Driving in Denmark 2026: rules, tolls, drive times and car hire

Drive times and distances in Denmark

Denmark looks bigger on a map than it drives. Zealand (Copenhagen's island), Funen (Odense) and Jutland (Aarhus, Billund, Skagen) are joined by motorway bridges, so most trips from Copenhagen head west over the Great Belt Bridge on the E20. These are drive times without stops or queues:

From Copenhagen to	Distance	Drive time	Toll or ferry
Odense	~165 km	~2 h	Great Belt Bridge
Aarhus	~305 km	~3 h 25	Great Belt Bridge, or the Odden ferry (see below)
Aalborg	~415 km	~4 h 30	Great Belt Bridge
Skagen	~520 km	~5 h 50	Great Belt Bridge
Billund / LEGOLAND	~260 km	~3 h 05	Great Belt Bridge
Esbjerg	~295 km	~3 h 15	Great Belt Bridge
Møns Klint	~140 km	~1 h 55	No toll
Malmö (Sweden)	~40 km	~45 min	Øresund Bridge
Ystad (Sweden), for the Bornholm ferry	~90 km	~1 h 20	Øresund Bridge

How long does it take to drive across Denmark?

End to end	Distance	Drive time	Toll
Padborg (German border) → Skagen	~395 km	~4 h 20	None: it's the E45 the whole way up Jutland
Gedser (Denmark's southern tip) → Skagen	~550 km	~6 h 30	Great Belt Bridge
Esbjerg → Copenhagen (west to east)	~295 km	~3 h 15	Great Belt Bridge

Useful legs on a road trip

Leg	Distance	Drive time
Odense → Aarhus	~145 km	~1 h 40
Aarhus → Billund / LEGOLAND	~95 km	~1 h 10
Aarhus → Aalborg	~120 km	~1 h 20
Aarhus → Skagen	~225 km	~2 h 40

We measured these routes on 17 October 2026 with OpenStreetMap routing, centre to centre, and rounded them. They assume no traffic and no breaks, so add time for rush hour around Copenhagen and Aarhus, roadworks, the toll plaza and a coffee stop.

Want these legs turned into a week? Our 7-day Denmark road trip strings Copenhagen, Møns Klint, Odense, Aarhus and Skagen or Billund together with one bed per stop, and the 7-day family itinerary does the same around LEGOLAND and the west coast.

Toll bridges: Great Belt and Øresund

Danish motorways are free: no vignette and no road tolls apart from two bridges, and you'll cross at least one of them on almost any trip out of Copenhagen.

Great Belt Bridge (Storebælt), Zealand ↔ Funen

This is the bridge on the E20 between Copenhagen and Odense, so it's on the way to anywhere in Jutland. You pay at a toll plaza every time you cross, in both directions. The one-way prices for 2026:

Vehicle	Card or cash	With Bizz or number-plate payment
Car 3–6 m long (almost every rental car)	DKK 235	DKK 205
Car up to 3 m long	DKK 125	DKK 109
Car over 6 m long, or a car towing a caravan	DKK 360	DKK 314
Motorhome up to 6 m and 3,500 kg	DKK 235	DKK 205

The card lanes take American Express, Dankort, Visa, Mastercard, Diners and JCB, and the cash lanes take Danish kroner or euros. The cheaper Express price needs a Bizz tag or a number-plate payment agreement, and the evening and weekend return discounts also need a Storebælt Private agreement, so most visitors simply pay by card. If you're renting, ask whether the car has a Bizz and how the company bills it: Sixt, for example, sells a bridge-passage service that uses the Express lanes and is charged per crossing.

Øresund Bridge (Øresundsbron), Copenhagen ↔ Malmö

The bridge-and-tunnel link to Sweden starts right by Copenhagen Airport. Prices are per single trip, and a return costs twice the single fare:

Vehicle	At the toll station	Online ticket
Car up to 6 m	DKK 470	DKK 420
Car up to 6 m with a trailer (up to 15 m in total)	DKK 940	DKK 840
Motorcycle	DKK 240	DKK 215

These prices apply from 14 September 2026. The ØresundGO contract brings a car down to DKK 182 a trip, but it has an annual fee and suits people who cross regularly. Sweden is in Schengen, but ID checks on the crossing have come and gone over the years, so carry your passport. Only going for the day? Our Malmö day trip guide covers the train, which skips the toll altogether.

