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Home of hygge, cities built around design and bikes, fairy-tale castles and North Sea islands: Denmark is the charming gateway to Scandinavia.
Denmark is the most accessible and charming gateway to Scandinavia: a small, flat, orderly country made of peninsulas and islands, where design, the bicycle and the famous 'hygge' (the Danish idea of warmth and wellbeing) set the pace of life. Copenhagen, its capital, is one of the most pleasant cities in Europe to walk, with colourful canals, palaces, good food and a relaxed, safe atmosphere. For a Latin American traveller it is an extremely comfortable, tidy and trouble-free destination, though you need to come with the budget ready because it is one of the most expensive countries on the continent.
Geographically it splits into the Jutland peninsula (attached to Germany, with cities such as Aarhus, Odense and the Legoland park in Billund) and a string of islands, among them Zealand, home to Copenhagen and the great castles. Everything is close together and well connected by trains and bridges, so it is easy to combine: a typical trip mixes two or three days in the capital with a side trip to a castle, to Aarhus or to the cliffs of Møns Klint.
The best thing about Denmark is that sense that everything works and that quality of life shows in every detail; what surprises you is how expensive it is —a beer or a meal cost what they cost in very few places in the world— and also how lovely a Nordic summer can be, with endless days that never seem to finish.
The local currency is the Danish krone (DKK); Denmark does not use the euro. It is a practically cashless country, so you pay for almost everything by card or phone, but tell your bank before you travel and check the day's exchange rate.
Full converter for DKK →Copenhagen (CPH, Kastrup) handles most flights and is connected to the centre by metro and train in about fifteen minutes. From there, DSB trains cover the country, and the Öresund bridge drops you in Malmö, already in Sweden, in a little over half an hour, which makes combining the two countries very easy. Billund (BLL) serves Legoland and Jutland. The islands are linked by bridges and frequent ferries. Within Copenhagen, the bicycle is not a tourist activity but the way the city gets around: there are dedicated lanes, traffic lights for cyclists and rentals everywhere.
The best time to visit Denmark is summer, from June to August, when the weather is milder (it rarely goes above 20-25 °C), the days are very long —in the north it barely gets dark— and everything is at its best: terraces, festivals, castles and open gardens. It is also high season, with more people and higher accommodation prices, especially in Copenhagen and around the Roskilde music festival, at the end of June or the start of July.
Late spring (May) and early autumn (September) are a great alternative: fewer crowds, slightly better prices and still pleasant weather. Winter is cold, grey and dark (the sun rises late and sets in mid-afternoon), but it has its charm in December, when Tivoli and the streets fill with Christmas markets and lights; it is the best time to experience 'hygge' indoors. Always bring warm clothes and something waterproof: Danish weather is changeable and windy in any season.
The star of the Danish table is smørrebrød: a slice of rye bread topped with herring, salmon, egg, prawns or roast beef, elaborately decorated. On the street, the unbeatable classic is the Danish hot dog (pølser), bought from carts for around 4-6 USD and about the cheapest thing you will eat. For something sweet, 'wienerbrød' rules, the genuine Danish pastry (what people abroad call a 'danish'). Denmark is also the birthplace of New Nordic Cuisine, with temples such as Noma that put Copenhagen on the world food map.
Eating out is expensive: a main course in a mid-range restaurant runs 25 to 45 USD, and a local beer (Carlsberg or Tuborg) between 7 and 10 USD in a bar (verified July 2026). To spend less, make the most of markets such as Torvehallerne, the food trucks at Reffen, street hot dogs and cooking with shopping from cheap supermarkets like Netto, Fakta or Lidl. Tipping is not compulsory: service is already included, and rounding up or leaving 10% at a special meal is enough.
Denmark is one of the safest and calmest countries in the world, and travelling here is very easy and trouble-free. The main thing to watch is pickpockets in the busiest tourist areas of Copenhagen (Nyhavn, the central station, the Strøget), especially in summer; the common sense of keeping an eye on your phone and your backpack is enough. There are no genuinely dangerous areas for tourists and the general feeling is one of enormous trust.
