Is the Copenhagen Card Worth It? 2026 Prices and Break-Even

What does the Copenhagen Card cost in 2026?

The Copenhagen Card costs between 589 kr and 1,419 kr for an adult, depending on the version and the length. The card’s own price page publishes the full list, and the DISCOVER figures below are the ones that matter for the sums further down.

The kids column is the line that catches families out. Older guides still say that two children under 10 travel free with each adult card. That is not the 2026 arrangement: a child aged 3 to 11 needs a paid kids card, and only under-3s are free.

HOP is priced separately and runs to three lengths only.

The clock starts when you first activate the card in the app, not when you buy it, so a card bought at home does not begin counting down in the airport queue.

DISCOVER or HOP: which Copenhagen Card is which?

DISCOVER covers 80-odd attractions plus all public transport in the Capital Region, and HOP covers 40-odd city-centre attractions plus the Stromma hop-on hop-off buses. They are not two lengths of the same product, and picking the wrong one is the single most expensive mistake on this page.

The difference that decides it is listed below.

1. Public transport. DISCOVER includes unlimited metro, bus, S-train, regional train and harbour bus in zones 1 to 99, including both airport runs. HOP includes none of that.
2. The hop-on hop-off buses. HOP includes all three Stromma routes without limit. DISCOVER does not include them at all.
3. Reach. DISCOVER gets you to Louisiana in Humlebæk, Kronborg in Helsingør, Frederiksborg in Hillerød and the Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde. HOP’s free entries all sit in the city centre.
4. Price. HOP costs 11 kr more than DISCOVER at 24 and 72 hours and 16 kr more at 48 hours, so the choice is about what you want, not about saving money.

DISCOVER is the version this page costs out, because the out-of-town castles and the airport transfer are where its money sits. If you buy the Copenhagen Card online before you fly, check which of the two you are putting in the basket.

The break-even arithmetic on the 72-hour card

The 72-hour Copenhagen Card DISCOVER breaks even at four paid attractions plus the free canal tour, or five paid attractions without it. The sum has two steps, and the first is the one most comparisons skip.

Step one: take out the transport you would have bought anyway. A 72-hour City Pass Small covers zones 1 to 4, which is the whole city centre plus the airport, and costs 220 kr. Subtract that and the admissions have to justify what is left.

Step two: add up the free entries at their own 2026 gate prices. These are door prices taken from each venue’s own ticket page.

Five of those clears the bar on admissions alone. Tivoli at 150 kr, the zoo at 260 kr, Rosenborg at 150 kr, the National Museum at 150 kr and Christiansborg at 225 kr come to 935 kr, which is 116 kr more than the card needs to return.

Four of them plus the canal tour also clears it. Drop the zoo from that list and the four museums and castles come to 675 kr, add the canal tour at 199 kr and the total reaches 874 kr, which is 55 kr ahead.

Three plus the canal tour does not clear it. Tivoli, Rosenborg, Christiansborg and the canal tour total 724 kr, which leaves the card 95 kr behind, and swapping the zoo in for Christiansborg only narrows that to 60 kr.

Four paid attractions plus the cruise, in three days, is therefore the line. Below it, buy a City Pass and pay at each door. Above it the card wins and keeps winning, because everything after the fourth entry costs nothing.

One case moves the line in your favour. If your plan reaches Humlebæk, Helsingør, Hillerød or Roskilde you need a City Pass Large rather than a Small, which is 440 kr for 72 hours. Subtract that instead and the card only has to return 599 kr of admissions, which four ordinary museum entries at around 150 kr each just about cover on their own.

When the Copenhagen Card is not worth buying

The Copenhagen Card stops paying when your trip is built on walking, on a Monday, or on small children. Each case is common and each breaks the sums in a different way, so check your own plan against them before you buy.

The five cases where the card loses are listed below, with the figure that decides each one.

1. You mainly want transport. A 72-hour City Pass Small is 220 kr and a 24-hour one is 100 kr. Against a 1,039 kr card, buying transport alone keeps 819 kr in your pocket, and the card only earns that back through admissions.
2. Your Copenhagen is the free one. Nyhavn, the Little Mermaid, Christiania, the harbour baths, Torvehallerne, Superkilen and the whole ring of ramparts cost nothing without a card, so the card would be paying for entries you were never going to buy.
3. Your card would run over a Monday. The Glyptotek, SMK, Designmuseum Danmark and Louisiana all close on Mondays, which removes 575 kr of free entries at a stroke. The National Museum, Copenhagen Zoo, Frederiksborg and Tivoli in season do open on Mondays, so a Monday card is not worthless, just weaker.
4. You are travelling with children aged 3 to 11. A 72-hour kids card is 180 kr on top of each adult card, and the old free-children rule no longer applies.
5. You want Tivoli for the rides. The card covers entrance to Tivoli only. The ride pass is a separate purchase at a card-holder discount, so a family going for the roller coaster still pays most of what they would have paid anyway.

The 24-hour card is the hardest of all to justify. After its 100 kr of transport it needs 489 kr of admissions in a single day, which means three attractions, or two plus the canal tour, on a day you probably arrived and lost to a flight.

What the 2026 card no longer includes

Three attractions that older Copenhagen Card guides list are not on the 2026 attraction list, and one of them appears on almost every competing page. Check the card’s own attraction list before you count anything into your sums.

The three worth knowing about are listed below.

1. The Round Tower. Rundetaarn is no longer a card attraction. It charges 60 kr for adults and 40 kr for students, and under-18s go free, so it is a small loss in money and a large one in expectations.
2. Den Blå Planet, the National Aquarium. The aquarium in Kastrup is not on the 2026 list either, and it is one of the more expensive tickets in the region.
3. Copenhagen City Hall Tower. The tower climb is gone from the list as well.