Driving rules in Denmark that visitors get wrong

Signs and rules follow the usual European conventions. These are the ones worth knowing before you set off:

• Drive on the right and overtake on the left, and move back into the right-hand lane on motorways when you're not overtaking. Indicate every time you change lanes.
• Lights on, always. You must drive with lights on in daylight too: dipped headlights, daytime running lights or fog lights.
• Speed limits: 50 km/h in built-up areas, 80 km/h on roads outside towns (some expressways are signed 90 km/h) and 130 km/h on motorways, with 110 km/h on some stretches. Lower limits apply with a trailer or caravan. Foreign drivers caught speeding pay an on-the-spot fine.
• Alcohol: the limit is 0.5‰ (0.5 mg/ml) for all drivers, new drivers included. The simplest rule: don't drink and drive.
• Cyclists: there are a lot of them, often in a cycle lane on your right. When you turn right, give way to cyclists and motorcyclists going straight on, and check your mirror and over your shoulder before you turn.
• Give way where you see a red-and-white triangle sign or white triangles painted across your lane, and give way to buses pulling out from a stop.
• Hazard lights for queues: on motorways, use your hazard lights to warn drivers behind you of a sudden queue or slowdown.
• Phones: you can't use a hand-held phone while driving.
• Seat belts and children: everyone wears a seat belt. Children under 135 cm must use an approved child seat or booster that fits their height and weight (ECE R129/i-Size, R44/04 or R44/03), and a rear-facing seat can't go in the front if the airbag is on. The driver is fined if a child isn't properly strapped in, so book child seats with your rental car.
• Warning triangle: you must carry one in the car.
• Winter tyres aren't mandatory, but your tyres must suit the conditions. Studded tyres are only allowed from 1 November to 15 April, and then on all four wheels.

Parking: P-discs, apps and Copenhagen's zones

The parking disc (P-skive). Where signs allow free parking for a limited time, you must set a parking disc on the dashboard to the time you arrived. Most Danes put one out whenever they park, just in case. If your rental car doesn't have one, ask at the desk.

Where you can't park: on main roads and motorways, on roads with an unbroken white centre line, within 5 m of a pedestrian or cycle crossing, within 10 m of a junction, or within 12 m of a bus stop or along a yellow-painted kerb. Illegally parked cars can be fined or towed.

Parking in Copenhagen

Central Copenhagen has four paid zones, and since 1 April 2025 you pay every day of the week. The City of Copenhagen's hourly prices for 2026:

Time	Red and green zones	Blue zone	Yellow zone
Day (08:00–18:00)	DKK 45	DKK 26	DKK 17
Evening (18:00–23:00)	DKK 18	DKK 18	DKK 18
Night (23:00–08:00)	DKK 6	DKK 6	DKK 6

From Saturday 17:00 to Monday 08:00, and on public holidays, the first hour of your first parking is free, but you still have to register it. Pay with an approved app (the city lists APCOA FLOW, EasyPark, FreeSpot, Legal Parking, OK, ParkMan, ParkOne and PARKPARK), at a street pay station, where you type in your number plate and get no paper ticket, or by phone on +45 33 66 18 18. Paying for a pricier zone also covers the cheaper ones. Outside the paid zones parking is often free but time-limited, so read the signs and set your P-disc. Car parks and garages set their own prices.

EV charging and fuel

Electric cars are easy here. Denmark had more than 50,000 public charging points by March 2026, according to the industry body Dansk e-Mobilitet, and the number of fast chargers (100 kW and up) grew by almost half between December 2024 and early 2026. Ask your rental company which charging cards or apps work with the car and how much charge it expects back.

Petrol and diesel: standard 95-octane petrol has been E10 (10% bioethanol) since 1 January 2020, and the pump and nozzle say E10 or E5, so check before you fill up if your car can't take E10. Diesel is labelled Diesel. Many stations are self-service, so have a payment card ready that works at the pump.

Car ferries worth knowing

Denmark has hundreds of islands, and a few car ferries are part of the classic routes. Book a car space ahead in summer and at weekends.

