Best museums in Copenhagen: prices, the free days and the museums that close on Monday

💡 The Short Version: SMK, the Glyptotek, the Design Museum, the David Collection and Copenhagen Contemporary are closed on Mondays, all year. The National Museum is open daily until the end of October and closed on Mondays from November to March. The David Collection is free every day it is open, and the Glyptotek is free on the last Wednesday of each month. Under-18s are free at the National Museum, SMK, the Glyptotek and the Design Museum. The National Museum is DKK 135 online and SMK DKK 140. Prices are in Danish kroner. Or book a tour: the National Museum entry ticketad is from DKK 135 (GetYourGuide).

Closed days and late nights

Prices are the adult rate from each museum’s own site, for the permanent collection.

The National Museum of Denmark

DKK 135 online · DKK 150 at the desk · closed Mondays from November · Ny Vestergade 10

The National Museum is Denmark’s museum of cultural history, with a Viking exhibition, a history of Denmark on three floors and special exhibitions that include The Viking Sorceress and KA-CHING!. The ticket is valid for one year from the date you buy it, so a second visit costs nothing. Online tickets get 10% off, and there is no student or senior discount. Backpacks and large bags are not allowed in the exhibitions, and lockers are free. Café Daisy and the shop need no ticket. The museum runs an English guided tour called Meet the Danes. The GetYourGuide listing is the museum’s own entry ticket at the online price, from DKK 135.

The National Museum, in the former Prinsens Palæ, from Frederiksholms Kanal. Photo: Illya Kondratyuk, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.

SMK, the National Gallery of Denmark

DKK 140 · under 27 DKK 95 · closed Mondays · open to 20:00 on Wednesdays

SMK says its collection is the country’s largest, with more than 200,000 objects gathered by the Danish kings and then the state. The price box prints one price and no online discount. Under-18s are free and under-27s pay DKK 95. Wednesday’s late opening to 20:00 makes it the simplest evening museum. It is close to the Little Mermaid and the Citadel. See the Little Mermaid.

SMK’s original building on its park. Photo: Jiří Komárek, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek

DKK 135 online · free the last Wednesday of the month · closed Mondays · Dantes Plads 7

The Glyptotek was founded by the brewer Carl Jacobsen and has been open to the public since 1897. It holds more than 10,000 works, mostly antiquities and Danish and French sculpture and painting of the 19th century, around a Winter Garden. The adult price is DKK 150 at the desk and DKK 135 online. Under-27s and students pay DKK 120, or DKK 108 online, and under-18s are free, with free tickets only at the desk. On the last Wednesday of every month the whole museum is free, and since 1 January 2026 guided tours cannot be booked on those days. The museum has an exit onto Tivoli. A major restoration is planned, expected to span four to six years once full funding is secured, with part of the building closed to the public; the museum is open now.

The winter garden at the Glyptotek. Photo: Daderot, Wikimedia Commons, CC0.

Designmuseum Danmark

DKK 140 · 18 to 26 DKK 90 · closed Mondays · open to 20:00 on Thursdays · Bredgade 68

The Design Museum shows Danish Modern, an exhibition on Danish design from the 1920s to the 1970s, Verner Panton classics, and Henrik Vibskov: The Exhibition until 21 February 2027. Under-18s are free and 18 to 26 year olds pay DKK 90. The shop, the cafe FORMAT, the library and the museum garden need no ticket, and the cafe is open every day except Monday.

The David Collection

Free · closed Mondays · open to 21:00 on Wednesdays · Kronprinsessegade 30 to 32

The David Collection says it has “free entrance, all year round”. It holds one of the most comprehensive collections of Islamic art in the Western world, a selection of European 18th-century art and a smaller group of Danish early modern art. Free guided tours run on Wednesdays and at weekends, and you reserve a place. A special exhibition of vintage postcards from the Middle East runs to 3 January 2027, and from 6 November 2026 to 2 May 2027 the museum shows an Ottoman sex manual with explicit illustrations. The Copenhagen Card does not list it, because it is free.

Copenhagen Contemporary

DKK 140 · students DKK 95 · closed Mondays · open to 21:00 on Thursdays · Refshalevej 173A

Copenhagen Contemporary is an art centre in a former welding hall on Refshaleøen, with James Turrell’s Aftershock among the works. Tickets are bought at the desk on arrival, aged 3 to 17 pay DKK 25 and under-3s are free. None of the artworks needs a booking, but there can be a queue, and the queue for Aftershock may be closed when you arrive. The museum suggests early afternoons on weekdays or Thursday evenings. Bus 2A stops by the entrance, and the harbour bus is the other way. The Copenhagen Card gives free entry.

The Danish Architecture Center

DKK 135 · under 27 free on Fridays 16:00 to 21:00 · open Mondays · BLOX

The Danish Architecture Center is open on Mondays when most museums are not, until 21:00 on Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays. Students and under-27s pay DKK 60, and under-18s are free with a paying adult. The GetYourGuide listingad is DKK 121.50, which is the online price.

Free and discounted

• Always free: the David Collection, and the Design Museum’s shop, cafe, library and garden.
• The last Wednesday of the month: the Glyptotek is free to everyone.
• Under 18: free at the National Museum, SMK, the Glyptotek and the Design Museum.
• Under 27: DKK 95 at SMK, DKK 120 at the Glyptotek, DKK 90 at the Design Museum for 18 to 26 and free at the Danish Architecture Center on Fridays 16:00 to 21:00.
• Online: 10% off at the National Museum, the Glyptotek and the Danish Architecture Center.

Free things to do in Copenhagen lists the rest with the rule beside each one.

Tours worth paying for

Museum tickets are the products here. The listings below sell the same tickets, and the price is the lowest “from” price, per person.

National Museum entry ticket

From DKK 135 · valid 365 days · 4.5 stars from 1,218 reviews

Copenhagen: National Museum of Denmark Entry Ticketad is the museum’s own listing at the online price. The reason to buy it here is the free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.

Practical information

• Passes: the Copenhagen Card covers these museums except the David Collection, which is free. Copenhagen Card: is it worth it? says when it pays. A day of three museums loses to single tickets plus a City Pass, and a day of four wins.
• The order that works: put the museums on Tuesday to Sunday, and keep Monday for Tivoli in season, Home of Carlsberg, the Round Tower and the Danish Architecture Center. Take the late nights for the Wednesday and Thursday evenings.
• The one thing that ruins a visit: Monday. Five of these museums are shut, and from November the National Museum joins them.

What to book in Copenhagen has the closed days for every sight. Rosenborg, Christiansborg and the Amalienborg Museum are the palace museums. Copenhagen with kids says which museums let children in free. Outside the city, Louisiana is 40 minutes up the coast and the Viking Ship Museum is on the Roskilde day trip. 3 days in Copenhagen places the museums around the Monday rule. For a bed nearby, see where to stay in Copenhagen, and Copenhagen public transport has the fares.