Copenhagen wasn’t on our radar for ages. We kept gravitating towards the usual suspects — Barcelona, Paris, Amsterdam — and somehow Scandinavia felt like something for later. For when the kids were older, maybe. Or when we’d won the lottery. Because yes, Denmark is expensive. Properly expensive. But a friend took her two there last Easter and came back raving about it, and once we started looking into it we realised she was right. Copenhagen is a brilliant city for families. Clean, safe, easy to get around, full of things to do, and the kind of place where children are genuinely welcome everywhere. Not tolerated. Welcome.
We spent four days there with our lot and came away impressed. Here’s everything we’d tell a friend before they booked.
Getting There
It’s about two hours from most UK airports. Direct flights run from Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester, Edinburgh, and a handful of others depending on the season. Budget airlines do the route, so you can get decent fares if you book early enough. Nothing complicated.
But there’s another option worth mentioning, especially if your kids are the sort who find airports a bit much. DFDS runs a ferry from Harwich to Esbjerg, and from there it’s a few hours by train to Copenhagen. Is it quicker than flying? Absolutely not. It takes about seventeen hours on the boat. But the kids thought it was the best bit of the whole trip. A cabin, a restaurant, the sea. They stood on deck for about forty-five minutes watching the waves and declared it “better than a plane.” Hard to argue with that, honestly. It does make for a longer journey, so it depends on your appetite for slow travel. We loved it.
Let’s Talk Money
Might as well get this out of the way early. Denmark is expensive. Not “a bit pricier than Spain” expensive. Properly, eye-wateringly expensive. A sandwich and a coffee can set you back DKK 130 (about £14). A sit-down meal for four, even somewhere casual, will run you DKK 800-1200 (£88-132). A pint? Don’t ask.
Budget a minimum of £100 per day for a family of four, and that’s being careful. If you’re doing paid attractions and eating out for every meal, double it. Seriously. This isn’t meant to put you off — just to prepare you. We found ways to keep costs sensible, and the Copenhagen Card helped a lot (more on that below).
Card payments are accepted literally everywhere. Market stalls, tiny bakeries, public toilets. We used cash precisely once, and that was to tip a street musician. Leave the currency exchange alone.
The Copenhagen Card
Worth looking into before you go. The Copenhagen Card covers free public transport plus entry to over 80 attractions, including most of the big ones. A 48-hour adult card costs DKK 519 (about £57). Children aged 10-15 are roughly half price, and under-10s go free with a paying adult.
If you’re planning to visit three or more paid attractions, it pays for itself. We had it for 48 hours and used it for Tivoli, the Experimentarium, a canal boat tour, and unlimited buses and metro rides. Saved us a fair whack. You can buy it online and activate it on your phone, which is dead handy.
Tivoli Gardens
This was the first thing we did and it set the tone perfectly. Tivoli is the world’s second-oldest amusement park — it opened in 1843 — and it’s right in the centre of town, practically next to the main train station. It’s not a theme park in the Alton Towers sense. It’s smaller, older, more charming. Think fairy lights, wooden roller coasters, beautiful gardens, and a slightly magical atmosphere that even our cynical nine-year-old got swept up in.
Entry is DKK 170 (about £19) for adults, and under-3s get in free. But here’s the thing — that’s just the gate price. Rides cost extra, either per ride or via an unlimited ride pass which is another DKK 240 or so. The rides themselves are a good mix. Gentle ones for little ones, a few proper thrill rides for older kids, and enough variety to keep everyone happy for three to four hours.
Go in the late afternoon if you can. The gardens look completely different after dark when all the lights come on. Thousands of them. Our five-year-old stood there with her mouth open and said “it’s like Christmas.” She wasn’t wrong.
The Little Mermaid
Right. Let’s manage expectations here. The Little Mermaid statue is iconic. It’s on every postcard, every fridge magnet, every “Top Things to See in Copenhagen” list. And it is… small. Really quite small. She sits on a rock at the waterfront in Langelinie, and when you get there after a fifteen-minute walk along the harbour, your children will almost certainly say some version of “is that it?”
