Day trip to Copenhagen and Denmark from Fehmarn or Hamburg: ticket, timing, sums

The day ticket: from 72 euros for the car, there and back, any sailing

One ticket, from 72 euros, the whole day. That is the Scandlines 1-day ticket for Puttgarden Rødby: from 72 euros for a car up to 6 metres with up to 9 people, there and back on the same calendar day, valid on every sailing of the day in both directions (price on scandlines.com, 28 September 2026). It beats two Low Price tickets on both counts: those cost from 96 euros together and tie you to two fixed departures. With the day ticket you come back when you are done.

The only condition is that the return is on the same day. The ferries run day and night, about every 40 minutes by day and less often at night; arrive in Rødby at 11 pm and you still get across. The timetable shows the exact pattern for your date. If you decide to stay the night after all, take two single tickets; the sums are on the prices page.

A schedule that works

The sums are simple. Rødby to Copenhagen is 161 kilometres of motorway, just under two hours without traffic (route calculation on OpenStreetMap data, September 2026); Hamburg to Puttgarden is about 150 kilometres, an hour and three quarters. Be at check-in 30 minutes before departure and you are on the ferry you wanted without stress.

The ferry times are examples; by day the ferry sails about every 40 minutes, so check the real departures for your date. From Hamburg it is about 16 hours out for 7 hours of city. It can be done; we would do it once and stay the night the next time. From Berlin, the day trip to Copenhagen is shorter via Rostock Gedser.

Parking in Copenhagen: leave the car at the edge, take the metro in

Do not drive into the centre if you can help it. Parking there is expensive and zoned, and the streets are built for bicycles, not for visiting cars. The relaxed option when you arrive from the south is Ørestad, the new district on the motorway just before the city, with multi-storey car parks at the Field’s shopping centre and metro line M1, which is at Kongens Nytorv by Nyhavn in a little over ten minutes. Everything is walkable from there. If you insist on driving into the centre, use a car park and pay for it; on-street parking, with its zones and app, is best left to the locals.

What fits in a day in Copenhagen

Seven hours is enough for the centre on foot, not for museums by the dozen. A walk that works: Nyhavn with the coloured houses, over the footbridge to Christianshavn, back across Slotsholmen and Christiansborg (the tower is free and the best view over the city), along Strøget to the town hall square. Tivoli is next door, open into the evening in summer, and is half a day rather than an hour. The Little Mermaid is a 30 minute walk north along the water, past Amalienborg and the Kastellet; it is small, as everyone knows, but the walk there is good. Food: the Reffen street-food market in summer, or Torvehallerne by Nørreport when it has to be quick.

The nearer alternative: a day on Lolland and Falster

If you are on holiday on Fehmarn and want “a quick day in Denmark”, you do not have to go all the way to Copenhagen. Lolland begins at the ferry ramp, and it has enough for a day with children without two hours of motorway each way:

• Lalandia Rødby. The holiday park with the big Aquadome water park is five minutes from the ferry berth in Rødbyhavn. Day tickets are sold without staying overnight.
• Knuthenborg Safaripark. Near Maribo, about 30 minutes from the ferry: a safari park you drive through in your own car, plus a dinosaur forest and playgrounds. The classic for families.
• Maribo. A small town on the lakes with a cathedral and an old centre, good for a coffee and a walk along the water.
• Nykøbing Falster. 40 minutes: the Middelaldercentret, an open-air museum that rebuilds the Middle Ages, with trebuchet demonstrations in summer.
• Møns Klint. The chalk cliffs are about two hours from Rødby, a full day, but one of the best in Denmark.

The same day ticket covers all of it. And because the ferries run into the night, there is no reason to rush the way back.

Practical: passports, money, speed

• Passports. Denmark runs spot checks at the border, including on arrival in Rødby. ID card or passport for everyone in the car, children included.
• Money. You hardly need Danish kroner; cards work everywhere, coffee included. On board the ferry you pay in euros.
• Speed. Motorway 130, in places 110, country roads 80, towns 50. Daytime running lights are compulsory, fines are high and are collected.
• Way back. With the day ticket, drive to the check-in in Rødby and take the next ferry. On a summer Sunday evening it can be one ferry later than planned; the live map shows where the ships are.
• Dog with you? What Denmark requires and where the dog may go on board is on travelling with a dog.