Yes, Copenhagen is expensive. Denmark has the highest consumer price level in the European Union, and eating out and sleeping here is even pricier relative to Europe than everything else. But the picture is more specific than that: a beer is 60 DKK, a cappuccino 51, a metro ticket 24, and a world-class museum 150. What breaks budgets is restaurants, not transport or culture.
This page is about unit prices. For worked daily and weekly totals, see what a whole trip costs, and for tactics to bring the numbers down, see doing Copenhagen cheaply.
The Short Answer
| Item | Typical price |
|---|---|
| Draught beer, 0.5L, normal bar | 60 DKK (range 50–75) |
| Beer in a cheap bodega | 25–35 DKK |
| Beer, 0.5L, supermarket | 15.50–22.50 DKK plus deposit |
| Cappuccino | 46–57 DKK |
| Cinnamon bun | 31 DKK |
| Cheap lunch, kebab or shawarma | 69–140 DKK |
| One piece of smørrebrød | 65–195 DKK |
| Mid-range dinner main | 265–325 DKK |
| Metro or bus single ticket | 24 DKK |
| 24-hour City Pass | 100 DKK |
| Taxi, 10 km | 230 DKK daytime |
| Major museum | 110–150 DKK |
| Hostel dorm bed | from about 145 DKK |
As a currency anchor, at the European Central Bank’s reference rate in September 2026, 100 DKK is about €13.40, $15.55 or £11.50. The krone is pegged to the euro, so a euro budget will not move much between booking and travelling. A dollar or pound budget can.
Where Copenhagen Actually Sits
Eurostat’s price level index for household consumption, with the EU average at 100, puts Denmark at 139.7 in 2025, the highest in the European Union. But it is not the most expensive place in Europe, and it is not even the most expensive Nordic country.
| Country | Price level, EU27 = 100 |
|---|---|
| Iceland | 173.5 |
| Switzerland | 171.3 |
| Denmark | 139.7 |
| Norway | 128.6 |
| United Kingdom | 123.3 |
| Sweden | 121.0 |
| Netherlands | 115.6 |
| Germany | 108.3 |
The more revealing number is the one for restaurants and hotels specifically. There, Denmark scores 147.6 against an EU average of 100 — higher than its all-goods score of 139.7. In other words, eating out and sleeping in Copenhagen is disproportionately expensive even by Danish standards. That gap is exactly why the city feels more expensive than the statistics suggest: visitors spend almost all their money in the two categories where Denmark is furthest above the European average.
Some comfort: the restaurants-and-hotels premium is easing, from 154.5 in 2022 to 151.8 in 2023 and 147.6 in 2024.
Why: 25% VAT on Absolutely Everything
Denmark charges 25 per cent VAT and, unusually in Europe, has no reduced rate for food, restaurants or hotels. Germany taxes restaurant meals at 7 per cent and hotels at 7. Sweden and Norway charge 12 per cent on hotels. Denmark charges 25 across the board.
It is always included in the displayed price, so it never appears as a surprise line on the bill. It is simply why the number is what it is. Non-EU residents can reclaim VAT on purchases over 300 DKK in a single shop, though after fees the refund works out at nearer 10 to 19 per cent than 25.
One thing Copenhagen does not charge: a tourist or city tax. Amsterdam levies 12.5 per cent and Berlin 7.5. Copenhagen levies nothing. It is the only one of the major comparison cities without one, and it is still the priciest, which tells you how much of the difference is VAT.
Drink Prices
Beer is the number most people use to judge a city, so here it is properly sourced rather than guessed.
| Where | 0.5L draught |
|---|---|
| Cheap bodega (Minas Kaffebar, Café Runddelen, Eiffel Bar) | 25–35 DKK |
| Ordinary bar | 45–60 DKK |
| City median (crowd-sourced) | 60 DKK |
| Craft beer bar, 40cl pour | 60–95 DKK |
| Smørrebrød restaurant | 80–90 DKK |
| Taphouse, 25cl of something rare | up to 135 DKK |
The bodega figures are real and current: Café Grotten on Sønder Boulevard sells bottles at 28 DKK or five for 100, and Barkowski does five for 100 as well. That is a third of what you will pay 400 metres away. Craft beer at BRUS in Nørrebro runs 40 to 65 DKK for 20cl and 60 to 95 for 40cl, with a 1.5-litre pitcher at 240 to 400.
