Coping With Copenhagen on a Budget
Practical Tips to Help You Make the Most of Your Money in Copenhagen
Many travellers return from Copenhagen with burn marks on their wallets. Fortunately, there are still ways to help reduce the damage to your bank balance.
Denmark's Copenhagen is one of the world's most expensive cities. However, with a little planning and care, the average traveller can escape the worst of the excessive costs.
Keep the Price of Copenhagen Hotels Down
Hotels in Copenhagen are expensive, and likely to form the largest part of any traveller’s budget. A basic three star hotel in Copenhagen can cost the same as a four star hotel in an expensive city like London, and double the cost of a three star hotel in provincial America.
In Copenhagen, many of the cheaper hotels are dotted around the main train station. While the area is often described as a red light district, the ambience is more student chic than sleazy sex shop.
The added advantage of staying near the train station enables the option to take advantage of the inexpensive and frequent train line to and from the main airport, thus saving on taxi fares. Choose a hotel like Hotel Ascot on Studiestraede, and the room can offer a small kitchenette area. This allows guests to warm a pre-prepared meal, or order a take-away pizza using the menu provided.
How To Find Cheaper Copenhagen Dining
Eating can be a considerable expense, but relaxed dining is part of the fun of any vacation. If you are beyond eating a take away meal on a park bench, you can minimise your dining expenses by choosing a restaurant serving the types of food that tend to be cheaper in any case, perhaps Mexican, Greek or Indian.
Restaurant Eros, just off Copenhagen’s main shopping centre street on Klosterstraede 20, is a fair compromise between cost and quality. Here, you can choose one of the three or four set menu three-course meals, with a cost of around 200 Krone ($40) a head. Many of the locals simply ask for a jug of tap water to accompany their meal.
Many of the cheaper restaurant deals are served buffet style. While you need to be careful the food hasn’t been left out too long, it can be a good way to get a filling meal with plenty of choice. Alternatively, choose a main lunchtime meal when the menus tend to be a little cheaper. Those not wanting two full meals a day can save money by simply snacking in the evening.
Oscar’s on Bredgade is in the city centre, but a little off the tourist trail. It is undoubtedly nicer to have an open sandwich or bowl of soup at touristy Nyhavn, looking out over the boats moored in the canal. However for a similar cost, Oscar’s offers a full lunchtime meal, like a filling homemade burger and fries.
Another way to save a little money is to remember that the locals don’t tip too much in bars and restaurants; rounding your bill up to the nearest 10 or 20 Krone is quite acceptable.
Be Drink Aware in Copenhagen
With beer at around double the price you may pay at home, choose carefully. Only enjoy a drink where the view is fantastic, the venue atmospheric, or the beer wonderful. For the former two, Nyhavn is worth the extra splurge. For the latter, the Brew Pub (on Vestergade), is Copenhagen’s best microbrewery, serving around a dozen different choices of in-house brewed beers and lagers. Wine drinkers meanwhile, may have to save their thirst until they return home.
Careful spending can save the traveller a considerable amount of money, particularly if they are in Copenhagen for more than a night or two. They may even save enough cash to pay for their next travelling adventure!
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