Hamburg to Copenhagen by Train
Germany to Scandinavia by Rail

The journey north begins at Hamburg Hauptbahnhof, the busiest station in Germany and the hub of the country's northern network - a grand 1906 hall of iron and glass in the heart of the city, fully equipped and largely step-free. The direct trains for Copenhagen leave from here (a few also call at Hamburg-Altona), so it is a simple place to start: U-Bahn and S-Bahn lines run from beneath and beside the station, and the harbour and centre are close.

Boarding is relaxed - there is no airport-style check-in, so arrive 15 to 20 minutes ahead, check the departure boards for your platform and coach, and step aboard. It is worth having a reserved seat for this international service, especially in summer, and worth checking the platform carefully: the Copenhagen train is a proper long-distance EuroCity, not a regional service, and it fills up. Then it pulls out north, and Germany's far north begins to slide past.

The first stage runs north through Schleswig-Holstein, Germany's northernmost state - flat, green, watery country of fields, farms and big skies between the North Sea and the Baltic. The one genuine set-piece here is Rendsburg, where the line crosses the Kiel Canal on the great Rendsburg high bridge, a soaring iron viaduct from 1913: to gain enough height for ships to pass beneath, the railway spirals down in a huge loop, and for a few minutes the train is high above the busy canal with the town below.

Beyond Rendsburg the line runs on through Schleswig and Flensburg, the last German towns, and crosses the frontier into Denmark at Padborg. There is no drama to the crossing - both countries are in the Schengen area, so there is normally no passport control and the train barely pauses - but the signs, the language and the look of the land change, and you are in Scandinavia.

This is the old road to the north, the land bridge between the German plains and the Danish islands; the railway has carried travellers this way for a century and a half.

Into Denmark the train runs up through Jutland, the Danish mainland, calling at Kolding before reaching the first of the great crossings: the Little Belt bridge, which carries the line off the mainland and onto the island of Funen. Funen is the green, gently rolling garden island in the middle of Denmark, and its capital is Odense - the birthplace of Hans Christian Andersen, and the main Danish stop on the route.

This is calm, pastoral country: neat farmland, red-roofed villages, wind turbines turning on the horizon, and the sea never far away. Denmark is a nation of islands stitched together by bridges and tunnels, and the pleasure of this stretch is the sense of hopping from one to the next. Beyond Odense the train heads for the biggest crossing of all, the Great Belt, and the run onto Zealand and Copenhagen.

The Great Belt crossing is the highlight of the journey. The Storebælt, the wide strait between Funen and Zealand, is spanned by one of the great engineering works of Europe, opened in 1997-98: the train runs low over the water on a box-girder bridge, out past the little islet of Sprogø in the middle of the strait, with the sea stretching away on both sides and, to the north, the vast suspension bridge that carries the road. Then, for the eastern channel, the railway dives into a tunnel beneath the sea bed and emerges on Zealand.

It is worth being honest about the scenery overall: this is not an Alpine route, and much of it is flat farmland. But the Belt crossings - the Little Belt, and above all the Great Belt - are real moments, and on a bright day the run low over the water is memorable. There is no single best side of the train: on the bridges the sea is on both sides. From Zealand it is a fast run through Ringsted and Roskilde into Copenhagen.

The train arrives at København H - Copenhagen Central - a handsome 1911 station of brick and timber right in the heart of the city, beside the Tivoli Gardens and a short walk from the town hall square and the start of the Strøget shopping street. It is fully equipped and largely step-free, and it is the hub of Denmark's rail network, so the whole country and the region beyond are within easy reach the moment you step off.

Getting around from here is simple. The S-train (S-tog) network runs from the station across the city and suburbs, the Metro is a few minutes away and reaches much of central Copenhagen, and buses and taxis wait outside. The centre, the harbour and the colourful quays of Nyhavn are all walkable or a short ride away. Crucially, direct trains run from the same station to Copenhagen Airport in around 15 minutes, and on across the Øresund Bridge to Malmö in Sweden - so København H is not just where you arrive, but where the journey into Scandinavia continues.

