Tag Archives: bus

Getting around Sonderborg with public transport

Busses at the station

If you are staying in Sonderborg for a longer time, you might want to explore more of the region than you can cover on foot.

Public transport in Denmark is in general fairly comprehensive and you will most likely be able to find a way to get from A to B with public transport. However if the two points are not along major traffic arteries the journey might take you a long time.

In Sønderborg there are town busses, local busses, regional busses and intercity trains.

Small town but two stations

Sønderborg is mainly located on the island of Als, but the train only goes to the Jutland side. So if you are arriving by train you are not getting dropped off in the center of town but by Alsion, the main campus area.

The train station is called typically called “Sønderborg St.” and the bus station “Sønderborg Bus Station”. They are 1,1km apart or a 20min walk.

Finding your connection

In order to plan your route from A to B I would suggest you use the website Rejseplanen if you know the address or names of your origin and destination.

Use Google Maps if you are more map oriented and want to see your options.

Google Maps Sonderborg

If you have a smartphone both Rejseplanen and Google Maps have good apps.

Town buses

There are five bus lines that loop within the city limit of Sonderborg. They all depart from the bus station in Sønderborg and make loops.

Town bus routes in Sonderborg

Local and Regional buses

There are about 30 bus routes that cover the municipality of Sonderborg. Most of them are local routes but there are also regional buses in the direction of Aabenraa-Toftlund-Ribe-Esbjerg and Aabenraa-Haderslev-Kolding-Vejle.

For the list of lines check Sydtrafik’s website. In order to find which route will take you to your destination check Rejseplanen or Google maps.

Night Buses

Fridays and Saturdays there are three night bus lines departing from Sonderborg in the direction of East (Nordborg-Kegnæs), West (Broager-Gråsten) and Aabenraa.

Trains

Trains arrive and departs on an hourly basis towards Copenhagen. The train stops in Gråsten-Kliplev-Tinglev-Rødekro-Vojens-etc. In order to go south you need to change train in either Tinglev or Rødekro.

Train tickets must be bought before you enter the train. There is no ticket office but a machine at the train station that takes cash and credit cards.

Bus tickets and prices

Prices are based on the number of zones you are travelling. To see what a trip will cost from A to B you can click on the Zones i Sydtrafik in the example below a trip from Sonderborg to Flensburg shows the that there are 7 zones and the price for adults (Voksen) is 70DKK. As of writing each zone costs 10DKK.

Zones in South Denmark

On the buses you can pay cash when you enter.

Another cheaper option for paying is Rejsekort which is a credit card size card you top up with credits and then use on most public transports in all of Denmark.

If you are staying long-term it makes good sense to get a personal Rejsekort once you have CPR number. If you are here on vacation it might not be worth it.

The card tourists can buy costs 80DKK and you need to top it up at least 170DKK. Read more here.

How to get to Sonderborg

We are on our way to Sonderborg as we write this. We were looking into how to get there from London and these are some of the ways we considered.

Travelling by Train

Sonderborg is well connected by train within Denmark. It is located at the end of a main line to Copenhagen with trains every 2 hours during the day. From Copenhagen, trains further afield to Sweden and beyond may also be taken. For trains further north in Denmark you need to change in Fredericia or Middelfart. Towards Germany you often need to change twice in Padborg and Flensburg.

To organize a train journey inside Denmark use Journey Planner and for Germany use Bahn.

Travelling by Bus

Bus line 10 goes to Flensburg every two hours during weekdays. Xbus 900 goes to Vejle almost every hour and Xbus 915 goes to Esbjerg four times a day.

Travelling by Air

Sonderborg is graced by its own airport, which is around a 15 minute drive from the centre. The airport is, however, not very well connected: the only commercial flights available are to and from Copenhagen with Cimber Sterling. Therefore it is also convenient to investigate flights to nearby airports.

Airports in Jutland

Billund Airport is the closest international airport in Jutland. It is decently well connected internationally. As it is a Ryanair airport destination, cheap flights are also available. Not being on a train line, it is not well connected domestically. Regular buses are available to a number of destinations on the Jutland peninsula and beyond, though none directly to Sonderborg. One option is to take the bus to Kolding and train from there.

Another airport on Jutland with similar issues is Aarhus airport. In this case a bus connects the airport to Aarhus from where a train to Sonderborg is then possible (with a change in Middelfart).

Airports Further Afield

Of course, the first obvious airport is Copenhagen Airport. Due to the very good connection between Sonderborg and Copenhagen Central trains station and then onwards to Copenhagen airport, this should be quite practical.

Another option is to go south to Germany. Hamburg airport is within reach and the train connections are easy enough. It should be possible to book a German taxi from Sonderborg to the airport for Euro 165 according to this site.