Copenhagen drinks by neighbourhood, not by street. Vesterbro has the cocktail bars, Nørrebro the beer and the bodegas, Indre By the grand rooms and the wine, Christianshavn and Refshaleøen the waterside, and Frederiksberg the only bar in the country with a world ranking. Budget 60 DKK for a beer and 130 for a cocktail, expect nothing to open before four, and know that the metro runs all night.
For the after-dark activities beyond drinking, see what else the city does in the evening.
Before Anything Else: Four Bars Every Guide Still Lists Are Gone
Copenhagen’s bar scene turns over faster than the guides do, and aggregator “updated 2026” datestamps are automatic and prove nothing. These four are still being recommended and should not be:
- Broaden & Build on Refshaleøen closed in 2021. Matt Orlando’s brewery and restaurant did not survive the pandemic, and the debt contributed to Amass closing the year after. It has been shut for five years.
- Nørrebro Bryghus’s brewpub is gone. Royal Unibrew bought the brand and the beer production in January 2023; the Ryesgade bar was not part of the deal and stopped trading. The premises are now an Indian restaurant. The beer still exists; the venue does not.
- Bang & Jensen was sold in spring 2025 after 28 years and reopened in July 2025 as Bootleggers Vesterbro. The new owners could not keep the name because Bang and Jensen were the founders’ surnames.
- The Standard is closed, and was never a rooftop bar — it was the old Custom House at quay level. The complex closed in 2014 and its domain now redirects elsewhere.
Indre By: the Grand Rooms
The medieval core has been under a restrictive licensing regime since December 2018, which means no new late-night permits. The result is a district of good, early-closing bars rather than a nightlife strip.
- Ruby, Nybrogade 10. An unmarked door into a 1740 canal-side townhouse, the bar that started Denmark’s modern cocktail scene in 2007. Cocktails 130 to 175 DKK. Open seven days, 16:00 or 17:00 until 01:00, 02:00 at weekends. Strict 21+. Beautiful, famous, and see the honest note below.
- Balderdash, Valkendorfsgade 11. A 1732 house, twelve seats upstairs, a spirits lab and the most genuinely experimental drinks in Copenhagen. Roughly Wednesday to Sunday from 18:00 to 03:00. Walk-ins only unless you are six or more.
- Brønnum, August Bournonvilles Passage 1, on Kongens Nytorv beside the Royal Theatre’s Old Stage. Six interconnected rooms in a 125-year-old building, one of which becomes a dance floor. Cocktails 130 to 135, champagne by the glass from 125, and oysters at 25 DKK each on Thursday evenings. Closed Sunday.
- Strøm, Niels Hemmingsens Gade 32. The first bar in Europe to put proper cocktails on draught, back in 2012, which means a good drink in ninety seconds. 105 to 150 DKK. Closed Monday.
- K-Bar, Ved Stranden 20. Copenhagen’s oldest true cocktail bar, founded by Kirsten Holm, with about thirteen martinis on the list. Closed Sunday and Monday.
- Ved Stranden 10, next door at number 10. The best wine list in Copenhagen, in an apartment, with no cocktails and no music. Monday to Friday 15:00 to 22:00, Saturday from noon, closed Sunday, and no reservations at all.
- Nebbiolo, Store Strandstræde 18, a minute from Nyhavn. A basement Piedmont vineria with glasses at 85, 110, 135 and 160 DKK and free snacks that make the middle tier feel fair.
More on the cocktail rooms specifically in our guide to the city’s cocktail bars.
Vesterbro: Where the Drinking Actually Happens
If you have one night, spend it here. Kødbyen, the old meatpacking district, has one of the three permissive licensing zones in the city, which is why it stays open when Nørrebro has gone home.
- Lidkoeb, Vesterbrogade 72B, down a courtyard in an 1886 pharmacy warehouse. Three floors, a heated year-round courtyard, and an attic whisky bar with over 200 bottles that opens Friday and Saturday only. Cocktails a flat 120 DKK. Closed Sunday.
- Curfew, Vesterbrogade 20. Entry through a bookcase, antique hand-crank shakers used in service, and a genuine 1880s Coles for the Ramos Gin Fizz at 125 DKK. Closed the entire month of July, plus Christmas and New Year. Book, and note it is the only bar in this guide with an enforced dress code.