Supermarket beer is where the gap really opens. A 50cl Tuborg Classic is 15.50 DKK at REMA 1000 and 22.50 at MENY, plus deposit. That is a quarter of bar price. Which brings us to the deposit system: pant adds 1.00 DKK to glass bottles and cans under a litre, 1.50 to plastic bottles under a litre and 3.00 to anything from one to twenty litres. You get it all back at any supermarket reverse-vending machine, so factor it as a float rather than a cost.
Coffee is more consistent. At Lagkagehuset, the national bakery-café chain, an espresso is 44 DKK, a flat white 51 and a cappuccino 57. Independent specialty cafés sit in the same band. A crowd-sourced city average for a cappuccino is 46 DKK. Restaurant coffee runs 35 to 50.
Water: a 50cl bottle is 2.30 DKK at REMA and about 11 at a premium supermarket, but 45 DKK in a good restaurant. Danish tap water is excellent and free, and at least one Copenhagen institution charges 35 DKK for iced water if you order nothing else and nothing if you order a drink. Ask for postevand.
Food Prices
Cheap
A döner plate with rice and salad at Durum Bar in Nørrebro is 69 DKK. A pita menu at Nørrebro Shawarma is 110 and a durum menu 140. A hot dog from a pølsevogn runs around 40 DKK; at Fido’s, two with the works are 82. Street-food dishes at Reffen and Broens Gadekøkken land at roughly 60 to 130 DKK. A cinnamon bun at Lagkagehuset is 31 DKK, and a bakery breakfast is one of the better-value meals in the city.
Our guide to eating cheaply goes through the specific places.
Smørrebrød, priced by tier
The open sandwich is the thing visitors most often misjudge, because the price range is enormous for what looks like the same dish.
| Restaurant | Per piece |
|---|---|
| Ida Davidsen | 65–125 DKK (herring 65, plaice 125) |
| Told & Snaps | 109–199 DKK |
| Schønnemann | 130–195 DKK |
| Restaurant Barr, lunch | 155–195 DKK |
Two or three pieces make a lunch. So the same meal costs 200 DKK at one end of the scale and 500 at the other, in restaurants that are all four minutes’ walk apart. Our smørrebrød guide covers which is worth which.
Dinner
A mid-range three-course dinner for two averages around 800 DKK. At a good but unstarred restaurant, mains land at 265 to 325 DKK — a schnitzel at Barr is 325, hake frikadeller 265. Barbecue at WarPigs is cheaper: a brisket sandwich is 135 and a sharing tray for three or four is 1,050.
At the top, Copenhagen is genuinely one of the world’s most expensive dining cities. Noma’s menu is 4,500 DKK, Geranium’s 4,400, Kadeau 4,150 and Alchemist 5,600, before drinks. Wine pairings run from about 1,500 to 20,000 DKK depending on how far you want to go. Several take a substantial prepaid deposit. That is a different category of spending, not a tier of a normal budget.
Groceries
Self-catering is where Copenhagen stops being expensive. At the discounters — Netto, REMA 1000, Lidl and 365discount — a litre of milk is 10.95 DKK, a 480g loaf 13.50, rye bread around 15 and ten eggs 15 to 20 on offer.
At the premium end, MENY and Føtex, milk is the same 10.95 for a value line but ten eggs are 39.95 and branded rye bread 27. The premium gap is in eggs and branded bread, not staples.
Note for anyone using an older guide: Irma no longer exists. Coop closed all 65 stores in 2023 and the name survives only as a supermarket own-brand. ALDI has also left Denmark entirely. The premium chains today are MENY and Føtex.
Transport: the Cheap Part
Public transport is the one category where Copenhagen is straightforwardly good value.
| Ticket | Price |
|---|---|
| Single, 2 zones (covers most of the city) | 24 DKK |
| Single, 8 zones | 60 DKK |
| Rejsekort app, pay as you go | from 22 DKK, with 20% off-peak |
| City Pass Small, 24 hours (zones 1–4, includes the airport) | 100 DKK |
| City Pass Small, 120 hours | 340 DKK |
| City Pass Large, 24 hours to 120 hours (zones 1–99) | 200–680 DKK |
| Basiskort, physical card for non-app users | 50 DKK personal, 80 anonymous |
Children pay half, with a minimum of 12 DKK, and two under-12s travel free with a paying adult. The 24-hour City Pass at 100 DKK includes the airport run, which effectively makes the transfer free if you were buying a pass anyway.
