used to the cost of living that entails. (I lived in the Washington, DC area in the US and recently spent time living in Dublin, Ireland.) I've been traveling all over for the last year and generally Europe, as a whole, is expensive for me since I earn an American salary and the dollar has been pretty weak for a while. Thankfully (for me and other Americans at least) the dollar is doing quite a bit better in Europe and things are much more comfortable for me now than they were six months ago. I'm also living here now, which is a little different, but the fact that I can live here, paying rent, while still paying the mortgage on my house back in the US, means that it can't be totally insane here. So anyway, the big expenses are transportation, housing and food. I'll definitely be writing more details about all of these in future posts, but here are my initial thoughts with regard to expense.

• Transportation: Copenhagen is a hub city in Europe, which means you can get some decent fares. Within Europe it is pretty reasonable to fly to Copenhagen, but even for North America, airfares are not bad and pretty much the average for flying to another country. They have fallen quite a bit in the last two months so it is even more attractive now (and if you are coming for Drupalcon, you can totally get a discount through a deal they made with SAS). I use kayak.com but there are a number of flight finder sites out there. Of course you also have the option of trains, or even ferries to get here. Once you are here, Copenhagen is an extremely walkable city, but if you want to grab a bike you will be able to get wherever you want for sure. This is the bikingest city I have ever seen. You can borrow a bycyklen (city bike) in downtown Copenhagen for the price of a small deposit (20 DKK, or about $3.30 or 2.70 Euro). If your legs are tired, the city has a very good, reasonably priced, public transportation system and it all uses the same tickets, whether you are using bus, metro or train. Don't take taxis unless you have a real need. They are a lot more expensive, especially considering the other options you have.
• Housing: Big cities are used to lots of travelers and provide options for everyone, from backpackers to fancy pants. There is a huge range in accommodation pricing and spending some time to look around can save you money. A quick search on Hotels.com has rooms in Copenhagen starting at $65 a night. For Drupalcon, there is also a list of hotels which are offering a conference discount. There are also going to be a higher number of people involved in programs like CouchSurfing.com. You can also find a nice list of vacation rental apartments, which can save not just on the cost of a room, but it allows you to cook meals in your own kitchen to help cut food costs too. I pretty much always go this route if I am staying somewhere for a week or so, and it gets even cheaper if you are traveling with others who can share. I tend to use craigslist (CPH), airbnb, or just do a Google search.
• Food: This is the one area that I actually do feel the cost of Copenhagen. Eating out just seems expensive. Having a kitchen is obviously handy here, but you can also buy ready-made food at many grocery stores and it seems to me like there are grocery stores and green-grocers everywhere here. I also definitely take advantage of the Pølsevogn (sausage stands) which are awesome for a quick, cheap lunch. You can buy beer in just about any place that sells food (including kiosks) and you can drink in public, unlike in the US. That means instead of going to a bar and paying top price for served beer, you can grab a bunch of beer at a store, plant your butt down at a park or along a canal and enjoy the weather, chatting with friends, while you down your brewskies.

I want to take a moment to specifically talk about Drupalcon with regards to this so if you have no idea what Drupal is, you can stop here. I've heard a fair amount of concern over how expensive it is here and I think that a lot of it is just talky talk. What I mean by that is that all of the last Drupalcons, and the future ones planned, are in big, expensive cities. Paris, where it was last year in Europe, is more expensive than Copenhagen. Washington, DC and San Francisco are two of the most expensive cities in the US. Again, big cities have options for travelers in all ranges and you simply need to avail yourself of them. The argument about 'cons being in big cities is a whole other thing that I won't digress into, but my point here is that Copenhagen isn't so different from the last cities we've been in (or the ones planned for the future). Really. Even the 'cons in smaller cities aren't necessarily "cheap." I loved the 'con in Szeged, and while it was definitely more affordable once I was there, the airfare was literally double what I would have paid to fly to Copenhagen or Paris, so in the end I didn't really save money. (Don't get me wrong, that was my favorite Drupalcon ever and I loved every second of it, I'm just saying that it wasn't any cheaper for me than a big city 'con.)