- Duck and Cover, Dannebrogsgade 6. A street-level corner room, not the basement several guides describe, with Nordic savoury cocktails around 115 to 140 DKK. Open seven days. The locals’ pick.
- Mikkeller Bar Viktoriagade, Viktoriagade 8B-C. The original, open since summer 2007, and the bar that started Denmark’s craft beer boom. Fourteen to twenty rotating taps.
- WarPigs, Flæsketorvet 25-37. A vast Texas barbecue brewpub, a Mikkeller and 3 Floyds joint venture, with 22 taps and communal benches. Beer 60 to 90 DKK; the tap wall is better value than the brisket.
- Mesteren & Lærlingen, Flæsketorvet 86. An ex-butchers’ bar turned dive with a DJ booth, open until 04:30 on Friday and Saturday. The last place in Kødbyen that has not been polished into a concept.
- Dyrehaven, Sønder Boulevard 72. A hunting-lodge café-bar doing smørrebrød by day and proper drinking by night; the kitchen shuts at 21:30 and the room gets louder immediately afterwards. Breakfast at half seven, a beer at one in the morning, same room.
- Falernum, Værnedamsvej 16. A French bistro whose wine list outclasses its food, which is the right order of priorities.
Nørrebro: Beer, Bodegas and an Earlier Night
Inner Nørrebro has been under a restrictive licensing regime since 2016, with no new permits for Sunday-to-Thursday nights and none past 02:00 on Friday and Saturday. That is the actual reason Nørrebro empties earlier than Vesterbro, and no other guide explains it.
- BRUS, Guldbergsgade 29F. To Øl’s flagship brewpub in a converted industrial hall with about thirty taps brewed on site. Prices published, which is rare: 20cl 40 to 65 DKK, 40cl 60 to 95, a 1.5-litre pitcher 240 to 400, cocktails 80 to 90 — the cheapest serious cocktail in the city.
- Ølbaren, Elmegade 2. A small, cramped, unglamorous beer-nerd bar with a priced list: 25cl 48 to 58, 40cl 67 to 81. The only place here where the staff will talk you out of your first choice.
- Kind of Blue, Ravnsborggade 17. Three candlelit rooms, vinyl and a proper hi-fi rig, named after the Miles Davis record. Closed Sunday, no bookings.
- Blågårds Apotek, Blågårds Plads 2. A non-profit bar and music venue in a 1932 pharmacy, where the original pharmacy counter is the bar. Eighteen taps, a live jazz jam on Monday nights at 20:00, and Saturday music from 21:00 with 50 DKK on the door.
- Terroiristen, Jægersborggade 52. An underground natural-wine bar and shop with ten to twenty bottles open daily and an unusual depth in Slovenia, Serbia, Hungary and Czechia. Closed Sunday and Monday. Note that Jægersborggade itself is coffee and restaurants; this is the one real bar on it.
- Dagmars Bodega, Gormsgade 25. A female-founded reinterpretation of the bodega, with book clubs and quiz nights.
Christianshavn and Refshaleøen: the Waterside
- La Banchina, Refshalevej 141A. A sixteen-seat quayside natural-wine bar with its own sauna and a swimming ladder. May to September it runs 08:00 to 23:00; from October to April it closes at 16:00 with the kitchen open Thursday to Sunday only. No reservations, stated in those words. Sixteen seats cannot absorb its reputation, so go off-peak or stand on the quay.
- Rosforth & Rosforth, Knippelsbrogade 10, in the arches under Knippelsbro. An importer’s warehouse doubling as a wine bar where you drink among the pallets. Summer hours run to 19:30 and, in their own words, longer if the sun is out. Closed Sunday. Check the forecast rather than the website.
- Christianshavns Bådudlejning, Overgaden Neden Vandet 29. A floating café-bar on a canal pontoon attached to a boat rental that has operated since 1896. Strongly seasonal and weather-dependent. Not really a bar so much as a pontoon that sells beer, which on a July evening is the better product.
- Nemoland in Christiania, Fabriksområdet 52. Open until midnight most nights and 03:00 on Friday and Saturday.