No vaccinations are required to enter and health standards are among the best in the world. Tap water is drinkable and of excellent quality throughout the country, so you can fill your bottle without a second thought. As it is part of the EU, good travel insurance is always advisable, because medical care for foreigners without cover is expensive. The single emergency number is 112 (police, ambulance and fire brigade), free from any mobile; for non-urgent medical queries there is 1813 in the Copenhagen region (verified July 2026).
Denmark is one of the most expensive destinations in Europe, so budget with room to spare. A backpacker sleeping in hostels and cooking or eating cheaply gets by on around 80 to 110 USD a day; a mid-range budget, with a simple hotel and the odd meal out, runs 140 to 180 USD; and a comfortable trip easily goes over 220 USD a day (verified July 2026). These figures do not include the international flight, which from Latin America is usually the most expensive part and almost always involves a connection in Europe.
For reference (July 2026): a bed in a hostel dorm costs between 35 and 55 USD; a street hot dog, 4-6 USD; a meal in a mid-range restaurant, 25-45 USD; a public transport ticket in Copenhagen, around 3-4 USD; and admission to Tivoli, about 20 USD. The Copenhagen City Pass (unlimited transport) and the Copenhagen Card (transport plus museums) help keep spending under control if you plan to move around a lot. Cycling and taking advantage of the many free attractions (parks, neighbourhoods, churches) is the best way to stretch the budget.
The official language is Danish, but Denmark is one of the countries where English is spoken best in the world: practically everyone, and young people especially, handles it fluently, so a Latin American gets by without any problem even without a word of Danish. Spanish is barely understood outside tourism. Danes are friendly but reserved and very respectful of rules and punctuality; they value calm, equality and not showing off. A 'tak' (thank you) always goes down well.
Sockets are type C, E, F and K, with 230 V and 50 Hz, so from much of Latin America you will need an adapter (and if your device is 110 V, check that it is dual voltage). Connectivity is excellent: get an eSIM or a European prepaid SIM, far cheaper than roaming, and since Denmark is part of the EU that SIM works across the whole bloc. A tip from someone who has been there: always cross the cycle lane carefully —bikes have priority and they go fast— and take advantage of the fact that almost everything is paid by card or phone, because this is a practically cashless country.
The history of Denmark is the history of a small, flat country, with no mountains and no natural borders, made of one peninsula —Jutland— and an archipelago of more than four hundred islands wedged between the North Sea and the Baltic, at the gateway to Scandinavia. From those low, sandy coasts came, at the end of the 8th century, some of the most feared Vikings of their age: the Danes who ravaged and colonised England, founded the Danelaw and went as far as putting Cnut the Great on the English throne, lord of an empire that covered Denmark, England and Norway. Here, beside the runestones of Jelling, a king called Harald Bluetooth boasted around the year 965 that he had "won all Denmark and Norway and made the Danes Christian": that inscription is, for many, the country's birth certificate, the oldest kingdom in Europe with continuous borders.
On that Viking foundation a nation was built, century by century: Christianisation, the cathedral and the kings buried at Roskilde, the Kalmar Union with which Queen Margrete gathered all of Scandinavia under a single crown, the Lutheran Reformation imposed in 1536, the builder king Christian IV and his copper spires, the endless wars with Sweden that cost Denmark the fertile Scania, absolutism, the loss of Norway in 1814, the Golden Age of Andersen and Kierkegaard, the trauma of 1864 when Prussia tore away Schleswig, the Nazi occupation and the extraordinary rescue of almost all Danish Jews in 1943, and finally the welfare state that turned a modest farming country into one of the most prosperous and equal societies in the world. Travelling through Denmark —from the canals of Nyhavn to the cliffs of Møn, from Hamlet's castle to the birthplace of LEGO— means moving through that layered history of sea, trade and reinvention.
Read the full history of Denmark →Pick a region and open each destination to see what to do, prices and how to get there.
These are the sources we cite most across this country's guides, with how many times each appears. Hard data —tickets, opening hours, requirements, transport— comes from the official source and carries the date we checked it. Restaurant and hotel picks come from guides and reviews, and we say so on each page.
