Copenhagen card or just straight Apple Pay (with Chase Sapphire)

There's a calculator next to the attractions overview on the Copenhagen Card's website. It does make some generalisations though, and without lying, it of course wants to make you think a Copenhagen Card is good value. The only way to be certain is if you run the numbers yourself. With a itinerary such as your own, this should be fairly easy to do.

If I had to make a quick assumption, my guess would be that a Copenhagen Card is probably not worth the investment for you, under the circumstances you've described.

You can use contactless payment (including Apple Pay) pretty much everywhere, with only very few exceptions. Major tourist attractions certainly aren't one of those exceptions. I'm not familiar with a Chase Sapphire Preferred card, but I assume it works like any other Visa or MasterCard, which are both the standards issues in Denmark?

You can't tap your card to pay for public transport in Copenhagen. You can however use Apple Pay in DSB's app. I am not sure if the DOT Tickets app takes Apple Pay, but it definetely takes Visa and MasterCard.

Thanks broccolihaar, I put the DOT app on my iPhone and probably will not buy the Copenhagen card. We're very excited about visiting our first Scandinavian country in Europe. Tak!

I tried to put my credit card on the DOT app and it was rejected. Not sure why as the information had green check marks in the boxes and it works normally in the USA. If nobody has an idea what to do about this, I will hope that our Copenhagen hotel can help me with that hiccup.

I also noticed that a year ago on this forum someone wrote:
There is also a transport only pass called "city pass" that you can buy from a ticket machine. Comes in two sizes, "small" for Copenhagen and "large" for the same area as Copenhagen card discover. Length is one to five days (24h).

As we say here, "det var så lidt" (literally "that was so little", translated "you're welcome"). Happy to help :)

Your card issue sounds odd. It's been some time since I've read visitors report on this, but a few years ago it wasn't that uncommon to read that people from the US had difficulties getting their cards accepted because they lacked the 3-D Secure feature. It was required a lot of the time, as it's a standard security feature in Denmark. Maybe that's the issue?

You could try the DSB app, and see if it will accept your card. DSB's app also works for tickets for metro and buses around Copenhagen. The check in feature in DSB's app is also a little cheaper than regular paper/app tickets. However DSB's app can't sell you a City Pass. City Pass Small and City Pass Large, and regular tickets, can of course also be purchased as paper tickets from DSB and metro ticket machines.

Les, your mileage may vary but I did the math when I was there, and I came out ahead by getting the Copenhagen card. I went to the Viking Museum, Roskilde Cathedral, the National Museum, and Tivoli Gardens and also used it for public transportation (including the train to and from Roskilde). The train trip alone would have cost me 170DK, so with admission tickets to the other places, I definitely saved money by buying the card (at the time, it cost 429DK (this was in 2022). FWIW, I was there for 3 nights/2 full days.

broccolihaar, I set up DSB on my phone. Will have to check how it works when we arrive. I assume I can purchase 2 tickets with it and I do not have to add DSB to my wife's phone.

Tak ! :)

Mardee, we are in Copenhagen for 4 days and probably will not do what you did so quickly. Also there is working around the weather as Copenhagen actually has rain unlike here in California :). So on a rainy day a museum is good and open air not so much. I think having flexibility takes us out of the Copenhagen card purchase.

Thanks for your thoughts.

That assumption is correct, you just need it on one phone - as long as you two travel together of course ;) You can actually buy a ticket for up to 7 people in the same purchase in DSB's app.

Nowadays a normal public transport ticket Copenhagen - Roskilde cost 60 DKK one way, but you can get it down to 46.40 DKK per person if you use the check in feature in DSB's app (instead of getting a traditional ticket) and travel off peak.