Rostock to Copenhagen: the ferry to Gedser and the drive

The route: Rostock, Gedser, Copenhagen

Rostock and Copenhagen are about 180 km apart as the crow flies, but the Baltic is in the way. The shortest crossing is Rostock to Gedser on the southern tip of Falster. From Gedser the E55 and E47 run north over Falster, Lolland’s neighbour, and the Farø bridges onto Zealand and into Copenhagen, roughly 160 km of mostly motorway.

What Rostock to Copenhagen costs

The ferry is the only ticket you need, there are no tolls between Gedser and Copenhagen. On 28 September 2026 Scandlines listed the one-way car fare from 65.30 euros (Low Price, online, tied to one sailing), 82.70 euros (Standard, booked at least 3 days ahead, any sailing with space that day) and 157 euros (Flex). The fare covers the car and up to 9 people, so a full car is cheap per head. A normal return is two one-way fares; a same-day return is much cheaper with the 1-day ticket from 86 euros. Fuel for 160 km and parking in Copenhagen, which is expensive in the centre, come on top.

All ticket types, the harbour prices to avoid and how to pay less are on the prices page.

Rostock to Copenhagen without a car

The chain works, it just has four links. From Rostock Hauptbahnhof the city bus takes you to the Seehafen stop by the ferry centre (check RSAG for the current line, we saw route 19 there). Foot passengers check in 30 minutes before departure and pay 15.50 euros for a 1-day return ticket. In Gedser, Movia bus 740 leaves from the stop outside the terminal for Nykøbing Falster station, and from there regional trains run to Copenhagen Central in about an hour and a half. Rejseplanen.dk plans the Danish part. Allow 6 hours in total and check that the bus meets your sailing, on quiet days the gaps are long.

With a bike it is the same route, and Gedser is where the Berlin Copenhagen cycle route reaches Denmark. The bike add-on on the ferry is 3 euros.

From Berlin to Copenhagen via Rostock

This is the classic use of the route. Berlin to Rostock port is about 230 km on the A24 and A19, around 2.5 hours. Add the ferry and the Danish leg and you are looking at 7 hours door to door with a lunch stop, which is about as fast as the alternative via Puttgarden Rødby from Berlin, with about 170 km less driving. From Hamburg the picture flips: Puttgarden Rødby is closer and its 45 minute crossing runs about every 40 minutes by day. Our alternatives page compares the options, and the Rostock ferry port page explains the approach from the A19.

Driving in Denmark: what is different

• Lights on, also by day. Dipped headlights or daytime running lights are compulsory around the clock.
• Speed limits: 50 km/h in towns, 80 outside, 130 on the motorway and 110 on many stretches. Fines are clearly higher than in Germany.
• With a trailer or motorhome: car and trailer 80 km/h, also on the motorway, 100 only with a Danish Tempo 100 approval. Motorhomes over 3.5 tonnes: 70 on rural roads, 80 on the motorway (ADAC, 2026).
• Alcohol and tyres. The limit is 0.5 per mille, 0.2 for drivers in their first three years. Winter tyres are not compulsory in Denmark, but strongly recommended in winter. A high-visibility vest is not required, but sensible.
• No vignette, no motorway toll. Only the big bridges cost money, and none of them is on the way from Gedser to Copenhagen. On the German side cars pay no motorway toll either.
• Low emission zones. Copenhagen, Frederiksberg, Aarhus, Odense and Aalborg have low emission zones for diesel vehicles, including older diesel cars. Check on miljoezoner.dk before you go whether your car has to be registered.
• Paying. Denmark uses the krone, Germany the euro. Cards are accepted almost everywhere in Denmark. Expect high prices: we paid 18 euros for two draught Carlsberg in Copenhagen.

Germany and Denmark are both in the Schengen area, but keep passports or ID cards at hand and not in the boot. When we arrived in Rostock the police were doing spot checks at the port exit.