Denmark
Copenhagen: how much to budget
Plan €1705 for 7 nights in Copenhagen, return flight from London included, or €581 travelling cheap. On the ground that works out at €240 per person per day in comfort, €80 travelling cheap.
- From
- €80/day
- vs. London
- 105%
- Best month
- Jul
Your trip to Copenhagen
Set the length, the number of travellers and the comfort level: the figures recompute here.
€1,705
per person, flight included
- on the ground
- €1,680
- flight from London
- €25
- per person per day, on the ground
- €240
In short, where the money goes
- The heaviest line
- Accommodation45 % of the trip
- The strongest lever
- Accommodation€539 less travelling cheap
- Seven nights on the ground
- €1680excluding flights
Accommodation
€756
Food
€546
Transport
€126
Activities
€126
Extras
€126
Over seven nights, accommodation accounts for 45 % of what you spend. The line where travelling cheap changes the bill most is accommodation, a €539 gap. The others are worth discussing, that one decides.
Basis: 23 hotel addresses surveyed for a 15 October 2026 arrival, 5 of twelve months of airfares, surveyed on 23 September 2026. The total excludes flights, insurance, personal shopping and any lodging split between several people.
InstantTripCost estimate
Full 7-night budget breakdown
Per-person estimate including flights from London, split across the six expense categories.
per person · Comfort
| Category | Budget | Comfort | Luxury |
|---|---|---|---|
| Flights | €21 | €25 | €38 |
| Hotel | €217 | €756 | €1022 |
| Food | €231 | €546 | €1218 |
| Transport | €56 | €126 | €315 |
| Activities | €28 | €126 | €392 |
| Misc | €28 | €126 | €357 |
| 7-night total | €581 | €1705 | €3342 |
Flight from London (annual median).
Unit prices
comfort
Enough to check the total yourself, line by line, at the comfort level you picked.
- €12
- Breakfast
- €22
- Lunch
- €44
- Dinner
- €6
- City ride
- €18
- Site admission
- €240
- A full day
Orders of magnitude derived from our measured ranges, not surveyed venue by venue. Prices vary by neighbourhood and season.
The three tiers
What a budget traveller, a comfort traveller and a premium traveller typically spend.
Budget
€80
per day, approx
- Hotel / night
- €31
- Food / day
- €33
- Transit / day
- €8
- Sights / day
- €4
- Extras / day
- €4
Comfort
€240
per day, approx
- Hotel / night
- €108
- Food / day
- €78
- Transit / day
- €18
- Sights / day
- €18
- Extras / day
- €18
Luxury
€472
per day, approx
- Hotel / night
- €146
- Food / day
- €174
- Transit / day
- €45
- Sights / day
- €56
- Extras / day
- €51
When to go, and what the month changes
Average temperatures and conditions by month in Copenhagen.
Mildest monthJuly
Where to sleep in Copenhagen
Choosing a district
The city is flat and compact, and the bicycle abolishes distance: the neighbourhood decides the mood and the price, almost never the journey time.
Indre By
The historic centre, pedestrian streets and the coloured fronts of Nyhavn. Expensive, busy, everything on foot.
Vesterbro
A former working-class quarter turned liveliest, restaurants and converted meatpacking halls. Many hostels.
Nørrebro
The most mixed, markets, a cemetery used as a park, and neighbourhood cooking at reasonable prices. Ten minutes by bike from the centre.
Østerbro
Residential and quiet, parks and the waterfront. Families, little nightlife.
Amager
The island to the south, between the airport and Amager Strand beach. Recent hotels, lower prices, direct metro.
The hotels we measured
Accommodation picks by price range.
Steel House Copenhagen
Hostel, well rated (8.4/10) from 23,668 reviews.
Urban Camper Hostel & Bar
Hostel, well rated (8.3/10) from 4,037 reviews.
MEININGER Hotel Copenhagen
Hostel, well rated (8/10) from 12,069 reviews.
Sundbyvestervarehus
Hotel, very well rated (8.6/10) from 256 reviews.
CPH Studio Hotel
Hotel, well rated (8.2/10) from 10,242 reviews.
ProfilHotels Richmond
Hotel, well rated (8.1/10) from 8,699 reviews.
Copenhagen Strand
Hotel, very well rated (8.7/10) from 2,471 reviews.
Moxy Copenhagen
Hotel, very well rated (8.6/10) from 2,768 reviews.
Phoenix Copenhagen
Hotel, very well rated (8.5/10) from 2,492 reviews.
