Copenhagen Driving 2026: DKK 45 Parking, DKK 470 Bridge

Expect to pay for kerb space every day you are in Copenhagen. Since April 2025 the city’s four payment zones charge seven days a week, and daytime parking in the central red and green zones costs DKK 45 an hour. If you are coming over from Sweden, the Øresund Bridge adds DKK 470 one way at the toll booth. Petrol cars can ignore the low-emission zone, though older diesels can’t, and the rule is summarised further down.

Four colours of kerb, one tariff clock

The municipality divides paid street parking into red, green, blue and yellow zones. Only the daytime rate differs between them:

Some useful details from the city’s own rules:

• Payment works downwards. A ticket for the red zone is also valid in the green, blue and yellow zones, but a yellow ticket won’t cover a red bay.
• Weekend first hour. From Saturday 17:00 to Monday 08:00, and on public holidays, the first hour of your first registered parking is free. You still have to register it, even for a ten-minute stop.
• How to pay. Use a pay machine on the street, call +45 33 66 18 18 (open round the clock) or use one of the apps the municipality accepts: APCOA FLOW, EasyPark, FreeSpot, Legal Parking, OK-appen, ParkMan, ParkOne or PARKPARK. Each app charges its own fees, so compare them before you sign up.
• Longer stays. If you need to park for more than five weekdays, a period card works out cheaper than paying by the hour.
• Free, but timed. Outside the paid zones there are time-limited zones where parking is free for as long as the sign says. Set a parking disc (p-skive) when you arrive.

The medieval core takes bays only

The medieval city (Middelalderbyen, in Indre By) is a no-parking zone apart from marked bays, which are painted with white lines or set out in road studs. Many of those bays are reserved for embassies, disabled badge holders or commercial vehicles in the daytime. You may stop outside a bay to load and unload, but you can’t leave the car there. If you are staying in this part of town, book space in one of the multi-storey car parks rather than circling for a bay.

Frederiksberg runs its own meter

Frederiksberg looks like a Copenhagen neighbourhood on the map, but it is a separate municipality with its own parking scheme. Paid parking there runs on weekdays from 07:00 to midnight and on Saturdays from 07:00 to 17:00. Most of the same apps work there, but you pay under Frederiksberg’s area code (2000), and the prices are set by Frederiksberg, not by Copenhagen.

Rolling in from Sweden or Germany

From Malmö the motorway crosses the Øresund Bridge, which charges every time you cross. For a car up to 6 metres the operator lists DKK 470 a single trip paid at the toll station and DKK 420 for an online ticket. The ØresundGO subscription brings a single trip down to DKK 182, but it carries a DKK 370 annual fee, so it only pays off if you cross often. These prices took effect on 14 September 2026. The Copenhagen to Stockholm route covers the Swedish side of that drive.

From Germany you have two options. One is the all-land route up through Jutland and over the tolled Great Belt bridge. The other is the Puttgarden–Rødby ferry. The Hamburg to Copenhagen route compares the two, with the bridge toll and ferry fares.

Right turns across a cycle track

Where a street has a cycle track between the traffic lane and the kerb, the classic visitor’s mistake is turning right into a stream of bikes. The Road Traffic Act (§ 26) says a driver turning right must not get in the way of cyclists and moped riders going straight on. On a two-way cycle track the same applies to bikes coming the other way. Pulling out of a car park or a driveway across a cycle track or pavement means giving way to everything on it.

Three more rules to keep in mind:

• Lights. Dipped headlights (or daytime running lights) must be on whenever you drive, even in broad daylight (§ 33 a).
• Speed. The limit in built-up areas is 50 km/h unless signs say otherwise (§ 42).
• Alcohol. The general limit is 0.5 per mille (§ 53).

The Denmark driving guide covers fines, equipment and licence rules.

The diesel question, briefly

Copenhagen’s low-emission zone applies to diesel cars only. Since 1 October 2023 a diesel car must be Euro 5 or have a particle filter fitted. A foreign-registered diesel first registered before 1 January 2011 has to be registered on miljoezoner.dk no later than the day it enters, and the fine is DKK 1,500, reduced to DKK 1,000 if you supply the paperwork afterwards. The Copenhagen emission zone page has the full vehicle categories and the zone map.

Leaving the city for the day

The car comes into its own once you’re out of the centre. Head north along the coast to the Louisiana museum and Kronborg Castle in Helsingør, or cross the bridge to Malmö. A Malmö day trip means paying the bridge toll in each direction. The cheapest approach is to leave the car somewhere you have already paid for, use the metro and trains in town, and save the driving for these trips.

Sources

• Copenhagen Municipality, parking prices and zones 2026: kk.dk/parkeringszoner
• Copenhagen Municipality, accepted parking apps: kk.dk/borger/parkering-trafik-og-veje/parkering/parkeringsapps
• Copenhagen Municipality, parking in the medieval city: kk.dk/borger/parkering-trafik-og-veje/parkering/parkering-i-middelalderbyen-indre-by
• Frederiksberg Municipality, parking tickets and hours: frederiksberg.dk/by-bolig-og-miljoe/trafik/parkering/parkeringsbillet
• Øresundsbron, prices valid from 14 September 2026: oresundsbron.com/en/prices
• Danish Road Traffic Act, LBK nr 118 of 12 January 2026 (§§ 26, 33 a, 42, 53): retsinformation.dk/eli/lta/2026/118
• Danish low-emission zones, rules for passenger cars: miljoezoner.dk/en/regulations-and-vehicles/rules-for-passenger-cars/
• Danish low-emission zones, registration of foreign vehicles: miljoezoner.dk/udenlandsk-koretoj/udenlandske-koretojer/