• Bornholm: the quickest way with a car is to drive from Copenhagen over the Øresund Bridge to Ystad in Sweden (about 1 h 20) and take Bornholmslinjen's fast ferry to Rønne, which takes about 80 minutes. There is also a direct sailing from Køge, south of Copenhagen, but it takes 5½ hours and has far fewer departures. Our Copenhagen to Bornholm guide compares the ferry prices, the train, the bus and the flight. Our Bornholm travel guide covers where to stay and how many nights to give it. To check car fares for your date, you can compare Ystad–Rønne sailings on Direct Ferries.
• Aarhus by sea instead of the bridge: Molslinjen's fast ferries sail from Sjællands Odde (about 1½ hours' drive from Copenhagen) to Aarhus in about 80–90 minutes, or to Ebeltoft in 55 minutes. It's a shortcut across the Kattegat rather than a saving, so compare the fare with the Great Belt toll and the fuel.
• Samsø: car ferries run from Hou, south of Aarhus, to Sælvig (60 minutes) and from Kalundborg on Zealand to Ballen (80 minutes). The fast ferry from central Aarhus takes passengers and bikes only.
• Ærø: Ærøfærgerne sails Svendborg–Ærøskøbing in 75 minutes, and Faaborg–Søby and Fynshav–Søby in 60 minutes each. They advise reserving a space for your car.
• Driving up from Germany: instead of the motorway via Padborg, many of our German neighbours take Scandlines across the Baltic. Puttgarden–Rødby takes about 45 minutes. Foot passengers and cyclists can travel too: Scandlines sells a pedestrian day return, from EUR 11 (about DKK 82 / US$12) outside summer. Rostock–Gedser takes about 2 hours and suits drivers coming from Berlin. From either harbour it is roughly 150–160 km and just under 2 hours on the motorway to Copenhagen (E47 from Rødby, E55 from Gedser). Going without a car? See Copenhagen to Berlin and Hamburg by train.
• Over to Sweden from Helsingør: Øresundslinjen's Helsingør–Helsingborg ferry takes about 20 minutes and has several departures an hour. It is the scenic alternative to the Øresund Bridge if you are already up north at Kronborg.

The Direct Ferries links are affiliate links: if you book through one, NordGuide earns a commission at no extra cost to you. You can also see every ferry route to and around Denmark. Crossing times checked 20 October 2026.

Driving licence and international driving permit

• EU and EEA licences, and licences from Switzerland, the Faroe Islands and Greenland, are valid in Denmark as they are.
• Other licences are valid for visitors if they're printed in the Latin alphabet. If yours isn't, carry an international driving permit, or an official translation into Danish, English or French made by an authority or an authorised organisation in the issuing country.
• If you have no licence that's valid in Denmark, the Danish Road Traffic Authority (Færdselsstyrelsen) can issue a temporary visitor's driving licence.
• Rental companies can ask for more than the law does, so read your booking terms before you travel.

Renting a car in Denmark

• Age: at Sixt and Europcar the minimum age for small and compact cars is 20, with a licence held for at least a year. Bigger cars need older drivers: at Sixt, 25 for intermediate and standard cars and 30 for premium models.
• Young drivers pay a surcharge: at Sixt, every driver under 26. It isn't always in the headline price, so check the quote.
• Deposit: expect a hold on a card in the main driver's name. Sixt, for example, holds the rental amount plus DKK 2,500 on small cars, more on bigger ones, and doesn't accept prepaid or third-party cards.
• One-way rentals: picking up in Copenhagen and dropping off in Jutland is often possible, depending on the company and tariff, but it can add a drop-off fee. Check that line before you book.
• Sweden and Germany: most companies allow it with permission. Sixt allows both, but you must add its Foreign Use cover; without it your insurance doesn't apply abroad. International one-way rentals are on request.
• Extras to decide on: child seats (book them), winter tyres (optional, for a fee) and a bridge-toll arrangement if you'll cross the Great Belt more than once.

Airport pickup or city pickup?

City pickup suits most visitors who spend their first nights in Copenhagen: collect the car on the morning you leave the city, so you do not pay rental days or central parking while you walk and use the metro. Airport pickup suits landing and driving straight out, very late or early hours, or when the airport desk has the automatic car you need and the city desks do not. Either way, compare the total quote, not the day rate: rental days, deposit, mileage, extra-driver and young-driver fees, and any one-way drop-off fee. On DiscoverCars you can compare airport and city desks side by side before you choose.

Compare airport vs city pickup on DiscoverCars →

Car or train for the money?

For a city-only route (Copenhagen–Odense–Aarhus) the train usually wins (see Copenhagen to Aarhus by train) because you avoid rental, parking and the Great Belt toll: DKK 235 one way by card or DKK 205 with Bizz/number-plate payment for a car 3–6 m in 2026, checked 18 October 2026 on the official Storebælt price list. For Møns Klint, Skagen, LEGOLAND and rural hotels, the car earns its keep on the last miles. We do not print a fixed rental, fuel or train fare here: rental and fuel depend on your dates, car and kilometres, and train fares depend on ticket type and how early you buy, so check a live rental quote against DSB/Rejseplanen for your own dates. The full leg-by-leg table is in the 7-day Denmark road trip.

