The Danish krone: exchange rates, cash and cards for visitors

The Danish currency in brief

Denmark did not adopt the euro. The Danish currency is the krone, plural kroner, and its ISO code is DKK with two decimals. The ISO 4217 list gives the same currency for the Faroe Islands and Greenland. Danmarks Nationalbank is the only body allowed to issue notes and coins in Denmark, while banks and other private firms handle cash for the public.

For visitors, the practical upshot is simple. Prices in shops are in kroner, card terminals charge in kroner, and euro notes are not the currency Denmark uses for everyday payments. If you are moving here rather than visiting, our English guide to banking in Denmark covers accounts and IDs.

Danish krone to euro: why the rate hardly moves

Denmark has run a fixed exchange-rate policy since 1982, first against the German mark and later against the euro. The formal framework is the European exchange rate mechanism, ERM II. Nationalbanken states the central rate as 746.038 kroner per 100 euro and says Denmark has agreed a narrower band with the European Central Bank of plus or minus 2.25 per cent. The krone may therefore move at most between 762.824 and 729.252 kroner per 100 euro. These are policy limits, not the rate of the day: for that, read the panel at the top of the page.

Because of the peg, the cost of going from the Danish krone to euro depends mostly on your bank or card issuer, not on market swings. The Danish page on euro and kroner goes into the policy in more detail.

How to read the rate in the panel

The figure in the panel comes from Danmarks Nationalbank. Nationalbanken quotes its rates as the price in Danish kroner for 100 units of the foreign currency. The rates are set at a teleconference hosted by the ECB at 14.10 and published around 16.00 on banking days, and there are no new rates on Danish public holidays. They are based on rates in the interbank market, where banks trade with each other.

Nationalbanken is clear that its rates are indicative and not for trading: you cannot buy or sell currency at your bank at these figures. They are a fair benchmark for judging what a bank, an exchange office or a card issuer gives you. For other currencies, see the Danish pages with all of today's reference rates or try the currency converter.

Notes and coins you can use

The valid banknotes are the 50, 100, 200 and 500-krone notes of the 2009 and 2009A series. Nationalbanken says both series remain legal tender until a new series is launched in 2028, and new notes are planned for 2028-2029, after which only one series will be valid at a time. Coins come in 20, 10, 5, 2 and 1 kroner and 50 øre. Every Danish coin issued since 1875 in those denominations is still legal tender, including commemorative coins.

Watch out for old notes. All banknotes from series older than the current one, and the 1000-krone note of the current series, became worthless after 31 May 2026. They can no longer be used or exchanged at banks. If someone hands you a 1000-krone note, refuse it. The Danish page on coins and banknotes covers the rare exceptions.

Cash in Denmark: where it is accepted, and the limits

Card payments dominate, but cash still has legal protection. Section 81 of the Danish payments act obliges any business that takes payment cards to take notes and coins too, from six in the morning until ten at night. The rule does not apply to online sales or to unstaffed self-service, and in areas designated as high robbery risk the window is 06.00 to 20.00, with signs to show it. Festivals with access control can be exempt for up to 14 days a year.

There are also upper limits. Businesses outside the money-laundering act may not accept cash payments of DKK 15,000 or more, whether in one payment or several linked ones. 500-euro notes may not be used, exchanged or handed over in Denmark at all. If you travel into or out of Denmark with cash or other liquid assets worth 10,000 euro or more, in any currency, you must declare it to Toldstyrelsen, the Danish customs agency, which says this is about 75,000 kroner. The Danish overview of cash rules has more.

One last point for anyone leaving: Nationalbanken says Danish cash cannot be exchanged in most countries and recommends not taking Danish kroner abroad. Spend or exchange your coins before you go.

Cards, mark-ups and the conversion trap

When you pay in kroner with a card linked to an account in another currency, your card issuer converts the amount and usually adds a mark-up. Forbrugerrådet Tænk, the Danish consumer council, wrote in 2025 that Danish banks' card surcharges are typically around one to two per cent, and in June 2026 that a payment card is typically the cheapest way to pay abroad. Your own bank's figure may differ.

The expensive mistake is dynamic currency conversion. Some terminals and ATMs offer to charge you in your own currency instead of kroner. Tænk says the rate in that case can be up to 35 per cent higher than normal. EU law, Regulation 2021/1230, requires whoever offers that conversion to tell you before you pay that you can pay in the local currency and let your own bank convert, and requires card issuers to state their conversion charges as a percentage over the ECB's euro reference rates. Choose kroner. The table under this text shows what the different mark-ups mean on a purchase of DKK 1,000.

If you are moving here

If you live here, you will soon want an account in kroner, so salary and bills do not pass through a currency conversion every month. Our page on how newcomers open an account explains your right to a basic payment account in kroner, and the page on Danish account numbers and IBAN shows what to give an employer abroad. Public money, such as a tax refund, is normally paid into your chosen NemKonto, which can even be a foreign account; the Danish rules are on our NemKonto page in Danish.