What is the cost of 2 nights in Copenhagen? Is Copenhagen an expensive city to visit?

Yes … and no.

It is expensive to an extent, but equally there are a number of free/cheap things to see and do when in the Danish capital.  Hint, look over here –> Copenhagen – 10 Things to do on the cheap / for free

As you’ve probably guessed from the title of this post, the idea behind it is for me to give you some hard number, as I have done previously with Reykjavik and Jordan.  Yes there is cheap/free things to do in the city, but obviously there are things/items that cost when visiting, so here are my numbers from my visit to CPH in June.

The cost of 2 nights in Copenhagen – Cost Breakdown

The cost of 2 nights in Copenhagen, based on 2 adults staying 2 nights, Saturday – Monday, and using the rates below is …

*Rates used are as of 1st July 2015

So there you go, that is the cost of 2 nights in Copenhagen.

Keeping costs down

Flights – So firstly, the flights we chose were slightly more expensive than we would usually choose.  This owes to the mrs and I living on Heathrow’s doorstep, and with that a lot of the time it works out better financially for us to book more expensive flights from Heathrow, on the basis of not have to pay for taxi’s/petrol and parking for flight to and from Stansted/Luton/Gatwick. Also with Heathrow flights, we don’t have to set out to the airport so far in advance of my flight.

Luggage – Whilst our BA flights included hold luggage, we only took hand luggage, and for the most part I will still only take hand luggage on any weekend breaks, just because on the usual budget airlines, travel hand luggage only saves me quite a few £’s. It’s a nice option to have – hold luggage – but even if I used hold luggage, it would be in ADDition to my hand luggage, not in place of. I’m too paranoid to let my camera gear out of my sight for too long, and after the experience of ‘losing’ my luggage earlier this year I’m Venice, I will always take some form of hand luggage.  But back to the point, travelling with hand luggage only is usually another method of saving some cash.

Food – One of our biggest expenditures was our dinner in the Meat Packing District.  This was by choice, and there are plenty of cheaper dinner options in and around town, and the Meat Packing district itself.  I just decided that I wanted to take the little lady for a treat.

Date/Days of travel – It goes without saying that weekends are more expensive to fly and for accommodation.  The same goes with booking in the height of summer. Had we visited during the week in say April or May, I have no doubt the costs would have been reduced.

Discount Card – Whilst we probably didn’t use the Copenhagen card to it’s full potential, we did still get quite a lot out of it, and if you plan to visit a large number of museums when in Copenhagen and travel around mostly via public transport, the CPH card could be worth thinking about.  Just out of curiosity I ran my cost breakdown numbers again, but substituting the cost of the CPH card for a 72 travel card + admittance fees and there was only £3 difference per person. Had we visited just one more attraction, or took the bus instead of walking, we would have recovered that £3 easily.  Whether you think the card is worth it or not will be down to what attractions you plan on visiting, and how you plan to get around Copenhagen.

Copenhagen Inspiration

As far as a city break goes, few cities I’ve visited in the same manner have provided quite as much to do.  Of course there is every chance that I’ve missed key attractions in other cities, but even now I’m impressed with just how many different places I was able to visit, and things I was able experience within Copenhagen.

Here’s a few things/places within Copenhagen I really enjoyed and would suggest to anyone planning on visiting …

• Nyhavn 
• The Carlsberg Brewery –> my Carlsberg Brewery review here
• The Rundetårn (Round Tower) –> my Rundetårn write up here
• Superkilen –> my Superkilen post here
• Christiania
• Segway Tour (I concede lots of cities have their own segways tours, so this is not unique.  Still fun though!)
• The Meat Packing district
• Canal tours
• Bakken –> my review of the worlds oldest theme park here

Of course there is also the Little Mermaid.  She’s kind of a ‘must see’, but also a little underwhelming.  Best seen whilst on a segway tour I would say.

The Hand Luggage only Cheat Sheet

Moving back to the hand luggage issue for a moment.  As mentioned, travelling hand luggage only is sometimes a great way to save some cash, but as most of us know, hand luggage dimensions and weight restrictions are not standardised.  Different airlines have different rules regarding what they will and won’t accept as hand luggage, and should you get it wrong, you could end up well out of pocket, when originally you were travelling with hand luggage only to save money.

That’s where Expedia have come in and made the rather cool hand luggage cheat sheet for travellers like you and I to refer to, should we plan or book a trip whereby we intend to travel hand luggage only.

Now given that an airline can change their rules at a moments notice, Expedia cannot guarantee that the information on the sheet will be 100% accurate all of the time (red the disclaimer!), but it is updated regularly and is still a pretty good starting place should you be worried that your hand luggage might not fit your airlines policy, OR if you’re thinking of buying new luggage, and hand to make sure that what you’re buying fits with the dimensions of your favourite/most frequently used airline.

The cheat sheet looks a little bit like the below, and allows you to organise the table by by hand luggage size and by weight etc.

Is the cost of 2 nights in Copenhagen worth it?

So is the cost of 2 nights in Copenhagen worth it?

I guess it’s kind of hard for me to say, in the sense that (FULL DISCLAIMER) my first visit to Copenhagen was via a press trip, and so a LOT was provided for me.  Even with this second trip not everything was paid for out of my own pocket.  Although all the costs stated above are accurate, I should point out that I was lucky enough to win the flights, accommodation and Copenhagen card and so did not pay for them out of my own pocket.  I have included them in the table, so to give the best representation of the cost of my weekend possible, to anyone else who would indeed to take a similar trip.

Based on the above, my view on whether Copenhagen is worth the money might therefore might be skewed slightly, but that said, when I did put my hand in my pocket, I didn’t find Copenhagen any more expensive than where I live now, London … but I appreciate London is an expensive city too.

I guess ultimately it’s down to you whether you think a 2 night city break is worth £380. What I would be tempted to say is that Copenhagen seems a more affordable introduction to the nordics than say Norway, but having not actually visited Norway, I’m purely going on what I’ve read and seen advertised.  Please correct me if I’m wrong.

Ultimately I really like Copenhagen, and don’t think I would have felt short changed had these 2 trips been funded entirely by myself. I might not have done ALL of the same things, or eaten at ALL of the same restaurants but I still think I would have enjoyed my time fully having spent the reported amount above.