We compare on DiscoverCars first, because it shows airport and city desks side by side with the deposit and fuel policy, then check Auto Europe for a second quote.

Some links below are affiliate links. If you book through one, NordGuide earns a commission at no extra cost to you. See our affiliate disclosure.

Do you need a car in Copenhagen?

No, and we'd go further: a car in Copenhagen costs you money and time. The city is compact and flat, the metro runs around the clock, the M2 line takes you from the airport to the centre, and street parking in the centre costs DKK 45 an hour in the daytime. The classic day trips, Roskilde, Kronborg Castle, Louisiana and Malmö, all work by train.

• Getting into town: Copenhagen Airport to the city centre.
• Tickets and passes for the metro, buses and trains: Denmark travel tips.
• Day trips without a car: the best day trips from Copenhagen.

Our advice: spend your Copenhagen days on foot and by metro, then pick up the car on the morning you leave the city, so you're not paying for days it sits in a garage.

Copenhagen in 5 Days (PDF), no car needed, €9.97 (≈ US$11.20) →

Where to break up the drive

On a road trip, one bed per stop beats long days at the wheel. These three bases split the country into easy legs:

Some links below are affiliate links. If you book through one, NordGuide earns a commission at no extra cost to you. See our affiliate disclosure.

For countryside inns and seaside hotels between the cities, see hygge hotels in Denmark.

Quick answers

How long does it take to drive across Denmark?

From the German border at Padborg to Skagen at the northern tip is about 395 km, or roughly 4 hours 20 minutes without stops, all on the E45 through Jutland. From Gedser, Denmark's southern tip, to Skagen is about 550 km and 6½ hours, including the Great Belt Bridge. West to east, Esbjerg to Copenhagen is about 295 km and 3¼ hours. Add time for breaks, roadworks and rush hour around Copenhagen and Aarhus.

How much is the Great Belt Bridge toll?

In 2026 a car 3–6 m long pays DKK 235 per one-way crossing by card or cash, or DKK 205 with a Bizz or number-plate payment agreement. A car over 6 m, or a car towing a caravan, pays DKK 360 by card or cash. You pay in each direction, so a return trip costs twice that.

How much does it cost to drive over the Øresund Bridge to Sweden?

A car up to 6 m long pays DKK 470 one way at the toll station, or DKK 420 with an online ticket bought in advance. A return trip costs two single trips. These prices apply from 14 September 2026; the ØresundGO discount contract (DKK 182 a trip) is for regular users and has an annual fee.

What are the speed limits in Denmark?

Unless signs say otherwise: 50 km/h in built-up areas, 80 km/h on ordinary roads outside towns (up to 90 km/h where signed on some expressways) and 130 km/h on motorways, with 110 km/h on some motorway stretches. Foreign visitors caught speeding get an on-the-spot fine.

Can I drive in Denmark with my foreign licence?

A licence from an EU or EEA country, Switzerland, the Faroe Islands or Greenland is valid as it is. Other licences are valid for visitors if they're in the Latin alphabet; if not, carry an international driving permit or an official translation into Danish, English or French. Rental companies can set their own rules, so check yours.

Do I need a car in Copenhagen?

No. Copenhagen is compact, the metro runs around the clock and the M2 line reaches the airport, so a car mostly costs you parking fees, which reach DKK 45 an hour in the centre. Pick up a rental car on the day you leave the city.

Are winter tyres mandatory in Denmark?

No. Winter tyres aren't required by law, but your tyres must suit the conditions, and rental companies such as Sixt offer winter tyres for a fee. Studded tyres are only allowed from 1 November to 15 April, and only on all four wheels.

Can I take a Danish rental car to Sweden or Germany?

Usually yes, but only with the company's permission. Sixt, for example, allows Sweden and Germany but requires its Foreign Use cover; without it, your insurance isn't valid abroad. International one-way rentals are on request, and bridge tolls are extra.

Plan your Denmark drive

Some links below are affiliate links. If you book through one, NordGuide earns a commission at no extra cost to you. See our affiliate disclosure.

Sources, checked 17 October 2026: VisitDenmark · VisitDenmark (equipment and tyres) · Rådet for Sikker Trafik · Children in cars · Your Europe · Storebælt · Øresundsbron · City of Copenhagen parking · Danish Road Traffic Authority · Bornholmslinjen · Molslinjen · Samsø Færgen · Samsølinjen · Ærøfærgerne · Dansk e-Mobilitet · Drivkraft Danmark. Drive times: OpenStreetMap routing.