I guess the point here is that going to a Drupalcon is an investment. You have to travel and that costs money. The benefits of going to a 'con are amazing and each person needs to weigh that out. If you can combine that with an awesome city that is also fun to visit in and of itself, then so much the better. Obviously each person has to make their own decision and I'm not here to go on about convincing people to spend money to come to a 'con. I'm just trying to point out that Copenhagen is no more expensive or unmanageable than any other Drupalcon city.

I am repeatedly asked why I am bothering to learn Danish, even though I am living here for the summer. Many Danes seem to find it endearing, funny, and slightly puzzling. Unless you plan to actually settle down here permanently, there is really no reason to. There are plenty of expats from all sorts of places who live here for years and never learn Danish. English is simply enough, at least if you live in or near Copenhagen. Just walking down the street, you'll even see some signs in English. (For those following along for Drupalcon, I should also point out that no matter where Drupalcon is held in the world, as an international conference, it is always held completely in English.)

I still feel like a jerk to stay in a place for more than week and not at least attempt to figure out some of the basics. I am slowly building my vocabulary with reading, but Danish pronunciation is very, very different from English, so the speaking/listening part is just really, really hard for me. Luckily I don't really need to speak Danish. I have three basic phrases that I use all day long and otherwise everyone is perfectly happy to speak in English so we all understand each other. Also keep in mind that I'm sure I don't pronounce all of this correctly but people still get what I'm saying. Most Danes are pleased that you are making any attempt at all and they definitely won't frown at mispronunciation. So here are my basic attempts to be polite, along with recordings of Danes pronouncing them correctly.

1. The first one is super easy and super polite to learn: "thank you" is simply tak which sounds kind of like the English "tack."
   Pronunciation of
2. The second one is still just one word and not that hard to say, especially if you don't look at the spelling of it too much. ;-) You use undskyld to say "pardon" or "excuse me." It sounds sort of like saying "unschooled" quickly in English.
   Pronunciation of
3. Now the third one is a bit of a mouthful, but this is my favorite Danish phrase ever, and I use it every day, many, many times per day. You can tell someone in Danish that "I don't speak Danish" with Jeg taler ikke dansk. Now the spelling versus pronunciation gets wonky here, so here is an attempt to do it phonetically without using those funny characters that academics use: Yai taela ika dansk. I use this whenever I need to speak to someone as a way to break into the fact that we're going to speak English, or I'll use it when people speak to me or ask me a question. A deer-in-the-headlights stare back at them is plenty indication as well, but being able to say this makes me feel a little less silly. For extra politeness, I add undskyld to the beginning as well.
   Pronunciation of

So that's it. I pretty much live on those three phrases, literally. I do errands, get around the city, do shopping, eat out at restaurants, etc., with just those. If you are feeling a little more ambitious then here are a few bonus words you can play with.

• Copenhagen is spelled København in Danish and so is pronounced a bit differently than in English.
  Pronunciation of
• If you are going out, you may want to know how to say beer too. Don't even bother with "I want a beer" or how many. Just saying øl and give a number of fingers. You'll be good. Or, of course, just resort to English.
  Pronunciation of
• Once you have your beer, give 'em a toast with skål!.
  Pronunciation of
• The Danish word for toilet is, well toilette, so you should be fine there. If you want to go all crazy Danish though, bathroom is badeværelse. Yeah, that one sounds quite different, so just give it a listen (silly Danish).
  Pronunciation of

  (Also, once you get to the bathrooms, if they don't have a stick figure to let you know which is which, H (herre) is for the men's room and D (dame) is for the ladies'.)

OK, that's enough fooling around. You can play with Danish as much as you like, but just keep in mind that you just seriously don't need it. If you want some quick Danish lessons, there is a podcast series called One Minute Danish which has some handy stuff and are super short.