One correction worth making: Reffen is not nightlife. Its bars close at 21:30 and the whole site shuts from October to mid-March. It is a sundowner, not an evening.
Frederiksberg: the Best Bar in the Country
Bird, Gammel Kongevej 102, is number 66 on the World’s 50 Best Bars 2025 and the only Danish bar on the list. It is a vinyl listening bar with hand-built speakers, jazz and synth-pop, a short locally-sourced menu and a veteran owner. Around 120 to 140 DKK. It earns the ranking without any ceremony at all.
Nearby, Café Intime at Allégade 25 is a genuinely old, genuinely queer piano bar, open daily 16:00 to 02:00 with a pianist at the grand every night and jazz orchestras on Sundays. Gensyn on Rolighedsvej is a former bodega with whisky cocktails and billiards, and Bootleggers on Falkoner Allé does craft beer with bottomless popcorn and a hidden upstairs cocktail bar.
Bodegas: the Cheap, Real Ones
The Danish bodega is a brown bar: cheap, smoky, unbothered. Beer runs 40 to 75 DKK against a city median of 60, so roughly half what a cocktail bar charges.
| Bodega | Where | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Hviids Vinstue | Kongens Nytorv 19 | Founded 1723, Copenhagen’s oldest. Daily 10:00–01:00. Beer 55–75 DKK |
| Palæ Bar | Ny Adelgade 5 | To 01:00 midweek, 03:00 Friday and Saturday |
| Eiffel Bar | Wildersgade 58, Christianshavn | Daily 09:00–03:00, beer 45–55 DKK |
| Café Haraldsborg | Islands Brygge 15 | 40–60 DKK, the cheapest we found |
| Bo-Bi Bar | Klareboderne 14 | 50–70 DKK |
| Toga Vinstue | Larsbjørnsstræde 22 | 55–75 DKK |
Here is a test that actually works: the real bodegas are the ones where you can still smoke indoors. Denmark banned indoor smoking in 2007, but bars with a serving area under 40 square metres that hold a liquor licence and serve no prepared food are exempt, and that exemption was still in force as of December 2025. Eiffel Bar, Bo-Bi Bar, Toga Vinstue and Café Haraldsborg all qualify. Smoke means small, and small means it is a bodega rather than a bodega-themed bar. It also means your coat will smell.
Natural Wine
Copenhagen took to low-intervention wine early and hard. Den Vandrette, Havnegade 53A in a harbourfront basement, has the most polished list: glasses 115 to 190 DKK, most between 115 and 155, with 50ml pours from 100. Monday to Thursday 17:00 to 22:00, Friday and Saturday to midnight, closed Sunday, and worth booking.
Beyond it: Rosforth & Rosforth under the bridge, Terroiristen in Nørrebro, Ved Stranden 10 for something more classical, Josephine on Frankrigsgade in Amager, which is European natural wine in a preserved bodega with the original signage and a billiard table, and Fiasco on Borgergade.
Rooftops, and Which Ones You Can Actually Get Into
Copenhagen’s rooftops are more seasonal and more restricted than any guide admits.
- ROOF Bar & Lounge, Strandgade 7, eighth floor in Christianshavn. The best recommendation, and the only rooftop that publishes prices: cocktails 145 to 160 DKK, mocktails 120 to 125. Season roughly 10 April to 17 October, Monday to Saturday 15:00 to 23:00, closed Sunday. Heated pergola for cold evenings. Book, capacity is limited.
- SILO CPH, Helsinkigade 29, seventeenth floor of a converted grain silo in Nordhavn. Monday to Saturday 17:00 to 02:00, year-round — the only late-night rooftop in the city and where to go once the terraces shut for the season.
- Tramonto, Bryggernes Plads 7 in Carlsberg Byen. Year-round, indoor lounge plus terrace, 360-degree views. The most usable rooftop in bad weather.
- Illum Rooftop, Østergade 52. Free to walk up, and it is a department-store food terrace rather than a bar. It closes at 20:30 or 21:00. Fine at six, not an evening.
