I plan on going back to London for vacation next year, but want to try to fly to Copenhagen to visit a friend for a day or two. What is flying like for a side trip like that? I know it's a short and relatively cheap flight, but what happens at the airport? Do I go through customs/border control at both ends? How early do I need to arrive before the flights? I have no idea how easy or frustrating this would be so trying to figure out if I can reasonably do this during my one week vacation without losing a ton of time at airports.
Posted by
Milwaukie, Oregon
1056 posts
You should be able to go through immigration/border control and then just walk through the “Nothing to Declare” customs lane. How long at immigration depends on the size of the crowd, but shouldn’t be a huge deal.
Posted by
Northamptonshire, England
33512 posts
Denmark and the UK are both in the EU, there is no customs issue between them.
The UK maintains in- and out-bound border controls. Plan to arrive at the airport 90-120 minutes prior to flight.
You will have to provide passport and identification information to the British border authorities before getting to the airport.
Posted by
Tunbridge Wells
6113 posts
Flying from London to Copenhagen will take 7 hours minimum door to door, depending on which airport you use and where you are staying. You may need to allow a bit longer for public transport.
There will be passport control at both ends. The queues could be anything from 5 minutes to an hour, depending on the day and time of travel
Unless you have something to declare, customs is just a walk through. You should be at the airport a minimum of 90 minutes before your flight.
Copenhagen is an hour ahead of London.
Posted by
11503 posts
The UK is not a part of the Schengen Agreement so you will have to go through immigration both in Copenhagen and also when returning to the U.K. If you fly within Schengen, which is most of Europe, you do not have to go through immigration or customs upon arrival from one member country to another..
Posted by
Medford, OR, USA
5837 posts
If you do the Copenhagen visit at the start or end of your travels, you should look into multi-city booking. We have gotten good fares stopping over in CPH on our way to our final destination when booking on an airline that hubs at CPH.
Yes, you will need to go through immigration/passport control at both CPH and London but CPH seemed to be pretty efficient. LHR is a different story.