Flying to Denmark with a dog
The paperwork is the easy part. Denmark bans thirteen breeds outright, tourists included, and you have to be able to prove what your dog is.
The one that catches people out
Thirteen banned breeds, and holidays are not an exception
Most countries with a breed list restrict how the dog behaves in public. Denmark bars the dog from the country. Thirteen breeds and their crosses cannot be brought in at all, and there's no carve-out for a tourist on a short trip. The part that catches people is the burden of proof: you have to be able to document your dog's breed or type. If your dog could be mistaken for one of the listed types, travel with pedigree papers, because looking like a banned breed is enough to start an argument at the border.
Everything you need, in order
Working forwards from the first vet visit to the moment you land. Miss one and the rest of them don’t save you.
- 1
Before anything else
Microchip, fitted before the rabies vaccination
The order matters more than the dates. If the dog was vaccinated before it was chipped the vaccination is invalid, the vet has to redo it after chipping, and a fresh 21-day wait starts from there.
- 2
At least 21 days before you travel
Rabies vaccination, then the wait
Counted from the completion of the primary vaccination course, not from the date you book. A booster given after the previous one expired counts as a new primary vaccination, so the 21 days start again. Under EU Regulation 2026/131, which replaced 576/2013 in April 2026.
- 3
Before you fly
EU pet passport
Issued by an authorised vet, recording the microchip and the current rabies vaccination. Nothing else to file for an EU arrival.
- 4
Before you book, if there's any doubt
Be able to prove the breed
Pedigree papers, or a vet's written description of the type. The obligation is on you to document it, not on the authorities to disprove it.
Breeds Denmark won't let in
Banned from entry, including for a holiday. The pit bull terrier and tosa inu have been barred since 1991, the other eleven since July 2010.
- Pit Bull Terrier
- Tosa Inu
- American Staffordshire Terrier
- Fila Brasileiro
- Dogo Argentino
- American Bulldog
- Boerboel
- Kangal
- Central Asian Ovtcharka
- Caucasian Ovtcharka
- South Russian Ovtcharka
- Tornjak
- Sarplaninac
Crosses of these breeds count too, and a dog that merely looks like one can be challenged. If there’s any doubt about your dog, travel with pedigree papers.
Official source, read 2026-09-13. Breed lists get amended, so check before you book.
Who’ll take your dog to Denmark
Airlines we’ve checked that carry a dog in the cabin, by where you’re starting from. Open a route for the fees, the weight limits and the current flights.
- DUB → CPHNothing direct. One stop via ORY with Transavia.
- CDG → CPHDirect with SAS Scandinavian Airlines. Up to 8kg including the carrier, €50–€120.
- AMS → CPHDirect with SAS Scandinavian Airlines. Up to 8kg including the carrier, €50–€120.
- BRU → CPHDirect with SAS Scandinavian Airlines. Up to 8kg including the carrier, €50–€120.
- FRA → CPHNothing direct. One stop via AMS with Lufthansa.
- MUC → CPHDirect with SAS Scandinavian Airlines. Up to 8kg including the carrier, €50–€120.
- ARN → CPHDirect with SAS Scandinavian Airlines. Up to 8kg including the carrier, €50–€120.
- OSL → CPHNothing direct. One stop via ARN with SAS Scandinavian Airlines.
- HEL → CPHDirect with SAS Scandinavian Airlines, Finnair.
- BCN → CPHDirect with Vueling, SAS Scandinavian Airlines.
- MAD → CPHNothing direct. One stop via ORY with Transavia.
- FCO → CPHNothing direct. One stop via VIE with Austrian Airlines.
- ATH → CPHDirect with SAS Scandinavian Airlines. Up to 8kg including the carrier, €50–€120.
- LIS → CPHNothing direct. One stop via ORY with Transavia.
What happens when you land
Land at a Danish Travellers' Point of Entry, because a non-EU dog can only be cleared there, and go to the red 'goods to declare' channel. The authorities do the document and identity check on arrival. No booking for a pet flying with you. Keep the original stamped EU health certificate, the microchip record and the rabies certificate in your hand luggage, not the hold. No tapeworm rule for Denmark.
- Where you can land
- Danish Travellers' Points of Entry (Copenhagen among them)
- Who checks the dog
- Red 'goods to declare' channel. Document and identity check by the competent authorities.
- Out of hours
- not stated
- Who to call
- Not published
Book on the airline’s own site. Always.
Your dog has to be added to the booking and confirmed against a limit that applies per flight, not per aircraft, and a third-party seller generally can’t do either of those things. People book somewhere cheaper, find there’s no way to add the dog, and end up trying to change a ticket the airline never sold them. When a flight is cancelled or a connection goes, you want to be talking to the airline, not to a reseller who is talking to the airline on your behalf.
We don’t sell flights, and we don’t want to. Every link we give you goes to the airline.
Where this comes from
- Thirteen banned breeds, and holidays are not an exception, official source, read 2026-09-13.
- Denmark entry requirements, official source, read 2026-09-10.
Rules change without much warning. Check the official page before you fly, and if you find something out of date, tell Daisy.