Denmark trains for Frederiksborg, Kronborg, Louisiana Museum

[misssrr]

I arrived 3 days early in Copenhagen for the May 25 sailing of Star Princess. One of the days I devoted to using the train/bus system to reach Frederiksborg Slot in Hillerod and a Kronborg Slot in Elsinore (Helsingor). I don’t know the exact times we left and returned to Copenhagen, but it was easily done within an 8-hour period . You may also have time to stop on the back at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art at Humlebaek or save that for an additional day. After you’ve figured out the train schedule, it’s possible to use a station such as Vesterport close to your hotel instead of the main station Kobenhavn for the train system. I’m sorry for the long-winded description of the train routes, but I tried to be as accurate as possible.

 

At the central train station in Copenhagen (Kobenhavn H) across from Tivoli, pick up a map/schedule of the train network titled Koreplan. The schedules are in the office side of the station pointed to by signs for ticketing/billetter. The Koreplan has one side dedicated to the S-tog trains. A diagram of the different (S-tog) colored lines with their stops and a schedule for each line is on the same side of the Koreplan. If you have the Copenhagen Card (or want to buy one) the first 3 places at the service counter can be used to ask questions or verify information. You do not need to take a number. If you’re buying tickets separately or want to buy an all day transport card, take a number to wait for the other places at the service counter to wait on you. There are automatic machines throughout the station to buy tickets, but I did not use these as I already had picked up the Card at the airport.

 

I decided to go to Frederiksborg first. Looking at the schedule, the lines are color-coded and have a letter designation. Use the page titled ‘Hillerod-Hundige-Osterport-Koge A’ with the darker blue line. This is S-tog train. The stops by the train are listed in order with the departure minute of the hour listed. For example at the main station (Kobenhavn H), the train leaves at :46, :06, and :26 after the hour. Look for the ending station (Hillerod) on the monitors at each entrance to the platforms to determine which platform to stand at. I believe this one was at the last platform (facing the monitors - to the far right #10 or 11).

 

When the train pulls up to the platform, the front of the train will the endpoint of the line Hillerod and the sides will display the next stop. Board the train anywhere. A train attendant may or may not appear during the trip to verify your ticket. A display in each section of the train, displays the next stop and there are voice announcements. The ride to Hillerod will take 40 minutes. When you leave the train at Hillerod, everyone will exit the train on the left side. Off to your right you will see a group of local busses. Bus #702 stops directly in front of Frederiksborg. Entrance to Frederiksborg is free if you have a Copenhagen Card, otherwise it’s 60kr. Each room in the castle had an English description folder to review.

 

Leaving Frederiksborg, walk out to sidewalk in front of castle. To your left is a pedestrian only street that will lead you (most of the way) back to the train station. There are shops and cafes along this road. When there is a fork in the pedestrian street, stay to the left. There is a great photo spot of the castle with a lake in front from this spot. The pedestrian street ends when it intersects a street with cars. Cross the street and continue the slight uphill climb into the bus parking area at the railway station. Check the platform monitors for ‘ Lille Nord – Hillerod to Helsingor’. This is a local train and is located on the reverse side of the Koreplan with a gray line. It leaves at :58 which an additional time of :28 Monday through Friday during certain hours. As I can’t read Danish, I can only guess by reading the Koreplan the :28 departure is during the hours 5:28-8:28 and 14:28-18:28 Monday through Friday. It’s a 30 minute ride to Helsingor.

 

At Helsingor, when you exit the train on the left, if you go out the front of the station you will see Kronborg directly in front of you. If you exit the side of the station (as we did, following the flow of people), look to your right for the castle. Walk along the waterfront to get to the castle, enjoying the view of constant ferry traffic back and forth to Sweden. Only the Danish Maritime Museum is covered by the Copenhagen Card, so additional fees were paid for the castle and casements. There was a free English tour of the castle in the afternoon, but the time escapes me. We followed the tour for a short while. Along the walk to and from Kronsborg Slot, there is also the Helsingor Bymuseum. Entrance is free with the Copenhagen card. I did not visit there though. To take the train back to Kobenhavn H, look at the reverse side of the Koreplan for the regional train schedule in green for ‘Helsingor-KBH/Kastrup-Malmo C’. The train leaves Helsingor every 20 minutes (:16 :36 :56). It’s a 47 minute ride back to Kobenhavn.