The direct Hamburg to Copenhagen trains are run jointly by the Danish and German railways, and - importantly - they are not German ICE high-speed trains but modern international EuroCity stock. As of 2026 there are two types: DSB (Danish Railways) Talgo trains, the mainstay of the route, and Czech Railways ComfortJet trains on some services. Both are comfortable, air-conditioned trains with first and standard class, power sockets at the seats and free wifi. The ComfortJet has a full restaurant car with at-seat service in first class; the DSB Talgo has self-service tea and coffee in first class and vending machines. A separate operator, Snälltåget, also runs a through daytime service linking Hamburg and Copenhagen with Stockholm.

For a journey of nearly five hours, both classes are comfortable. Standard class is roomy and perfectly pleasant; first class buys more space, a quieter carriage and the catering touches above. Whichever you choose, this is relaxed, civilised travel - a proper long-distance train with room to spread out, work or watch Denmark go by, rather than a cramped budget hop. The single most important thing to sort before you travel is the seat reservation.

This route has a famous past. For decades, the through Hamburg to Copenhagen trains took the direct line to the Fehmarn Belt and were then driven, whole carriages and all, onto a ferry that sailed between Puttgarden in Germany and Rødby in Denmark - passengers could get out and stand on deck mid-crossing while their train rode the ship. It was one of the last great train ferries in Europe, and a genuinely unusual experience. That ended on 15 December 2019, when through trains were rerouted overland via Jutland. Today's train stays firmly on the rails the whole way; the ferry is history.

The future will change things again. A vast Fehmarnbelt Fixed Link - an immersed rail and road tunnel between Rødby and Puttgarden - is under construction beneath the Belt. Once the Fehmarnbelt rail corridor opens, the fast Hamburg to Copenhagen trains are expected to return to the shorter Fehmarn alignment, which is expected to significantly shorten Hamburg to Copenhagen journey times. Dates for a project on this scale are forecasts rather than promises, and have moved before: current planning points to an opening in the late 2020s, with through trains using it some time after that. For now, the Jutland route described here is the one you will travel.

Arriving in Copenhagen, it is worth thinking of the city as a hub rather than an end point - it is the gateway from continental Europe into Scandinavia. The great enabler is the Øresund Bridge, the combined rail and road crossing that links Copenhagen directly to Malmö in Sweden: frequent Øresundstag trains run from København H across the water to Malmö in around 40 minutes, calling at Copenhagen Airport on the way. That single crossing turns Copenhagen into the natural pivot for a journey deeper north.

Reach Copenhagen and Scandinavia opens up: Malmö and Sweden a short hop across the Øresund, and Gothenburg and Stockholm beyond.

Reservations deserve attention on this route because the rule changes with the season. On these cross-border trains a seat reservation is usually optional but strongly recommended, and it becomes compulsory during a defined peak-summer period - so it is worth checking the current rule for your specific travel date. Because the trains are popular and run only around eight times a day, booking a reserved seat is sensible year-round. For pass holders, Interrail and Eurail cover the whole route with no fare supplement, but you will want (and in peak summer must have) a seat reservation, which is booked separately through the Danish railways (DSB) or Deutsche Bahn rather than being included with the pass. See the rail passes and seat reservations guides linked below.

On the border, both countries are in the Schengen area, so there is normally no systematic passport control and the train does not stop at the frontier for checks. That said, Denmark has run temporary border controls at its German border for some years, so spot ID checks near Padborg are possible - carry a valid passport or national ID card and keep it reachable. Luggage is easy: no strict weight limit, carried aboard and stowed on the overhead shelves and end racks, so keep valuables with you and board in good time on these busy international services.

Bicycles need planning: full bikes are carried on both the DSB Talgo and the ComfortJet trains, but spaces are limited and a bike reservation is compulsory, booked together with your ticket - so do not turn up with a bike expecting a space. A folded or bagged bike travels as luggage. On accessibility, both Hamburg Hauptbahnhof and København H are large, staffed stations with lifts and step-free routes to the platforms, and the trains have accessible spaces; but for guaranteed boarding help on an international service, assistance should be booked in advance with DB (Mobilitätsservice) and DSB. Access depends on the specific train and station, so arranging help ahead is the reliable approach.