A change worth knowing about: the physical Rejsekort was phased out in June 2026, and the old DOT Billetter app was retired at the end of 2025 in favour of Rejsebillet. Visitors now choose between the Rejsekort app, Rejsebillet, the DSB app, a City Pass, ticket machines and the new Basiskort. Getting it wrong or missing a check-in means a penalty fare, and a City Pass removes the risk entirely. Our ticketing guide walks through the options.
Taxis are the expensive exception. Daytime it is 39 DKK to start plus 11 DKK per kilometre; evenings, weekends and holidays it is 49 plus 14.70. The published fare for a standard 10 km trip is 230 DKK by day and 280 in the evening, with 20 DKK extra for an airport pickup.
And the trap that catches Americans in particular: there is no Uber and no Bolt in Denmark. Uber withdrew in 2017 over Danish taxi law and has not returned. Every car you hail is a metered Danish taxi at the rates above.
Bikes are the sensible alternative at 99 DKK for a 24-hour Donkey Republic pass. Note that Bycyklen, the old docked city-bike scheme that still appears in a lot of guides, ceased operating in December 2022.
Culture: Better Value Than You Would Guess
Copenhagen’s big museums cost 110 to 150 DKK, which is roughly London or Amsterdam money for genuinely first-rank collections, and under-18s go free almost everywhere.
| Attraction | Adult |
|---|---|
| Round Tower | 60 DKK |
| Thorvaldsens Museum / Nikolaj Kunsthal / Museum of Copenhagen | 110 DKK (one ticket covers all three for 48 hours) |
| Church of Our Saviour spire | 70 DKK |
| Amalienborg Museum | 135 DKK, 125 online |
| Louisiana | 145 DKK |
| SMK, National Gallery | 140 DKK |
| National Museum of Denmark | 150 DKK, 135 online |
| Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek | 150 DKK, 135 online |
| Rosenborg Castle | 150 DKK, 140 online |
| Christiansborg, all four sites | 225 DKK, 215 online |
| Tivoli, entrance only | from 180 DKK, dynamically priced |
| The David Collection | Free |
There is more on which are worth it in our ranked museums and landmarks guide.
Accommodation, and an Honest Gap
Hostel dorm beds start around 145 DKK at Steel House and run to roughly 150 for a four-bed at Generator.
For three and four-star hotel rooms, we are going to do something no other article on this subject does and tell you we do not have a defensible number. No free primary source publishes Copenhagen hotel room rates. Statistics Denmark collects nights stayed and rooms sold, not prices, and the industry benchmarking data is members-only. Every article quoting you an average nightly rate is passing on an aggregator’s marketing figure. Search your own dates.
What we can tell you, from Statistics Denmark’s hotel price index, is how much rates move by month, and it contradicts the standard advice:
- Taking 2025 as the baseline of 100, the index ran from 84.3 in February to 114.2 in June.
- In 2026 the swing widened: 86.8 in February to 127.8 in June, making June roughly 47 per cent more expensive than February.
- December scored 94.0, below the annual average. The near-universal claim that Christmas markets spike Copenhagen hotel prices is not supported by the data.
- Demand peaks in August, but prices peak in June, driven by conferences and the Distortion festival.
So the cheapest time to come is February, the dearest is June, and December is quietly good value despite its reputation.
What Is Genuinely Cheap or Free
- The David Collection is free every day it opens, guided tours included, and holds the finest Islamic art collection in northern Europe.
- The Glyptotek is free on the last Wednesday of every month.
- A canal tour for 80 DKK with Netto-Bådene from Nyhavn, against 199 DKK for the better-marketed operator on a near-identical route.
- The harbour buses, routes 991 and 992, are ordinary public transport. A working boat ride across the harbour for the price of a bus fare, covered by any normal ticket or City Pass.
- The Round Tower at 60 DKK, the cheapest major viewpoint in the city, and the Christiansborg tower, which is free.
- Museum tickets valid for a full year at the National Museum, Louisiana, the Zoo and the Glyptotek online.
- Parkmuseerne, 345 DKK for six museums, valid a year — better than the Copenhagen Card for slow travellers.
- Tap water, the deposit system paying you back 1 to 3 DKK a container, and every park, church interior and harbour bath in the city.
What Is Genuinely Overpriced
- Hop-on hop-off bus tours from 279 DKK, against a 24-hour City Pass at 100 DKK on a metro that reaches everything and runs 24 hours a day.
- The 199 DKK canal tour when the 80 DKK one leaves from the same stretch of water.
- The Copenhagen Card HOP at 600 DKK for 24 hours. It costs more than the DISCOVER card at 589 and includes no public transport, only tour buses. It is almost never the right purchase. See our Copenhagen Card verdict.