All observed hotels in Copenhagen
24 of 24 surveyed properties shown, the cheapest in each tier. Nightly rate for a 2-night stay arriving 15 October 2026.
| Hotel | Category | Rating | From / night |
|---|---|---|---|
| a&o Copenhagen Nørrebro | Budget | ★ 6.9 | €17 |
| Generator Copenhagen | Budget | ★ 7.5 | €17 |
| Copenhagen Downtown Hostel | Budget | ★ 7.2 | €17 |
| Generator Copenhagen | Mid-range | ★ 7.5 | €17 |
| MEININGER Hotel Copenhagen | Budget | ★ 8 | €18 |
| Urban Camper Hostel & Bar | Budget | ★ 8.3 | €19 |
| Steel House Copenhagen | Budget | ★ 8.4 | €21 |
| Danhostel Copenhagen City & Apartments | Budget | ★ 7.8 | €21 |
| The Old Factory | Budget | ★ 4.9 | €21 |
| Sundbyvestervarehus | Mid-range | ★ 8.6 | €67 |
| Go Hotel Østerport | Mid-range | ★ 7.6 | €69 |
| Good Morning City Copenhagen Star | Mid-range | ★ 7.9 | €83 |
| ProfilHotels Richmond | Mid-range | ★ 8.1 | €83 |
| Four Points Flex by Sheraton Copenhagen Airport | Mid-range | ★ 7.7 | €86 |
| Moxy Copenhagen | Luxury | ★ 8.6 | €88 |
| Go Hotel Ansgar | Mid-range | ★ 8.1 | €95 |
| CPH Studio Hotel | Mid-range | ★ 8.2 | €100 |
| Imperial Hotel | Luxury | ★ 8.1 | €110 |
| Tivoli Hotel | Luxury | ★ 8.4 | €112 |
| Hotel Alexandra | Luxury | ★ 8.3 | €118 |
| Ascot Hotel | Luxury | ★ 8.2 | €120 |
| Copenhagen Strand | Luxury | ★ 8.7 | €125 |
| Phoenix Copenhagen | Luxury | ★ 8.5 | €131 |
| The Square | Luxury | ★ 8.5 | €136 |
What food costs in Copenhagen
Concrete benchmarks to set your meal budget, from the morning coffee to dinner.
Food is the second line of the trip, behind lodging, and it is the one where the gap between travelling cheap and travelling comfortably widens most after the bed.
The weekday lunch plays the same role here as in the other two Nordic capitals: a fixed-price formula, served over a short window, unrelated to the evening menu in the same place. That is the main lever, and it asks only that you move the main meal.
Smorrebrod, the open sandwich served at lunch, deserves a mention because it blurs the arithmetic: it is sold by the piece at a rate that looks modest, but it takes two or three to make a meal. A bill quoted per item can therefore triple without your seeing it coming.
The covered market at Torvehallerne and the counters in the former meatpacking halls of Vesterbro let you put a meal together for far less than a seated cover, and Norrebro serves neighbourhood cooking ten minutes by bike from the centre at prices unrelated to those of Nyhavn.
Alcohol does NOT follow the Nordic pattern here, and the difference is worth knowing: Denmark sells it in ordinary shops, where its two neighbours in our survey route it through state shops with restricted hours. Buying a bottle for the evening takes no detour. In a restaurant, though, drinks remain the simplest line to remove from a constrained budget.
What getting around costs in Copenhagen
Transit, distances and the smart moves so you don't pay the tourist tax.
This is one of the smallest lines of the trip, and Copenhagen is the city in our survey where it is easiest to shrink further: the bicycle here is not a tourist curiosity, it is ordinary transport.
The city is flat, with no relief to climb, and the cycle network is separated from traffic on most main axes. Renting by the day costs a fraction of a travel pass, and over a week the difference covers several museum admissions. The distances help: the historic centre, Vesterbro and Norrebro are ten minutes from one another.
For anyone who prefers transit, the metro, buses and suburban trains share one zone-based ticket, and a day pass pays for itself from the third ride. The metro runs twenty-four hours a day, which remains rare in Europe and changes the arithmetic for night arrivals and departures.
The airport link is one of the simplest on the continent: metro and train reach it in around a quarter of an hour from the centre, at a two or three zone fare with no airport surcharge. A taxi has no advantage on that journey.
The car is the one false friend. Downtown parking is expensive, traffic yields to cyclists everywhere, and internal distances are covered faster on two wheels than behind a wheel.
