Understanding the Train Zones

travel zones in copenhagen

Understanding the train zones in Denmark is necessary to master the public transportation system. The zones apply to all aspects of the public transportation infrastructure- buses, trains, metro.

Since the zone map to the right is a little small, you can either download the image by right clicking on the Map and saving as a pdf file which you can open using Adobe Acrobat. It is the same as the picture on the left, but it is a much easier to follow. You can click on the picture, which will take you a larger version of the map.

The white lines are the dividing lines between each zone. The white numbers are the zone numbers. The black names are names of the various train stations. So by looking at the map, Zone 1 is in the central part of Copenhagen/ Kobenhavn. Zone 4 includes the airport and Tarnby. Each zone in Denmark has a corresponding number. The farther out you go from the city center the higher the numbers go. There are exceptions to that, but if you look at the map, you can see there is a sort of ring extending out from the city center.

Zone 1 incorporates the city center, Zone 2 goes from Amarken (along the southern coast) to Hellerup (on the northern coast).

When get past Zone 2, you get into the 30s. These zones are smaller than Zone 1 and Zone 2. You can see that Zone 30, 31, 32 and 33 are about a 1/10 the size of Zone 2.

There are 4 zones in the 30s, 4 in the 40s, 5 in the 50s and so forth.

The zones apply to both the trains, buses and the metro.

You will have to learn where these train zones are on a regular city map in order to understand which zone you are in. You can also look at any bus sign, which has the zone number printed on the card attached to the sign.

Planning Your Route

Planning your trip can be a bit complicated and I have previously tried to explain it in great detail on my site, yet I found a better way for my readers to get the correct answer each time. Below you will find a calculator that does most of the hard work for you.

Tip: If you are traveling as a couple coming from the airport, try doing this. Buy a 2-zone klippekort at the airport. If you klip the 2-zone card 3 times - 3 klips - you have a total of 6 zones. This will be 3 zones per person. You can both travel on the same klip kort. You can now travel to Copenhagen for 37.5 kroner versus 2 normal tickets, which wold cost 60 kroner. Save three klips for your return trip to the airport when you are leaving. That still leaves 4 klips to use while in town. The card costs 125 kroner. That means each klip costs 12.5 kroner versus buying a normal ticket costing 20 kroner. Plan ahead and you can save a lot of money.

Now let's look at the zones calculator.