Ours did. The four-year-old asked where the rest of her was.
It’s worth seeing. Of course it is. It’s been there since 1913 and it’s a piece of Danish history. But treat it as a quick photo stop on a waterfront walk, not as a destination in its own right. Five minutes, a selfie, done. Don’t build it up too much or you’ll have disappointed children and that’s nobody’s idea of a good morning.
Nyhavn
This is the Copenhagen photo. The one with the colourful townhouses along the canal, boats moored up, people eating outside. You’ve seen it. It’s even more striking in person, especially on a sunny day when the reflections hit the water just right.
Walk along both sides. Get ice cream — there are several good gelato places and the kids won’t let you walk past without stopping. Sit on the harbour wall if you can find a spot. It gets busy, particularly in summer, but it never felt unpleasantly crowded when we were there.
Canal boat tours leave from Nyhavn and they’re one of the best things we did. About an hour long, DKK 80-100 (£9-11) per person, and they take you past the Opera House, Christianshavn, the Little Mermaid, and a load of other landmarks. The kids loved it. Cheaper than most things in Copenhagen, too, which was a nice bonus.
National Museum of Denmark
Free. Completely free. And it has one of the best children’s sections we’ve come across in any museum, anywhere.
The main museum covers Danish history from the Stone Age to the present day, and the adult galleries are genuinely interesting if you get a chance to look at them properly. But the Children’s Museum downstairs is the real draw for families. The kids can dress up in Viking gear, sit in a replica ship, handle real artefacts, and generally run about pretending to be Norse warriors for an hour or two. Our lot were in there so long we had to bribe them out with the promise of hot dogs.
It’s centrally located, well laid out, and the staff were brilliant with children. An absolute winner on a rainy day. Or any day, really.
Experimentarium
If your children are the hands-on, push-every-button, what-happens-if-I-do-this type, the Experimentarium is a must. It’s a full-on interactive science centre with exhibits covering everything from the human body to space to sound waves to bubbles. Three floors of things to touch, build, test, and tinker with.
It’s a little way out of the city centre — about twenty minutes on the metro — but absolutely worth the trip. Allow two to three hours. Our two would have stayed longer if we’d let them.
Tickets are DKK 205 (about £23) for adults and DKK 140 (£16) for children aged 3-11. Under-3s free. Not cheap, but the quality is excellent and it kept ours entertained far longer than most attractions manage. If you’ve got the Copenhagen Card, it’s included.
Strøget and the Lego Store
Strøget is one of Europe’s longest pedestrian shopping streets, running from City Hall Square to Kongens Nytorv. It’s full of high street shops, cafés, and — crucially — street performers, which kept our kids fascinated for far longer than any of the actual shops would have.
The Lego flagship store is here, and if you have children who are even remotely into Lego, you’ll be going in. Accept it now. It’s impressive, to be fair. Giant Lego models, a pick-and-build wall, Copenhagen-themed sets you can’t get elsewhere. We emerged forty minutes later and significantly lighter in the wallet. The kids were thrilled. That’s what matters. Apparently.
Bikes. Everywhere.
Copenhagen is THE cycling city. Not in the way that cities sometimes claim to be cycling-friendly while actually being terrifying. Properly, genuinely set up for bikes. Dedicated lanes on every major road. Traffic lights specifically for cyclists. Cargo bikes carrying two or three children — a completely normal sight. It’s safer than Amsterdam for cycling with kids, and we say that having cycled in both.
You can rent cargo bikes if you’re feeling brave, or regular bikes with child seats. The kids absolutely loved it. Even in the city centre, the bike lanes feel separate enough from traffic that we weren’t white-knuckling it the whole time. A brilliant way to get around if the weather’s decent.
Christiania
Christiania is Copenhagen’s “freetown” — a self-governing commune that’s been there since the 1970s. It’s unusual, interesting, and opinions are split on whether it’s appropriate to visit with children. Here’s our take.