For bonus points, here is how you make funny Danish letters on a US keyboard (and the "I don't have funny letters" alternative ways to write them):

• å = alt/option + a (alternatively, aa)
• æ = alt/option + ' (alternatively, ae)
• ø = alt/option + o (alternatively, oe)

I'm living in Copenhagen for the summer and loving it so far. (That's in Denmark, by the way.) I have a nice little apartment near the city center and am getting settled in for a four month stay. While I'm here I'm also going to blog and video various things about the city for other foreigners who may be thinking of coming this way. I'll be pointing out tips on how to get around, things to do, some gotchas to watch for, fun Danishisms, and generally answer a lot of the questions I had when I first visited here a year ago. I'm inspired to record all of this mostly to assist folks I know will be coming for the annual European Drupalcon which will be held here in August this year, but I also view it as a fun exercise and a form of journaling. If you have specific questions you'd like to know more about, please feel free to email me or send me a tweet @add1sun and I'll try to work it all in there over the coming months.

For this first post, I'm just going to orient folks a bit. Most people have no idea where Denmark is or anything about it. Those that do have an inkling tend to know that it was involved in some Muhammad controversy, or that the climate conference was held here last year. Denmark has a little bit more than that going on. ;-) I'm not going to regurgitate a Wikipedia article for you, but here are some quick points to set the stage and that I am often asked when I talk about it.

Where the hell is it?

• Denmark is a Scandinavian country, along with Norway, Sweden and Iceland. (Finland is up there too geographically, but linguistically is totally different.)
• Denmark sits on top of Germany and is across the water to the south of Norway and Sweden. It has a peninsula attached to the continent, but is also comprised of a crap ton of islands. (Greenland and the Faroe Islands are technically Danish, but are autonomous states.)
• It is a little bit bigger than the combination of the US states Maryland and Delaware, or about the same size as Switzerland.
• Copenhagen is the capital of Denmark. It is located on the east side of the biggest island, called Sjælland (Zealand in English), and is only about 30 km (19 miles) from Malmö, Sweden (connected by a bridge/tunnel for cars and trains).
• Denmark has nothing to do with the Netherlands (Holland) or being Dutch. Amsterdam is not in Denmark, and vice versa, Copenhagen is not in the Netherlands.
• Copenhagen is spelled København in Danish. It is a long name, so it is often shortened to CPH, which is the airport code.

Politics, language, etc.

• Denmark is a founding state of the European Union (EU). They are also part of the Schengen visa area, which is most of Europe these days.
• They have a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system, just like the United Kingdom. Queen Margrethe II is the current person with the big crown.
• Danes speak Danish (again, not Dutch). The vast majority also speak English (especially in Copenhagen). Many of them speak it very, very well (better than a lot of Americans at least). They get that not many people in the world are going to speak a language spoken by only 5.5 million people. You will also find a fair number who speak German.
• They don't use the Euro. They use Danish kroner (crowns), which as of right now exchanges at about 1 USD = 6 DKK or 1 EUR = 7.5 DKK.
• They have a really robust and quite awesome welfare system (health, education, unemployment, pension, etc.), and the taxes to match it.
• Yep, the red and white thing up there at the top of the post is the Danish flag. They like red here.

Who are they?

• Vikings. Well, they were historically. They've settled down a bit now. I haven't seen any good pillaging going on.
• There are about 5.5 million of them these days. (That's about the same as the US state of Maryland, or Scotland.)
• I've generally found Danes to be kind, honest straight-talkers, and just wanting to enjoy good times. You should read up a bit about hygge. They really like candlelight here.

OK, so that is just a few random facts. I'll be diving into various aspects of Denmark and Copenhagen over the next few months. I also plan to put together videos for things like "how the hell do I use public transportation" and various things to do, places to go, etc. Grab the RSS feed (for the whole site, or just Danish stuff) if you want to keep up on new stuff coming down the pike.