Puttgarden ⇄ Rødby · 45 min · about 19 km
Puttgarden Rødby, Rostock Gedser or the bridges: which route suits you?
Puttgarden Rødby, Rostock Gedser or the long way round over the bridges?
Booking online avoids the €15+ handling fee charged when buying your ticket in the manned harbour lane.Book online & save at least €15
For anyone coming up through the Netherlands and Hamburg, and that is most of our English-speaking readers, the answer is Puttgarden Rødby: the closest port, a cheaper ticket than Rostock Gedser, a ferry about every 40 minutes by day. Start in Berlin or anywhere east of it and Rostock Gedser saves you about 160 km of driving. The land route over the bridges is the natural choice if you are heading for Jutland or Funen. It can suit you towards Copenhagen too, for example if the ferry is expensive on your day, you would rather not be tied to a departure or prefer to drive without waiting at the port.
Quick verdict by starting point and destination
- Hamburg, Bremen, Hannover, the Ruhr, the Netherlands to Copenhagen: Puttgarden Rødby. The port is on your motorway, the ferry is cheaper than Rostock Gedser, overland costs about the same once you add toll and fuel, and if you miss a ferry with a Standard ticket, the next departure with space is usually within the hour.
- Berlin, Leipzig, Dresden, Poland to Copenhagen: Rostock Gedser. Puttgarden is a detour of about 160 km from Berlin; via Rostock you drive less and get two hours of break on board.
- Malmö and southern Sweden: Puttgarden Rødby with a combination ticket that includes the Øresund Bridge, if you want to see Copenhagen on the way. The direct ferries Travemünde or Rostock to Trelleborg suit you if you would rather sleep on board than drive.
- Gothenburg and the west coast: Puttgarden Rødby plus the Helsingør Helsingborg ferry.
- Jutland, Funen, Legoland: no ferry, drive via Flensburg.
Pick your starting point: the three routes on the map
Tell the map where you start and it draws all three ways to Copenhagen, with kilometres and total time, Puttgarden Rødby listed first. Under the figures it says which one comes out best from there.
Where do you start?
Distances and driving times: route calculation on OpenStreetMap data (OSRM), 21 September 2026, centre to centre, without traffic or stops. Total time is driving plus the crossing (45 minutes or 2 hours) plus 30 minutes for check-in. Overland runs via Flensburg, Kolding and the Storebælt Bridge.
The sums to Copenhagen from five starting points
Road kilometres and total time from city centre to city centre. Total time is driving without traffic or stops, the crossing, and 30 minutes for check-in and boarding. The overland route runs via Flensburg and the Storebælt Bridge.
| From | Via Puttgarden Rødby | Via Rostock Gedser | Overland via Storebælt |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hamburg | about 315 km by road, about 5 hours | about 350 km by road, about 6.5 hours | about 515 km, just under 6 hours without a stop |
| Bremen | about 430 km by road, about 6 hours | about 470 km by road, about 7.5 hours | about 635 km, about 7 hours without a stop |
| Hannover | about 455 km by road, about 6.5 hours | about 490 km by road, about 8 hours | about 670 km, about 7.5 hours without a stop |
| Cologne | about 730 km by road, about 9 hours | about 765 km by road, about 10.5 hours | about 945 km, about 10 hours without a stop |
| Berlin | about 560 km by road, just over 7 hours | about 385 km by road, just under 7 hours | about 790 km, over 8.5 hours without a stop |
| Cost, one way, car | Puttgarden Rødby | Rostock Gedser | Storebælt Bridge |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cheapest fare | Low Price from 48 euros | Low Price from 65.30 euros | 205 DKK with automatic payment, about 27.50 euros |
| Fare with some slack | Standard from 61.10 euros | Standard from 82.70 euros | 235 DKK normal price, about 31.50 euros |
| Bought at the harbour | Standard from 111 euros | Standard from 147 euros | as above |
Kilometres and driving times: route calculation on OpenStreetMap data (OSRM), city centre to port and port to Copenhagen, rounded, run on 22 September 2026; the overland figures for Bremen, Hannover and Cologne are the Hamburg route plus the drive to Hamburg. Ferry fares: “from” prices on scandlines.com, Puttgarden Rødby checked on 28 September 2026, Rostock Gedser on 17 September 2026. Bridge toll: 2026 tariff, conversion rounded. The fare in the booking depends on day and departure.
Puttgarden Rødby or Rostock Gedser
Two routes, one operator, one booking. Scandlines runs both with the same ticket types. Puttgarden Rødby is the short one: 45 minutes, a ferry about every 40 minutes by day and less often at night, and a ticket that is 17 to 22 euros cheaper. Rostock Gedser is the long one: about 2 hours, 8 to 9 departures each way.
From Hamburg and the west Puttgarden is usually the easier choice. Puttgarden is 152 km from Hamburg, Rostock 198 km, and after Rostock you still have a two hour crossing instead of 45 minutes. You are in Copenhagen about an hour and a half earlier via Puttgarden, for a cheaper ticket. From Bremen, Hannover and Cologne the gap is the same size.
From Berlin and the east the picture reverses. Puttgarden is 398 km from Berlin, Rostock about 235 km. The extra 160 km cost roughly as much in fuel as the Puttgarden ticket saves, so on cost it is about a draw, and on time too. The difference is what you do with that time: via Puttgarden you drive an hour and a half more motorway, via Rostock you spend it having lunch on board.