The main drag, Pusher Street, has been cleaned up a lot in recent years, and the main entrance area with its food stalls and craft shops is fine. Genuinely fine. Interesting street art, a relaxed atmosphere, good food. We walked through with the kids and they didn’t see anything concerning.
That said. The side streets and some of the further-in areas are less family-friendly. Drug use is visible in places, and the vibe shifts. We stuck to the main path, had lunch, looked at the murals, and left. Wouldn’t take very young children, but for school-age kids who are used to cities, the main route is no issue.
Where to Eat (Without Remortgaging)
Eating in Copenhagen requires a strategy. Or at least a willingness to be creative.
The pølsevogn — those hot dog carts you see on street corners — are your friend. DKK 40-50 (£4-6) for a hot dog that’s actually very good. The kids loved them. We ate from carts more than once and felt no shame whatsoever.
Bakeries are everywhere, and Danish pastries in Denmark are something else. Flaky, buttery, often filled with custard or cinnamon. Budget DKK 30-50 per pastry. We made a habit of grabbing pastries and coffee each morning from whatever bakery was nearest and it was one of the best parts of the day.
For a proper meal, Reffen (also called Copenhagen Street Food) is the move. It’s an open-air street food market on the waterfront with stalls serving everything from tacos to ramen to smoked fish. Portions are big, prices are reasonable by Copenhagen standards — expect DKK 100-200 (£11-22) per meal — and there’s loads of space for kids to run around while you eat. Brilliant spot.
Restaurants are pricey. No way around it. Even a basic pizza place will charge DKK 140-180 for a margherita. We ate out properly once and did cheaper options the rest of the time. Nobody suffered.
Where to Stay
Three neighbourhoods worth considering.
City centre near Tivoli is the most convenient option. You’re walking distance from the train station, Tivoli, Strøget, and most of the main sights. Hotels here aren’t cheap — this is Copenhagen, after all — but you’ll save on transport and the kids won’t have far to walk when they hit the wall at 5pm. Which they will.
Vesterbro is just west of the centre and our top pick for families. It’s got a slightly quieter feel, good restaurants and cafés, a lovely park (Søndermarken), and it’s still only a ten-minute walk to Tivoli. Some really good apartment rentals here too, which helps with the food budget if you can self-cater for breakfast and lunch.
Nørrebro is the hip neighbourhood. Independent shops, good coffee, a younger crowd. It’s a bit further out but well connected by bus and metro. Great if you want a more local feel and don’t mind a short commute to the centre each day.
Practical Bits
Language: Everyone speaks English. Everyone. We didn’t encounter a single person who couldn’t help us in English. The kids tried saying “tak” (thank you) and the Danes found it charming.
Safety: Copenhagen feels very safe. We let our nine-year-old walk a few steps ahead on quiet streets without worrying, which isn’t something we’d do in every city. Obviously use normal common sense, but the general atmosphere is calm and family-friendly.
Public transport: The metro is modern, clean, and runs 24 hours. Buses are reliable. Everything is easy to navigate with children, including pushchairs and tired legs.
Weather: Unpredictable. We went in June and had two gorgeous sunny days and two grey drizzly ones. Pack layers, a rain jacket, and hope for the best. Even on the grey days the city is lovely — you just spend more time in museums and bakeries. There are worse fates.
Pushchairs: The city is flat and well-paved. Pushchair-friendly throughout. Lifts at metro stations, ramps everywhere. No issues at all.
Is Copenhagen Worth It With Kids?
Yes. Without hesitation. It’s expensive — there’s no pretending otherwise — but it’s also clean, safe, easy, beautiful, and packed with things that children genuinely enjoy rather than things they’re dragged around while adults pretend to be interested in contemporary art. Tivoli alone is worth the flight. The cycling is a revelation. The food, once you know where to look, is excellent.
We came home tired, a bit poorer, and completely sold on it. The kids have asked to go back twice already. We’re not saying no.