Living in Denmark
Checklists: Checklists for moving to Copenhagen from the local municipality, and from the Danish government
Embassies: List of embassies of other nations to Denmark
FAQ: The city of Copenhagen maintains a site that contains lots of useful info for newcomers, see kk.dk
Housing office: The University of Copenhagen Housing Foundation offers some help with finding housing. Ask your employer after contract has been signed. Why not look for yourself as well. Read adds and leave your own, see links below. Pay perhaps to see new adds earlier.
Useful phrases: værelse = room, lejlighed = apartment, andelsbolig = apartment in a collectively owned building (typically Danish), leje = rent, bytte = exchange, kvm = square meter, fælles køkken = shared kitchen, egen indgang = own entrance, ikke tilladt = not allowed, husdyr = pets, mdl. = per month, held og lykke! = good luck!
DBA: dba.dk, “Den Blå Avis” (“The Blue Newspaper”) for housing adds and much more. It’s the Danish E-bay, say.
Other sites : Find boliger, lejebolig.dk,
If you bring your partner with you to Copenhagen, he/she can look for jobs posted at
- University: University of Copenhagen Employment portal.
- Municipality: Municipality of Copenhagen employment portal, in Danish.
- English jobs : JobsinCopenhagen.com for English-speaking professionals.
- Job advertisements in English newspaper
Bank account: General information on choosing a bank, opening an account and obtaining a Dankort and NEMkonto. Specific information on NEMkonto.
“På Beløbet?”: Asked in shops when you pay with a card. Means: “Pay this amount, or do you want extra cash?” Reason: using ATMs of banks other than your own costs money.
Companies: Find insurance companies and compare prices on this insurance guide. Ask for insurance packages (cheaper).
Health: Basic public health care is for free. Your yellow card or “sundhedskort” shows the address of your physician. You may choose additional health insurance.
Dentist: Dentist is only partly included in your basic health insurance. Take additional health insurance or just pay the dentist.
Repatriation: Think of insurance to cover costs of repatriation in case of severe illness or worse.
Liability: You are advised to insure against accidentally injuring other people or damaging their property. Such an “ansvarforsikring” can save you lots of money.
Legal: Usually your “Ansvarsforsikring” already covers the cost of legal help. Otherwise consider an additional “retshjælpsforsikring.”
Household: An “indboforsikring” insures against theft and fire or water damage.
Danish language: A large school is Studieskolen as well as Centre for Internationalisation and Parallel Language Use. Find others in Danish yellow pages, search for “sprogundervisning.” Learning Danish can be a subsidized way of making friends.
Public library: The “Hovedbibliotek” offers a reading room with international newspapers. Members can borrow books in many languages, and CDs from a huge collection. It's all for free, welcome to Denmark!
Service for citizens: In the “Borgerservice centre” you can ask the local government about child care, pension, etc. Or report a change of address or physician.
There are a number of public holidays in Denmark, primarily in the spring. These are
- New Year's Day, January 1st
- Palm Sunday, the Sunday before Easter Sunday
- Maundy Thursday, the Thursday before Easter Sunday
- Good Friday, the Friday before Easter Sunday
- Easter Sunday, the first Sunday after the first full moon after March 21
- Easter Monday, the day after Easter Sunday
- General Prayer Day, 4th Friday after Easter
- Ascension Day, 40 days after Easter (always a Thursday)
- Pentecost, the 7th Sunday after Easter
- Whit Monday, the day after Pentecost
- Constitution Day, June 5th
- Christmas Day, December 25th
- Boxing Day, December 26th
In addition, there are several special days throughout the year. A detailed list with occurences along with their meaning (religious or otherwise) can be found on Wikipedia.