What sightseeing costs in Copenhagen
Recommended activities and tours.
National Museum of Denmark
The National Museum of Denmark (Danish: Nationalmuseet) in Copenhagen is Denmark's largest museum of cultural history, comprising the histories of Danish and foreign cultures, alike. The museum's main building is located a short distance from Strøget at the center of Copenhagen.
National museum
Statens Museum for Kunst
The National Gallery of Denmark (Danish: Statens Museum for Kunst, also known as "SMK", literally State Museum for Art) is the Danish national gallery, located in the centre of Copenhagen. The museum collects, registers, maintains, researches and handles Danish and foreign art dating from the 14th century to the present day.
Art museum
Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek
The Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek ("ny" means "new" in Danish; "Glyptotek" comes from the Greek root glyphein, to carve, and theke, storing place), commonly known simply as Glyptoteket, is an art museum in Copenhagen, Denmark. The collection represents the private art collection of Carl Jacobsen (1842 - 1914), the son of the founder of the Carlsberg Breweries.
Notable place
Grundtvig's Church
Grundtvig's Church (Danish: Grundtvigs Kirke) is located in the Bispebjerg district of Copenhagen, Denmark. It is a rare example of expressionist church architecture.
Church
Rundetaarn
The Round Tower (Danish: Rundetårn) is a 17th-century tower in Copenhagen, Denmark, one of the many architectural projects of Christian IV. Built as an astronomical observatory, it is noted for its equestrian staircase, a 7.5-turn helical corridor leading to the platform at the top (34.8 meters above ground), and its views over Copenhagen.
Museum
The Little Mermaid
The Little Mermaid (Danish: Den lille Havfrue) is a bronze statue by Edvard Eriksen, depicting a mermaid becoming human. The sculpture is displayed on a rock by the waterside at the Langelinie promenade in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Tourist attraction
Frederik's Church
Frederik's Church (Danish: Frederiks Kirke), popularly known as The Marble Church (Marmorkirken) for its rococo architecture, is an Evangelical Lutheran church in Copenhagen, Denmark. The church forms the focal point of the Frederiksstaden district; it is located due west of Amalienborg Palace.
Church
Church of Our Saviour
The Church of Our Saviour (Danish: Vor Frelsers Kirke; [vɒ ˈfʁælsɐs ˈkiɐ̯kə]) is a baroque church in Copenhagen, Denmark, most famous for the external spiral winding staircase that can be climbed to the top, offering extensive views over central Copenhagen. It is also noted for its carillon, which plays melodies every hour from 8 am to midnight.
Church
Copenhagen Zoo
Copenhagen Zoo (Danish: København Zoo) is a zoological garden in Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1859, it is one of the oldest zoos in Europe and is a member of EAZA.
Tourist attraction
Kongens Nytorv
Kongens Nytorv (lit. "The King's New Square") is a public square in Copenhagen, Denmark, centrally located at the end of the pedestrian street Strøget.
Square
Places referenced on Wikidata. Admission prices vary by season - check each venue's official site.
Paying less in Copenhagen
What moves the needle
What each decision takes off the €1727 total, strongest lever first.
- − €1120
Travel cheap rather than mid-range
Hostel or entry-level hotel, local canteens, public transport. Accommodation is where the gap opens up.
- − €480
Stay five nights instead of seven
Two fewer nights also removes two days of meals, transport and sightseeing.
- − €378
Travel as a pair
The room is shared, nothing else is. Travellers themselves name this as the strongest lever.
Differences computed from our own measurements, for a 7-night mid-range stay, excluding flights.
9 tips on the ground
- The bicycle is this city's own lever. It is not an activity here but ordinary transport: renting by the day costs a fraction of a travel pass, and over a week the difference covers several museum admissions.
- Across the three large Nordic capitals we survey, the indices sit within three hundredths: ranking them on price level makes no sense. What separates them is shape. Copenhagen holds the middle, with three real hotel tiers and none that collapses.
- It is also the cheapest of the three to reach, from Paris as from London, and the gap is wide from Paris. If the region appeals but the city is not settled, the fare tilts clearly one way.
- Between the entry and mid tiers, the review-weighted rating barely moves. The premium buys a room rather than a dorm, which is enough, but not a better verdict. It is the step above, observed at €146, that separates.
- The weekday fixed-price lunch costs a fraction of the evening menu in the same place. Moving the main meal to midday is the main lever on food.
- Mind the smorrebrod: it sells by the piece at a modest rate, but it takes two or three to make a meal. The bill triples without warning.