- Nimb Roof, atop the Nimb Hotel in Tivoli, has the best view in Copenhagen and is open to the general public for roughly six weeks a year — Wednesday to Saturday evenings in June to August and daily in the first half of September, booking mandatory. The rest of the year it is hotel guests and members. The separate Nimb American Bar is open year-round and is the safe recommendation.
- The Christiansborg tower is not a bar, but the lift is free and the viewing platform runs to 21:00. Ride it for nothing; the restaurant at the top, now run by Norrlyst rather than Meyers, is a separate decision.
The Practical Rules
Closing times, and why they vary by district
Under Danish law, licensed premises close at midnight by default. Serving later requires a nattilladelse from the licensing board, granted in tiers to 01:00, 02:00, 03:00, 04:00 or 05:00. 05:00 is the absolute legal ceiling. Every venue may stay open to 05:00 on Kulturnatten and on the nights after 24 and 31 December.
Geography does the rest. The medieval core has issued no new night permits since December 2018. Inner Nørrebro has issued none for Sunday-to-Thursday nights since 2016, and none past 02:00 at weekends. Nyhavn, the Metropolzone and Kødbyen get permits as a matter of course, with outdoor service to 02:00 as standard. That is the whole explanation for why one district feels alive at one in the morning and another does not.
In practice: most bars 16:00 to midnight midweek and to 02:00 at weekends, bodegas opening earlier and running later, and nightclubs to 05:00.
The metro runs all night
All four metro lines run 24 hours a day, every day of the year. There is no last train. Trains come every two to three minutes by day, roughly every eight minutes on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, and about every twenty minutes on other nights between 01:00 and 07:00. At least one leading guide claims a 01:00 last metro on weeknights; it is simply wrong, and it is the single most useful fact in this article.
Age, dress and tipping
Eighteen to be served in any bar, club or restaurant, regardless of what you are drinking. In shops the rules changed on 1 April 2025: 16 and 17-year-olds may now buy only up to 6 per cent ABV, tightened from the old 16.5 per cent threshold, and 18 applies to anything stronger. VisitDenmark’s own FAQ still carries the old rule.
Individual doors are stricter than the law and this is the real trap: Ruby enforces 21+, most clubs run 20 or 21 minimums, and a few go to 25.
Dress codes are effectively nonexistent in bars — clean trainers and jeans go anywhere — and only clubs and a couple of hotel rooms care.
Tipping is not expected. Service is included in the price. Rounding up is polite and optional; see the rules on tipping in Denmark.
What It Costs
| Drink | Price |
|---|---|
| Beer, 0.5L, bodega | 40–75 DKK |
| Beer, 0.5L, ordinary bar (city median) | 60 DKK |
| Craft beer, 40cl pour | 60–95 DKK |
| Cocktail, standard good bar | 110–140 DKK |
| Cocktail, top tier | 125–180 DKK |
| Cocktail, hotel bar | 160–220 DKK |
| Wine by the glass, wine bar | 85–190 DKK |
The full picture on drink and everything else is in our guide to real Copenhagen prices.
Overrated
Nyhavn, wholesale. The most common complaint about Copenhagen drinking is that Nyhavn is a trap, and the licensing plan quietly confirms it is designed that way: it is one of only three zones where late permits and 02:00 outdoor service are granted as a matter of course. It is engineered for volume. Ved Stranden 10 and Den Vandrette are both a five-minute walk away and are better bars.
Ruby. Not bad, still the benchmark room, but it markets itself as a secret it stopped being a decade ago, has a 21+ door and a queue, and reviewers consistently report small pours for 300 to 600 DKK a head. Balderdash and Duck and Cover deliver comparable drinks with less ceremony.
Mikkeller Viktoriagade. Historically important and still pouring well, but the brand is global now and the price per centilitre is the highest in the beer section. BRUS is cheaper, brewed on site, and publishes its prices.
Reffen, Illum Rooftop and Nimb Roof, all for the same reason: they are recommended as nightlife and they are not open at night, or not open to you.
Frequently Asked Questions
What time do bars close in Copenhagen?
Midnight by default, with a licence extending that in stages to a legal maximum of 05:00. Most bars run to midnight or 01:00 midweek and 02:00 at weekends. Bodegas and Kødbyen venues go later; Nørrebro closes earlier because of a restrictive licensing zone.
