With the card
Included
Discover & Hop
Pre-booking
Not needed
Walk up and scan — but check it is open
The Card

What the Copenhagen Card covers at Den Frie

Both cards cover entry. The question worth asking first is not what it costs but whether it is open at all on the day you go.

Copenhagen Card
What's included
Discover & Hop
✓ Whatever exhibition is running — the whole building is the show, there is no permanent collection
✓ The building itself, a listed timber house the artists designed for themselves in 1891
✓ Included on both cards — Discover and Hop alike
Buy the Copenhagen Card →
At your own cost
Not included
Both cards
✗ The weeks between exhibitions, when the house is shut to everybody — the card cannot open a closed door
✗ Café Polykrom on site, which is its own business, and the card covers no food anywhere
✗ A second visit. One scan per attraction, so the card opens this door once
Both cards cover entry — when there is an exhibition on
Inside

What to see at Den Frie

An exhibition house run by artists since 1891, in a timber building they designed themselves, two minutes from Østerport. Allow an hour.

Highlight 1
Artist-run since 1891

Founded by artists who wanted to show work the official salon would not, and still run by artists rather than curators. That is an unusual governance for a card venue and it shows in the programme, which is less careful than a national gallery and more interesting for it.

Highlight 2
A building the artists drew themselves

The listed timber house is part of the point. It was designed by the members rather than commissioned from an architect, which makes it one of the few exhibition spaces in the city that looks like the people who use it.

Highlight 3
One show at a time, and then nothing

The whole house turns over to a single exhibition, which is why it shuts completely between them. When it is open you get an entire building given to one idea; when it is not, there is nothing to see at any price.

Before you visit

Read before you go

One thing to check before you set out, and two the sources do not settle. Confirmed against the card issuer's listing and denfrie.dk.

It closes between exhibitions — check before you go
  • The card issuer states plainly that Den Frie is closed between exhibitions and tells card holders to check the website first. This is not a Monday rule; it is whole weeks at a time.
  • Kunsthal Charlottenborg does the same thing, and there it swallowed most of one September. Two of the roughly eighty card venues work this way, and both are contemporary art houses.
  • Check denfrie.dk before you travel. It is a two-minute walk from Østerport, so this is a cheap mistake to avoid and an annoying one to make.
No published price, and no confirmed Monday rule
  • Den Frie does not publish an adult admission price, and no source we can check carries one, so this page states no figure and the venue counts nothing toward a break-even.
  • The Monday rule is not established either, so this page claims it in neither direction — which is why there is no Mondays figure in the bar above.
  • Between the two unknowns, the opening dates matter more. A price you cannot check costs you nothing; a closed building costs you the trip. Our guide to how many days of card to buy assumes venues you can rely on being open.
Østerport, and what else is near it
  • Two minutes on foot from Østerport station, which puts it on the S-train and regional lines as well as the metro network.
  • ENIGMA and Medical Museion are both a short walk away and both on the card, so a closed door here does not have to end the afternoon.
  • The Hirschsprung Collection is a little further into the park, with nineteenth-century Danish painting — the opposite end of the same city’s art history.
Getting there

How to get to Den Frie

Two minutes from Østerport station, on the edge of the park. Entry is on both cards; the journey is only on one.

Copenhagen Card
Discover card
✓ S-trains and regional trains to Østerport, then two minutes on foot. The fare is covered.
✓ Metro M3 or M4 also reaches Østerport, and both are covered on Discover.
✓ About 25 minutes on foot from Copenhagen Central, through the centre and up.
✓ From the airport — the train to Østerport runs direct and is covered on Discover.
Copenhagen Card
Hop card
✓ Entry is included on the Hop card — the centre is covered by both.
✓ The hop-on hop-off routes reach the Østerport area, so the venue is on that card.
✗ Trains and the metro are not covered on the Hop card, so an airport arrival is a separate ticket.
The Østerport group
  • ENIGMA, the museum of communication, is a short walk away and holds the world’s oldest Enigma machine.
  • Medical Museion is towards Bredgade, in the old surgical academy.
  • The Hirschsprung Collection sits in the park with nineteenth-century Danish art, kept as its collector hung it.
Plan the rest of the day

Nearby attractions also on your card

All three are included on the same card, so the only cost of adding them is the time. For the full list, see every attraction the Copenhagen Card covers.

Museum · 10 min walk · Allow 1.5 hrs

ENIGMA Museum

Communication from the postal service to the internet, holding the world’s oldest surviving Enigma machine.

Closed Mondays. Hop coverage is not confirmed for this one.
Without card: €19
See guide →
Art Museum · 12 min walk · Allow 1 hr

The Hirschsprung Collection

A tobacco manufacturer’s private collection of nineteenth-century Danish art, kept small and hung as he intended.

Closed Mondays. Late opening on the last Thursday of the month.
Without card: €15
See guide →
Medical Museum · 15 min walk · Allow 1 hr

Medical Museion

The history of medicine in the old Royal Academy of Surgeons on Bredgade, anatomical collection included.

Closed Mondays. Not one for squeamish children.
Without card: €15
See guide →
Ready to book?

Ready to visit Den Frie?

Entry is included on both the Discover and Hop cards, along with 80+ more attractions and unlimited public transport. Check denfrie.dk for the current exhibition dates before you go.

Buy the Copenhagen Card → Run the numbers →
Common questions

Den Frie Centre — card FAQ

Is Den Frie Centre included with the Copenhagen Card?

Entry is included on both the Discover and Hop cards, covering the whole building and whichever exhibition is running. Den Frie publishes no admission price and no source we could check carries one, so this page states no figure.

Is Den Frie Centre open on Mondays?

The Monday rule is not published anywhere we can check, so this page does not claim it either way. The bigger risk is the calendar rather than the day: the card issuer states Den Frie closes between exhibitions, so check denfrie.dk before travelling.

Do I need to book Den Frie Centre in advance with the Copenhagen Card?

Nothing needs booking. Show the QR code in the Copenhagen Card app at the desk and walk in — provided there is an exhibition on. Between shows the building is closed to everybody and the card cannot get you in.

Can I visit Den Frie Centre twice on the same Copenhagen Card?

One scan per attraction applies, so this is a single visit per card. The whole house turns over to one exhibition at a time, so a return trip to Copenhagen finds a different show rather than the same one.

How do I get into Den Frie Centre with the Copenhagen Card?

Show the live QR code in the Copenhagen Card app at the entrance and let staff scan it. Your booking confirmation email is not your card, and a screenshot of the QR code will not scan — it has to be the app itself, which works offline once activated.

See all 80+ attractions included with the Copenhagen Card →