Train, Copenhagen

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Hamburg to Copenhagen
What excitement we had read about a train that goes on a ferry and saw photos from VT member TrendsetterME so we thought this is for us...much more fun than flying.
The trip from Hamburg to Copenhagen takes about five hours, including forty-five minutes on a Scandlines ferry to cross the Fehmarn Belt from the German island of Fehmarn to the Danish island of Lolland.

Our train broke down so we had an extra change and nearly lost our booked seats to a guy with a europass.The train was crowded so just as well we had pre booked tickets. As I recall we were entitled to a drink and a snack on the train....and it was the usual scramble with our luggage.

The trip on the ferry was great...lovely views and of course across to Denmark there was food and drink and duty free shopping.
But one needs to be alert ....I did not hear an announcement to reboard ...so do not miss your train.

When we arrived in Copenhagen we could not access the ATMs at the station but luckily Western Union helped us out with local currency....and the taxis were around the corner....it was our fault we did not follow the signs properly

OH what have I done with the photos.....There are on my netbook I hope so hold your breath...ys they were....How lucky is that!

Something very useful to know - the S-trains are all free to use on the first Sunday of every month. This saved us quite a long walk back from the May-Day celebrations!

Edit: as of August 2011 this has changed - it's no longer free, but I believe it is now only 1 clip of a klippekort to get anywhere.

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Central Station was located quite close to our Hotel, so we used the Train quite a lot.
It is the termimous for all Trains, so you can't go wrong. I had to ask at the information counter several times, help was fast and in English.
Train travel was fast, comfortable and on time.
We only had a problem once when there was trackwork on the line, and we had to change lines, this was announced in Danish. Lucky for us, the people next to us heard us speaking in English and came to our rescue!

At the station, I bought our tickets from the ticket machine. Help is on hand from an employee if you are having trouble, which I was. It turned out the machine was out of order and it wasn't me!
We had a Copenhagen card which gave us free travel for 3 of the days we were there.

I even found a live Dog stuffed in a handbag about to go for a ride!

One day, we stopped at the Cafe at the front of the Station for a coffee. If you are feeling lonely, you can sit next to the sculpture of a man just waiting for your company!

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Easy way of traveling inside and outside Denmark.You can travel on a relation Malme - Copenhagen by train.It's so easy,fast and practical,specially for those who live in Sweden and work in Denmark or opposite.

The suburbian trains in Copenhagen called the "S trains" are free if you have interrail or eurail passes.
Most people don't notice that as these trains look a lot like the metro wich is not included in the rail passes, but there is a lot of money to be saved so be sure not to purchase a ticket for the S train if you have a rail pass.

Plane would have been quicker and actually would have been cheaper when first looked as found a 93 dollar ticket on SAS direct but wanted to see the country and also have a relaxing day of not having to worry about dealing with airport security. Price for ticket was around 160 euro for second class which is plenty comfortable on an ICE train. Have to switch trains to a very short train for Copenhagen. You find out why when in roedby you train boards a ferry and you get off for a forty five minute boat ride. it was amazing and weird to step out of train on a boat. That made it worth the whole trip as it was a very pleasent way to spend forty minutes and never had to take my shoes off

Very convenient, I took the train from the airport to spend a couple of hours in Malmö.
It is a 30 minutes trip which take you across the 'new' Oresund bridge and you are in Sweden!

You can buy your ticket from an automatic machine. It is very easy even if not that cheap though: about 17E for a return ticket!

On my way back, I have been controlled! Though luck, I had not validated my ticket! It wasn't mentioned anywhere I had to... (at least not in English)
The controller was about to make me pay for another ticket/fine but then realizing I was completely clueless, he was nice enough to "validate my ticket" on the fly...

So, before taking the train, don't forget to stamp your ticket in one of those little and easily missed yellow boxes...

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On the picture here you can see a map of all the stations in the downtown Copenhagen area.
The light yellow and the green line is Metro lines, and all the rest is S-train lines. You can now take both metro and normal train when going to and from CPH Airport "Kastrup".

The Copenhagen area is devided into zones and you have to pay for the number of zones you travel through. If you buy zone ticket in a bus or you stamp a zone card (see below and Photo 2) it is usually valid for one hour.

If you want to save money:
Get a yellow 3-zone card or a blue 2-zone card - both with 10 stamps. Before getting in the train or bus you stamp it with a date and time in the little yellow mashine at the intrance to the train platform or at the bus door, and every stamp is vallid one hour in both trains, S-train, Metro and busses for one person.
For most distances in downtown you just need one 2 zone stamp, but from the Airport to downtown there's 3 zones.
If you're going to travel through 5 zones it's an advantage to have both a blue and a yellow card (one stamp on each).
You can bye these zone cards on train stations and in normal shops and kiosks.

As in Germany, no one in Denmark seems to know what the S stands for on the S-trains, but for English speakers it is convenient to think of them as suburban trains, which is essentially what they are.

There are seven S-train lines, most of which run every ten or twenty minutes from five in the morning until one the next morning. The train on the photo is on the B line going to Holte, a town some twenty kilometers north of Copenhagen.

The S-trains are entirely electrified and run on their own tracks, separate from the tracks used by long-distance trains.

The writing on this train says: Det er ikke at spørgsmål om grøn - men hvor grøn. Which I think must mean something like: This isn't just making an issue of being green - it is green.

(Perhaps some Danish person can provide a better translation of this? - Thanks!)

GPS 55°48'25.07"N; 12°26'53.46"E (Holte)

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Photos:
1. Copenhagen main station (København H)
2. In the EuroCity train to Copenhagen

I traveled to Copenhagen on a EuroCity train from Hamburg, and returned the same way the following week. Currently there are three Danish EuroCity trains per day on this route, and three German InterCityExpress trains (ICE). These are diesel trains because the route is not yet completely electrified.

The trip from Hamburg to Copenhagen takes not quite five hours, including forty-five minutes on a Scandlines ferry to cross the Fehmarn Belt from the German island of Fehmarn to the Danish island of Lolland. As I have described on my Rødbyhavn page, the train is the last vehicle to be driven onto the ferry and the first to be driven off, so the connection is fast and convenient for train passengers.

Another thing I mentioned on my Rødbyhavn page was that this was a "free" train trip for me -- free in the sense that it didn't cost me any money but only three thousand "Bonus Points" that I had accumulated as a frequent traveler on the German Railroad System. Since these "Bonus Points" are usually more or less worthless, I was amazed to discover that a mere three thousand of them would get me a first class ticket from Frankfurt am Main to Copenhagen and back.

GPS 55°40'22.72" North; 12°33'51.92" East (Copenhagen main station)