Introduction

Copenhagen's most famous attraction is the statue "The Little Mermaid", and it is small indeed, sometimes disappointing tourists. But there is more to do in the Danish capital, Copenhagen is famous for the trendy and animated nightlife, everywhere you can visit interesting museums and go shopping.

Population

According to official numbers Copenhagen has 1.2 million inhabitants, but including the urban surrounding area it has 1.5 million inhabitants, this means that a quarter of the Danish people live in or around Copenhagen.

Location

Copenhagen is situated on the east coast of the island Sjælland and partly on the island Amager. The city lies directly on the Øresund, the strait that separates Denmark from Sweden. On the other side of the water lies the Swedish city Malmö.

Economy

The Danish capital has a healthy economy with most of the employment being in the service industry, pharmaceutical industry, high-tech and research & development. Copenhagen is a center for the biotech development and Nokia's largest development center outside of Finland is in the Danish capital.

The world's largest container company, Maersk, has its head office in Copenhagen.

Airports

The international airport Kopenhagen Kastrup Airport lies eight kilometers southeast of the city, along the E20 that connects Copenhagen with Malmö. It is the largest airport in Scandinavia.

Public transport

The public transport in Copenhagen consists of six city railroads (S-tog), buses and two subway lines, the city railroad connects the city's suburbs with the center, the subway connects the new city part Ørestadon (on the Amager island) and the international airport with the city center. There are plans to expand the subway with a circle line.

Visitors will mainly use buses. At night (between 1.00 a.m. and 5.00 a.m.) night buses drive between the center and the suburbs.

Alternative forms of public transport are the free bikes in the city center. There are as many as 125 bicycle parking places where you can take a bike for free. You have to put down a deposit of 20 Danish Crowns that will be reimbursed when you stall the bike, by the way, these bicycles can only be used in the city center.

Traffic and parking

Copenhagen's historical center consists of small narrow streets, in addition there is very limited parking and the parking rates are high, so it is better to leave your car outside this zone and continue on foot or with public transport.

Copenhagen has 3 parking zones: in the red zone you pay the highest price, followed by a yellow and a blue zone. Outside these zones you can park for 2 hours for free with a parking disc, furthermore there is free parking in the entire city, outside shopping hours (Monday to Friday from 8.00 a.m. to 8.00 p.m. and Saturday from 8.00 a.m. to 2.00 p.m.)

Hotels

Copenhagen has many hotels to offer but the rates are high, compared to the rest of Europe. Most hotels are situated in the district Indre By. In the tourist office at the central station there are terminals where you can directly reserve a room at different hotels.

External sources

For more information about Copenhagen, we recommend Google and the following sources:

• Wikipedia, Copenhagen
• Website of the city of Copenhagen (English and Danish)
• Tourist information about Copenhagen (multilingual)