Denmark for Swedish Drivers — The Øresund Toll and a Faster Motorway

Few border crossings are as easy as Malmö to Copenhagen. You keep the same side of the road, your Swedish EU licence needs no permit, the signage logic is familiar, and the cars around you behave much as they do at home. So this guide skips the obvious and gets to the two things that actually change at the Danish end: the toll and the speed.

The Øresund Bridge is the big line item. Driving across from Sweden costs roughly DKK 510 for a standard car each way, paid by card at the manned booth or deducted automatically if your rental carries a BroBizz tag. If your trip continues west across Zealand to Funen and Jutland, the Great Belt bridge adds about DKK 250 more. There is no advance vignette — it is pay-as-you-cross — but those two bridges can add up to the cost of a tank of fuel, so factor them in.

The motorway runs faster. Denmark posts 130 km/h on its motorways, 20 above the 110 you are used to on Swedish motorways. It is tempting to relax into the higher limit, but the camera coverage is just as dense as at home — fixed and average-speed traps are widespread, and nudging 10 km/h over costs about DKK 1,000 (≈ €135). Town limits are an identical 50 km/h, and rural roads sit at 80.

One genuinely familiar habit serves you well: Danish cities are as cycling-obsessed as Swedish ones, and the same right-turn caution applies — give way to the cyclist going straight when you cross the lane. The drink-drive limit is 0.05, slightly looser than Sweden’s 0.02, but not worth testing.

Fuel sits near $2.05/litre, broadly in line with home, and 112 is the emergency number either side of the bridge. Check the detail on our Denmark driving guide, verify your documents with the Driving Permit Checker, and estimate any penalty using the Speeding Fine Calculator.