 

If you wish to see the Lousiana Museum at Humlebaek, this will be the third stop on the train from Helsingor. Exiting the front of the station, there are signs pointing the way to the museum. Upon leaving the museum, and walking back to the station, there is a path through the woods that you can use as a shortcut to the station. It starts alongside a house with a thatched roof.

 

Whew!!! Hope I didn't confuse everyone. It probably makes more sense if you're looking at the schedule..

 

Suzi

[swdke]

Hey Suzi, you did a fantastic job describing how to get to Frederiksborg and Helsingor. Good job!

 

Steve

[cruisemom42]

Hi Suzi, recovered yet?

 

Suzi is the train guru! She also planned a terrific 2-day Den Rus itinerary that we shared -- hope you will write about that, Suzi, or if not I will (and you know how wordy I am!)

[dbh62ark]

Oh, we love wordy! Bring it on! :)

 

Donna

[SaylorGirl]

Suzi that was terrific information. Thanks for sharing it.

[winewanderer]

Suzi, thanks so much for this information. DH and I are debating doing a baltic cruise or the Mediterranean next year. One thing I must see if we do the baltic is the Frederiksborg castle.

 

We love taking public transit, it's part of the adventure in new places and Europe is so good at it.

[swdke]

Hi Suzi, recovered yet?

 

Suzi is the train guru! She also planned a terrific 2-day Den Rus itinerary that we shared -- hope you will write about that, Suzi, or if not I will (and you know how wordy I am!)

 

Can you please share your Denreus itinerary? Thank you.

[dbh62ark]

I worked really hard planning and researching our Denrus itinerary, and it's a great (comprehensive one). You've helped me out so much on another thread that I would be glad to send it to you. You can e-mail me at dahillark@yahoo.com.

 

Donna

[misssrr]

Can you please share your Denreus itinerary? Thank you.

 

Steve,

 

Here's the DenRus itinerary we requested but I think we deviated a little with restaurant lunches each day and a couple of shopping (vodka,wine) stops thrown in.

 

Sunday, 5/29

 

06:45- the city orientation drive (city highlights) St.Petersburg

0930 Peterhof (Bolshoi Dvorets) - Early Opening to avoid crowds

1030 Fountain park

1130 "Meteor" hydrofoil ride

1200 Lunch

1300 State Hermitage Museum with the Winter Palace

1630 back to ship

 

Monday, 5/30

 

0900 start of the tour. Continuation of the city tour,shop

1000 Peter and Paul Fortress

1200 Restaurant lunch

1300 Yusupov's Palace

1500 Church on Spilled Blood

1600 St Isaac's Cathedral

1700 back to ship

[misssrr]

Hi Suzi, recovered yet?

 

Suzi is the train guru! She also planned a terrific 2-day Den Rus itinerary that we shared -- hope you will write about that, Suzi, or if not I will (and you know how wordy I am!)

 

Cynthia,

 

I'd love it if you wrote a review of DenRus. I can't remember the names of the restaurants but they were pretty good I thought. You can't be more wordy than I was - thought I'd never finish just do the train schedules in Denmark.

 

Of course, I left out my mishap on getting on a regional train versus the DSB s-tog train to take a short run over the bridge to Malmo, Sweden. Unlike the other's, this train continued into Sweden unbeknownst to us. We were talking to a couple of teachers with 26 sixth-graders going on a camping trip. Mom asked where they were going camping in Denmark, and they said they weren't, they were going to the countryside in Sweden. Boy, we hopped off at the next train stop and caught the a train back to Copenhagen. We didn't have our passports or Swedish money (as the Copenhagen Card was not good for Sweden). Of course, the train conductor came by at that time looking for tickets and all he got was a story from us, but he just moved on to the next person... guess it happens. The DSB s-togs and local trains go from end-point to end-point like it says on the schedule but the regional train continues on. THe train schedule just stops listing the stops and doesn't tell you that...

 

Suzi

[swdke]

Whether you toured independently, or took the ship's tour to Kronborg and Frederiksborg castles, how much time did you spend at each castle? Thanks a lot.

 

Steve