Where is the best area for bars in Copenhagen?
Vesterbro for cocktails and Kødbyen for late nights, Nørrebro for craft beer and bodegas, Indre By for grand rooms and wine. If you only have one night, stay in Vesterbro.
How much is a beer in Copenhagen?
About 60 DKK for a half-litre in an ordinary bar. A bodega charges 40 to 75, a craft beer bar 60 to 95 for a 40cl pour, and a supermarket 15 to 23 plus deposit.
Does the Copenhagen metro run all night?
Yes. All four lines run 24 hours a day, every day. There is no last train. Trains run roughly every eight minutes on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights and every twenty minutes on other nights.
Can you still smoke in Copenhagen bars?
In small ones, yes. Indoor smoking has been banned since 2007 except in bars under 40 square metres that hold a liquor licence and serve no prepared food. That exemption still stands, so several classic bodegas remain smoking rooms.
What is the legal drinking age in Denmark?
Eighteen to be served in a bar, club or restaurant. In shops, 16 and 17-year-olds may buy drinks up to 6 per cent ABV, tightened from 16.5 per cent in April 2025. Individual bar doors are often stricter, with 21 common.
Do you need to book a bar in Copenhagen?
Usually not. Copenhagen is walk-in-first, which is unusual for a city of this standard. Curfew effectively requires a booking, and ROOF and Den Vandrette are worth reserving.
What is the oldest bar in Copenhagen?
Hviids Vinstue on Kongens Nytorv, founded in 1723.
Three Routes for an Evening
Bars in Copenhagen are close enough together that a night out is a walk, not a taxi ride. Three that work:
- The Vesterbro night. Start at Duck and Cover at 17:00 while it is quiet, walk ten minutes to Lidkoeb and go straight up to the attic if it is Friday or Saturday, then into Kødbyen for WarPigs’ tap wall and finish at Mesteren & Lærlingen, which is still going at four in the morning. Total walking: about twenty minutes across the whole evening.
- The cheap night. Blågårds Apotek in Nørrebro for eighteen taps and, on a Monday, a live jazz jam at 20:00. Then Ølbaren on Elmegade for a 25cl at 48 DKK, then a bodega. You will spend a third of what the Vesterbro route costs and hear more live music.
- The grown-up night. A glass at Ved Stranden 10 at six, dinner nearby, Brønnum for a cocktail and, on a Thursday, oysters at 25 DKK each between five and seven. Finish at Balderdash, which is open until three and does not care how you are dressed.
In summer, replace any of the above with an afternoon at La Banchina and a swim, remembering it closes at 16:00 from October.
If you are working out what an evening will cost before you commit to it, we have priced the whole thing separately. The guide to beer prices in Copenhagen covers the bodega-to-terrace spread, the pant deposit that appears on every supermarket receipt, and the arithmetic that makes a 40cl craft pour better value than a 25cl one.
Rooftops are their own category here, and a complicated one: this is a deliberately low city, the season runs roughly April to October, and the single best terrace is largely closed to non-guests. We sort out which are worth the premium in our guide to the best rooftop bars in Copenhagen.
Related Reading
- The districts, explained is worth reading before you choose where to spend an evening.
- Nørrebro in full covers the beer bars, the bodegas and everything around them.
- Vesterbro and Kødbyen is where most of the bars on this page actually are.
- Street food and markets solves the problem of eating before or after all this.
Final Thoughts
Copenhagen’s strength is depth rather than peaks. It has exactly one bar on the World’s 50 Best list while Oslo and Stockholm each have more, and yet it is a better drinking city than either, because the median bar is excellent and there are thirty of them within a half-hour walk.
The practical advice is short. Start at four, because that is when things open. Stay in Vesterbro if you want a late night and Nørrebro if you want a cheap one. Drink in a bodega at least once, ideally one small enough to still be smoky. Skip Nyhavn. And do not worry about getting home, because the metro genuinely does run all night.
Last verified: September 2026 against venue websites, Copenhagen’s own restaurant and nightlife plan, and Danish smoking and licensing law. Four bars on most published lists have closed.