One more thing for planning: the Fehmarnbelt tunnel is being built between Puttgarden and Rødby. According to the plan Femern A/S published on 17 May 2026, the road opens first, at the earliest in 2031, and the railway later. Scandlines plans to keep sailing alongside it, so for now nothing changes. More on our tunnel page.
We sailed both: our test trip in February 2025 went north via Puttgarden Rødby and back via Gedser Rostock. Puttgarden is a conveyor belt: drive on, a drink on the sun deck, drive off, efficient and over before you have settled in. Gedser Rostock is a proper sea crossing with lunch and the run past Warnemünde at the end. From Puttgarden we still had 90 minutes of Danish motorway ahead of us to Copenhagen, and we were at the hotel before nine.
Ferry or bridge: overland via Storebælt
With no ferry at all you take the A7 to Flensburg, cross Jutland and Funen and use the Storebælt Bridge to Zealand. At 205 to 235 DKK the toll is far cheaper than any ferry ticket, and that is where the good news ends. The distance cancels it out: from Hamburg it is about 515 km instead of 315 km, so 200 km more fuel and, even after adding check-in and the crossing to the ferry route, about an hour longer. From Bremen, Hannover and Cologne the picture is the same, from Berlin it is worse.
Overland makes sense in three cases: your destination is in Jutland or on Funen. You do not want to depend on a timetable at all, though with a sailing about every 40 minutes by day that argument is weak on this route. Or the wind is strong enough to cancel ferries, but then check first whether the Storebælt Bridge is closed to caravans and empty trailers, which happens in the same storms. For wind and waves on the route see weather and sea state.
To Sweden: via Rødby or straight to Trelleborg
From Travemünde near Lübeck and from Rostock, ferries sail directly to Trelleborg in six to nine hours, and from there it is about 30 km to Malmö. Via Rødby it is 45 minutes of ferry and then about 195 km through Copenhagen and over the Øresund Bridge, roughly two and a quarter hours of driving from Rødbyhavn to Malmö without traffic.
| Hamburg to Malmö | Via Rødby and the Øresund Bridge | Direct to Trelleborg |
|---|---|---|
| On the water | 45 minutes | about 6 to 9 hours |
| At the wheel | about 350 km, roughly 4 hours | about 80 km to Travemünde or 200 km to Rostock, plus 30 km in Sweden |
| Departures | about every 40 minutes by day | several a day, including overnight |
| Price | combination ticket with bridge from 101.25 euros | depends on departure and cabin, check TT-Line, Finnlines and Stena Line |
This one is a matter of taste. Trelleborg suits you if you sail overnight, take a cabin and want to arrive rested. Rødby suits you if you want to stay flexible, see Copenhagen on the way or head for the west coast: then you take the Helsingør Helsingborg ferry instead of the bridge. Both come as a combination ticket: ferry plus Øresund Bridge or ferry plus Helsingør Helsingborg.
When you should not book Puttgarden Rødby
- You start in Berlin or east of it. Rostock is 160 km closer, and the two hour crossing is a better break than 160 km of motorway.
- Your destination is Jutland or Funen. From Rødby you would have to cross Zealand and take the Storebælt Bridge back west.
- You are going to Bornholm. That is what the ferry from Sassnitz is for.
- You want a night’s sleep on the way to Sweden. Then the overnight ferries to Trelleborg are the better choice.
- A storm is forecast on the Fehmarnbelt. The crossing is short, but it is open water, and in a full gale Scandlines cancels here too. Check the timetable and the weather page before you set off.
In every other case, above all starting in Hamburg or the west and heading for Copenhagen, Zealand, Lolland or Sweden, Puttgarden Rødby is usually the most convenient route. All ticket types and what they cost are on the prices page.
Route comparison FAQ
Is Puttgarden Rødby cheaper than Rostock Gedser?
For the ticket, yes: Low Price from 48 instead of 65.30 euros, Standard from 61.10 instead of 82.70 euros (scandlines.com, 28 September 2026). From Berlin and the east the fuel for about 160 km of detour roughly cancels that out.
From Hamburg to Copenhagen, which is faster: Puttgarden or Rostock?
Puttgarden, by about an hour and a half: roughly 5 hours door to door against 6.5 via Rostock, with a shorter drive and a cheaper ticket.
Is the Storebælt Bridge worth it instead of the ferry?
Usually not from Hamburg, Berlin or the west: the toll is cheap at 205 to 235 DKK, but the route is about 200 km longer from Hamburg and 400 km longer from Berlin. Overland makes sense for Jutland and Funen.
Is there a ferry from Hamburg straight to Copenhagen?
No. Puttgarden Rødby plus about 160 km of driving is the way, and a day trip to Copenhagen is realistic with an early sailing.
Puttgarden Rødby or the Trelleborg ferries to Sweden?
Trelleborg if you want to sleep on board and barely drive. Rødby with a combination ticket if you want many departures, Copenhagen on the way or the west coast as your destination.
What happens to Puttgarden Rødby when the Fehmarnbelt tunnel opens?
According to the plan Femern A/S published on 17 May 2026, the road tunnel opens at the earliest in 2031 and the railway later; that is not a guaranteed date. Scandlines has announced it will keep sailing the route with three ferries after the opening and is converting two of them to plug-in hybrids. So for the next few years nothing changes for your planning. Details on our tunnel page.
Decided on Puttgarden Rødby? Both Scandlines routes are in the same booking, so you can keep comparing there for your date.
Booking online avoids the €15+ handling fee charged when buying your ticket in the manned harbour lane.