General: Denmark

If you hire a car in Denmark, you should be aware of a couple of things. Although i have hired only once (my employer paid), I didn't get told about either of them.

Firstly, the cost. Denmark must be one of the worlds most expensive places to drive. The government slap a HUGE tax (c.100 percent) on the value of all new or imported cars, and this has now filtered down to all vehicles in Denmark. I recently purchased a 20-year old VW Polo and it cost me over 1000 GBP!!! Hire cars are not exempted, and the 1day, 1way car hire from Copenhagen airport to denmark cost my company around 300 GBP. Admitedly it wasn't the cheapest class of car, but even so...

Petrol costs are also high, but only on a par with england. If you can though, fill up on a sunday (preferably at one of the self-serve stations) as prices will be c.10%lower.

Secondly, and somewhat scarily, the driving laws are different. Although you can hire cars on a UK or EU license, cycling is to Denmark what tea drinking is to the UK - and cyclists have a couple more rights than they do in the UK. So watch out for these:

If you are turning right at ANY JUNCTION you must GIVE WAY to cyclists who are going straight on, coming up on your inside. For example, if you stop at a red light wanting to turn right and the light turns green, you still have to wait for the cyclists to go straight on before you can turn.

Similarly, if you are on a roundabout, the chances are there will be a cycle lane around it. Cyclists again have right of way over cars - so if you want to exit the roundabout and there is a cyclist on your inside (rhs) who is continuing round it, you have to wait for them to drive past.

That is the downside of the danish penchant for cycles. The flipside is that both Copenhagen and Aarhus (2 biggest cities) have free bicyles, called citibikes. These work like shopping trollies - you put a coin into a slot, squeak around with it for a while, and then find a rack where you can connect it up to a chain again and get your money back. If you can find one, they are a great way to get around town.