- The metro runs twenty-four hours a day and reaches the airport in around a quarter of an hour at the ordinary fare, with no surcharge. A taxi has no advantage there.
- It is the mildest of the three capitals: seventeen degrees of annual range, and the only one whose monthly means never drop below freezing. A winter stay is markedly more workable here than in its neighbours.
- Norrebro serves neighbourhood cooking ten minutes by bike from the centre, at prices unrelated to those of the tourist waterfront.
FAQ
FAQ - Copenhagen
- How much does a week in Copenhagen cost?
- Reckon on around €1,680 on the ground for seven nights at mid comfort, excluding the flight, or about €240 per person per day. On the cheap formula the same week falls to €560. The fare is on top and is observed between €17 and €43 across the months surveyed.
- Copenhagen, Stockholm or Helsinki: which one?
- Not on price: the three indices sit within three hundredths in our survey, far too little to separate them. What separates them is structure. One has a very low hotel floor and a very high ceiling, another a high floor and a low ceiling where trading down returns nothing, and Copenhagen holds the middle with three real tiers. Add two measured facts: Copenhagen is the cheapest of the three to reach from both origins, and the mildest of the three.
- Should you rent a bike in Copenhagen?
- It is the one place in our catalogue where the answer is plainly yes, for budget reasons as much as comfort. The bike here is ordinary transport, not an activity: the city is flat, the network is separated from traffic, and renting by the day costs a fraction of a travel pass. Over a week the difference covers several museum admissions.
- Is it worth paying more for a hotel in Copenhagen?
- Not for the first step. Between the entry tier, observed at €31, and mid-range at €108, the review-weighted rating barely moves: the gap sits well below the threshold under which we refuse to conclude. The premium buys a room rather than a dorm, which is reason enough on its own. The step above, at €146, does separate clearly.
- What is the best month to visit Copenhagen?
- July and August, averaging 18 °C, are the mildest. But this city's particularity lies elsewhere: the annual range is only seventeen degrees and no monthly mean drops below freezing, January holding at 1 °C. It is the only one of the three Nordic capitals we survey in that position, and it makes a winter stay markedly more workable than elsewhere in the region. The cheapest flight among the months surveyed falls on October.
- How much should you budget for food?
- It is the second line, behind lodging. The lever is the weekday fixed-price lunch, unrelated to the evening menu in the same place. Mind the smorrebrod, sold by the piece at a modest rate: it takes two or three to make a meal, and the bill triples without warning. The covered market and the Vesterbro counters let you assemble a meal for far less than a seated cover.
- How do you get to the centre from the airport?
- The metro and train reach it in around a quarter of an hour, at the ordinary two or three zone fare, with no airport surcharge. The metro runs twenty-four hours a day, which settles the question of night flights. A taxi has no advantage on that journey, in time or in price.
- Can you visit Copenhagen in winter?
- Better than its two Nordic neighbours, and measurably so. No monthly mean drops below freezing, January and February holding at 1 °C, where the other two capitals go below. The museums, Rosenborg Castle, the Glyptotek and the National Museum are all indoors, and the metro runs all night.
- Do you need a car in Copenhagen?
- No, and it is this city's one real false friend. Downtown parking is expensive, traffic yields to cyclists everywhere, and internal distances are covered faster by bike than behind a wheel. The metro, buses and suburban trains share one zone-based ticket for everything else.
- Is Copenhagen an expensive city?
- Its index comes in at 105 %. Lodging concentrates a little under half of what you spend on the ground, which makes it the only line whose choice really moves the bill. Transport is one of the smallest of the trip and can shrink further on a bike. Put plainly: this is a city where the budget turns on one decision, the bed.
At a glance
Wikidata, Wikipedia and Open-Meteo data
- Population
- 667k
- Area
- 91 km²
- Elevation
- 14 m
- Language
- Danish
- Currency
- kr
- Time zone
- Central European Time
- Founded
- 1167
- Avg. July temp.
- 18°
- Avg. Jan. temp.
- 1°
- Rainy days / year
- 133
inhabitants
Danish Krone
14° - 21°
0° - 3°
About
Copenhagen in brief
Copenhagen is the capital and most populous city of both the country of Denmark and the wider Kingdom of Denmark, with a population of 667,000 people in the municipality and 1.4 million in the urban area. The city is situated mainly on the island of Zealand (Sjælland), with a smaller part on the island of Amager. Copenhagen is separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the Øresund strait. The Øresund Bridge connects the two cities by rail and road.
Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
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