The old Rejsekort readers are no longer the starting point they once were. A short-stay visitor can buy ordinary tickets in Rejsebillet, choose a timed City Pass around Copenhagen or set up the Rejsekort app for pay-as-you-go travel. These products behave differently, and none should be confused with tapping a bank card directly at every gate.
Choose the product before the platform
The physical Rejsekort is now history
The last day to travel with the old plastic Rejsekort was 29 June 2026. Do not buy an old card from another traveller or expect its station readers to provide a current journey. The nationwide system has moved to app-based Rejsekort and the newer physical Basiskort.
Rejsebillet is the low-friction visitor lane
Rejsebillet works in Danish and English, starts with a phone number and SMS code, and can take a payment card without saving it. It sells single tickets across tariff areas and suggests the required zones. Around Copenhagen and Zealand, tickets are also available from machines at train and metro stations and the airport.
A City Pass turns zones into a time window
The Rejsekort swipe surrounds the whole journey
In the Rejsekort app, swipe to check in before boarding. Do not check in again when transferring between bus, train, metro or light rail. Swipe out only after leaving the final vehicle or station. Checking out while still on a bus can be treated as misuse during inspection.
A bank card is payment, not the nationwide ticket
Denmark did not replace the physical Rejsekort with a London-style system where any contactless bank card becomes the travel identity. Your bank card can purchase a ticket or fund an app, but the valid ticket remains in the ticket product. Have the active app screen or printed ticket ready for inspection.