What is still on it, and is easy to miss, is the free canal cruise with Canal Tours Copenhagen, entry to Home of Carlsberg, the Museum of Illusions, Experimentarium in Hellerup and the four separate parts of Christiansborg. The card entitles you to one visit per attraction, with no second entry on a later day, and Tivoli is the single exception: ask for a re-entry stamp at the main gate and you can go back in on the same day.

Where to buy the Copenhagen Card

Buy the Copenhagen Card from the card’s own site or app, or from GetYourGuide if you want free cancellation. An online purchase gives you a reference number that you redeem in the Copenhagen Card app, and the card only starts counting down when you activate it there.

Three attractions need a step you cannot take from home. Home of Carlsberg and the Church of Our Saviour both require pre-booking, and Home of Carlsberg asks for a card number that only appears in the app after you have activated the card. Rosenborg does not take online bookings at all: you scan the card at the ticket office on the day and are given a timed entry slot, which is worth doing first thing rather than at two in the afternoon. Ready to book? Get your Copenhagen Card from GetYourGuide, where you can cancel up to 24 hours beforehand if your plans change.

Getting to Copenhagen and covering the trip

Fly or take the train, then decide on the card once your attraction list is fixed. Copenhagen sits on direct rail routes from Hamburg, Stockholm and Malmö into København H, and the Øresund train crosses the bridge from Malmö in well under an hour, so a Swedish leg is easy to add. Comparing rail and coach fares on the same dates is quickest through Omio, which sells Danish and cross-border tickets in one place.

Accommodation moves the card’s value more than most people expect, because a room in Indre By or Vesterbro puts Tivoli, Christiansborg, Rosenborg, the Glyptotek and the National Museum inside a 20-minute walk, and an Amager room does not. Checking what each district charges on your dates is worth doing before you pick a card length, and Trip.com lists Copenhagen hotels and apartments across the whole city on one map.

Travel insurance is the one purchase worth making whatever you decide about the card. Cover for cancellation, illness abroad and sometimes stolen electronics costs a fraction of a Copenhagen trip, and SafetyWing sells flexible policies you can start after you have already left home. Sofie claimed on a SafetyWing policy after catching COVID on a trip and was reimbursed in full.

Once you are in the city, the attraction list is what decides the card, and that list comes from the itinerary rather than from the pass. Arrival routes, districts and a working outline are set out in our guide to things to do in Copenhagen, and the rest of the country is covered across our Denmark pages.

Copenhagen Card FAQ

Is the Copenhagen Card worth it for 2 days?

The 48-hour card is worth it at roughly four paid entries across two days. After 160 kr of transport, the card needs 699 kr of admissions. The zoo at 260 kr, Christiansborg at 225 kr and the canal tour at 199 kr come to 684 kr, which is 15 kr short, so one museum on top settles it.

Does the Copenhagen Card include the airport transfer?

DISCOVER includes both airport runs, because Copenhagen Airport sits inside the zones the card covers. HOP does not include public transport at all, so a HOP holder pays for the metro from Kastrup separately.

Are children free with the Copenhagen Card?

No. Children aged 3 to 11 need a kids card, which runs from 100 kr for 24 hours to 260 kr for 120 hours, and 12 to 15-year-olds need a junior card. Only under-3s go free, and the old rule allowing two free children per adult no longer applies.

Does the Copenhagen Card cover Tivoli rides?

No. The card covers entrance to Tivoli Gardens and gives you a discount on the ride pass, which is bought separately. Entrance alone ranges from 150 kr to 210 kr depending on the day, and rises to 275 kr for arrivals after 18:00 on a Friday Rock evening.

Can you visit the same attraction twice on a Copenhagen Card?

No. The card allows one visit per attraction whatever the length, and re-visits are not possible. Tivoli is the exception, where a re-entry stamp from the main entrance lets you return the same day.

Is the Round Tower included in the Copenhagen Card?

No. Rundetaarn is not on the 2026 attraction list, and adults pay 60 kr at the door. Guides that still list it are describing an older version of the card.

WonderfulWanderings Pro Tips

The five tips below come from reading the 2026 terms against the card’s own attraction list and the venues’ own ticket pages, and each one changes what you should do on the day.

1. Go to Rosenborg first thing on your first morning. Rosenborg cannot be pre-booked at all. You scan the card at the ticket office and are handed a timed slot, so arriving at 14:00 on a summer Saturday can mean a wait or a slot you cannot use.
2. Start the card on a Tuesday if the plan is museums. The Glyptotek, SMK, Designmuseum Danmark and Louisiana all close on Mondays, and that is 575 kr of free entries gone from a 24-hour or 48-hour card.
3. Book Home of Carlsberg the moment you activate the card. Home of Carlsberg and the Church of Our Saviour both need pre-booking, and Home of Carlsberg asks for a card number that only exists in the app after activation, so you cannot do it before you land.
4. Count the kids cards before you compare prices. Two children aged 3 to 11 add 360 kr to a 72-hour family purchase, which is enough to change the answer for a family that would clear the break-even on two adults alone.
5. Take the canal tour on a day the museums are shut. Canal Tours Copenhagen sails all year, the boats are covered and heated in winter, and the classic tour is the one free item worth at least 199 kr that a Monday does not take away from you.

About the author. This guide is written and maintained by the Wonderful Wanderings editorial team. Wonderful Wanderings was founded in 2012 by Sofie Couwenbergh, and the team covers Copenhagen and Denmark for independent travellers, including the city cards, museums, castles, hotels and travel insurance worth booking. We check the Copenhagen Card’s own price and attraction pages against each venue’s 2026 ticket prices, and update this page when the card’s versions, prices and included attractions change.