Copenhagen in 5 Days on a Budget (With Daily Costs)
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Five days lets you cover the free harbourside sights, both castles, Tivoli, and still have two days left for the museums and neighbourhoods a shorter trip skips entirely. This builds on the same 3-day route ; the 6-day and 7-day versions add a slower flex day and a deeper second pass at the neighbourhoods.
Book these before you go:
- Tivoli Gardens entry ticket (dynamic pricing, roughly 150-200 DKK)
- Rosenborg Castle entry ticket (150 DKK online)
- Copenhagen canal cruise (about 130 DKK for an hour)
- Budget stays in Copenhagen on Booking.com
Day 1: Harbour, mermaid and the free tower
Stay free the whole day: Nyhavn before 9am, the Little Mermaid at Langelinie, the free walk-in 106-metre Christiansborg Tower (no ticket, though weekend queues happen), and an evening walk through Freetown Christiania, calmer since the community cleared out the old Pusher Street dealing stalls in 2024.
Day 2: Rosenborg’s crown jewels and Strøget
Spend the trip’s first real money at Rosenborg Castle (150 DKK online), the actual crown-jewels stop, followed by Strøget’s pedestrian shopping spine and, if the timing lines up, the free Amalienborg changing of the guard around noon.
Day 3: Tivoli Gardens, the splurge that earns it
Tivoli Gardens is the one attraction worth full price here. Entrance-only tickets run roughly 150-200 DKK on dynamic pricing and the park is genuinely seasonal (2026: 27 March-20 September, 2 October-1 November, mid-November-1 January), so pair it with a canal cruise and an afternoon in the Meatpacking District (Kødbyen) rather than rushing straight in.
Day 4: Museums and a free harbour bath
Pick one museum rather than trying for both. The National Museum of Denmark runs 135 DKK online (it stopped being free in 2016, despite what older blog posts say) and covers Danish history from the Viking age forward; Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek is the alternative if classical and 19th-century sculpture appeals more. Either way, spend the afternoon at Islands Brygge’s harbour baths, free geothermal-free public swimming platforms cut into the harbour, the actual local way to spend a warm afternoon rather than a tourist add-on. Dinner at Reffen, Refshaleøen’s seasonal street-food market (roughly spring through autumn), runs 85-150 DKK a dish.
Day 5: Nørrebro, bikes and the free churches
Rent a bike for the day, Donkey Republic runs about 99 DKK for 24 hours, and use it to cover Nørrebro properly: Assistens Cemetery (free, Hans Christian Andersen is buried here) and Superkilen, a free public park designed around objects from more than 50 countries. Step inside Vor Frelsers Kirke (Church of Our Saviour) and Frederik’s Church (Marmorkirken), both free to enter, the tower and dome climbs are the only parts that charge. Finish in Vesterbro for dinner, the neighbourhood’s transformation from red-light district to the city’s trendiest quarter is worth seeing on foot.
Five days, five budgets
| Day | Focus | Approx spend (excl. hotel) |
|---|---|---|
| Day 1 | Nyhavn, Little Mermaid, Christiansborg Tower, Christiania | 250-350 DKK |
| Day 2 | Rosenborg Castle, King’s Garden, Strøget | 450-600 DKK |
| Day 3 | Meatpacking District, canal cruise, Tivoli Gardens | 600-750 DKK |
| Day 4 | National Museum or Glyptotek, harbour bath, Reffen | 350-450 DKK |
| Day 5 | Nørrebro, bike rental, free churches, Vesterbro | 150-250 DKK |
Is the Copenhagen Card worth it over 5 days?
It depends on how many paid sights you stack per day, not the trip length. The DISCOVER card runs 589 DKK for 24 hours or 859 DKK for 48. Across this itinerary, Rosenborg (150 DKK) plus the National Museum (135 DKK) plus a few Metro fares on the same day comes close to a single 24-hour card, but spread across separate days as this plan does, paying per sight is usually cheaper.
Which museum should you actually pick on Day 4?
The National Museum if you want the Viking-through-modern overview of Danish history in one stop; the Glyptotek if you’d rather spend the afternoon with classical and 19th-century French sculpture in a building with an actual winter garden at its centre. Both run under 150 DKK and either pairs cleanly with the harbour bath afterward.
Bring a padlock-free towel to the harbour bath and nothing else, lockers aren’t guaranteed and the whole point of Islands Brygge is that it costs nothing beyond showing up.