- Nyhavn’s waterfront bars. The view is free; the beer is not.
- The franchise attractions on Rådhuspladsen, where a combined pass costs more than the National Museum and the Round Tower together.
Tipping, Cash and the 2026 Changes
Tipping is not a Danish tradition. The official tourist board is unambiguous: service is normally included in the bill at restaurants, hotels and taxis, and tipping is optional. If service was exceptional, ten per cent is more than enough. For an American visitor this is effectively a 15 to 20 per cent discount against the mental model you arrived with. See our note on tipping in Denmark.
Denmark is close to cashless and card is accepted essentially everywhere, though carrying 200 to 300 DKK is sensible for markets and kiosks. Note that the 1,000-krone banknote has been out of circulation since May 2025. Always decline the terminal’s offer to charge you in your home currency; that conversion typically costs 3 to 7 per cent.
Two 2026 changes worth knowing. First, Denmark scrapped its chocolate, sweets and coffee taxes on 1 July 2026, which takes roughly 3 DKK off a 100g bar of chocolate, 12 off a large bag of sweets and 5 off half a kilo of coffee. Second, and less cheerfully, while overall Danish inflation is running at a mild 1.7 per cent and groceries are actually 1.6 per cent cheaper than a year ago, restaurants and hotels are up 8.1 per cent year on year and are the single largest contributor to Danish inflation. Eating out is getting more expensive quickly; shopping for food is not.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Copenhagen expensive?
Yes. Denmark has the highest consumer price level in the EU, at about 40 per cent above the European average, and its restaurant and hotel prices are higher still relative to Europe. But transport, museums and supermarket food are all reasonable; it is eating and drinking out that costs.
How much is a beer in Copenhagen?
About 60 DKK for a half-litre of draught in an ordinary bar, with a range of roughly 50 to 75. A cheap bodega will charge 25 to 35, a craft beer bar 60 to 95, and a supermarket 15 to 23 plus deposit.
How much is a coffee in Copenhagen?
A cappuccino is 46 to 57 DKK and an espresso around 44. Restaurant coffee runs 35 to 50.
Is Copenhagen more expensive than Stockholm or Oslo?
More expensive than Stockholm by a clear margin. Oslo is roughly comparable, and by some measures dearer. Reykjavik is more expensive than either. Copenhagen is the priciest capital in the EU but not in Europe.
Do you tip in Copenhagen?
No. Service is included in the price and tipping is optional. Ten per cent is generous if you want to mark exceptional service.
Is there a tourist tax in Copenhagen?
No. Unlike Amsterdam or Berlin, Copenhagen levies no city or bed tax. The 25 per cent VAT is included in every displayed price.
What is the cheapest month to visit Copenhagen?
February. Denmark’s hotel price index put February 2026 at 86.8 against June at 127.8, so June costs roughly 47 per cent more. December, contrary to its reputation, sits below the annual average.
Should I carry cash in Copenhagen?
Card works nearly everywhere, but 200 to 300 DKK is worth having for markets and kiosks. Note the 1,000-krone note has been withdrawn.
Beer gets a page of its own, because it is the number most visitors use to judge a city and because the spread here is absurd: a 15-krone supermarket can and a 110-krone Nyhavn terrace are the same lager. Our breakdown of what a beer actually costs in Copenhagen prices the bodegas, the craft taprooms and the supermarket shelf against each other, and explains why the excise duty on a can is under one krone.
Related Reading
- Money, cards and the krone covers exchange, payment and what to do about currency conversion offers.
- Everything free in the city matters more here than in most European capitals.
- Budget hotels worth booking narrows down the cheaper end of a costly market.
- A Copenhagen weekend shows what the prices above add up to over two or three days.
Final Thoughts
Copenhagen is expensive in a specific, manageable way. Getting around is cheap, the museums are fairly priced, the supermarkets are ordinary and there is no tourist tax. What costs money is sitting down: a restaurant meal here carries 25 per cent VAT with no reduced rate, in a country whose restaurant prices already sit nearly 50 per cent above the European average and are rising at 8 per cent a year.
Which means the lever is obvious. Eat one good meal out a day instead of three, drink in bodegas rather than on the waterfront, buy a City Pass, and use the free Wednesday at the Glyptotek. Do that and Copenhagen costs about what Amsterdam does. Do the opposite and it costs about what Reykjavik does.
Last verified: September 2026. Prices from venue menus, operator sites, Eurostat, Statistics Denmark and the ECB reference rate of 4 September 2026.