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Copenhagen with Kids

Copenhagen is a flat, compact capital where the distance between a family's first and last stop of the day is usually a twenty-minute bike ride. That flatness is the mechanism behind almost everything that makes it easy: kerb-separated cycle lanes with their own traffic signals, a driverless metro with a lift at every station, and a harbour clean enough to swim in from public jetties in the middle of the city. The attractions are close together too, with a nineteenth-century pleasure garden sitting immediately outside the main railway station. The trade-off is price — this is one of the most expensive cities in Europe for a family room and for eating out — and a summer that can turn wet for three days in a row, which matters in a city whose best assets are outdoors.

Best for ages
2+
Suggested stay
3–5 days
Best months
May–Sep
Daily budget
€310

Mid-range, family of four

Why Copenhagen works with children

  • A capital a child can cycle across

    Cycle lanes are separated from traffic by a kerb and have their own signals, so a family on rented bikes or a cargo bike never shares a lane with cars.

  • Swimming inside the city

    Free public harbour baths sit a few minutes from the centre, and a shallow, gently shelving beach park is a short metro ride away on Amager.

  • Rides next to the railway station

    The central pleasure garden mixes gentle rides for small children with a handful of bigger ones, so a tired family can walk out and back to the hotel.

  • A step-free metro that never closes

    Every station has a lift and trains run around the clock, which removes the usual pushchair-versus-stairs problem of an old European city.

Where to stay

Best areas in Copenhagen for families

4 areas cover most trips here; the difference is mainly a short first visit, walking everywhere versus bigger units, beach and airport access.

  • Indre By & Nyhavn

    Best for a short first visit, walking everywhere

    The old centre puts the pleasure garden, the canal boats and the pedestrian shopping street within walking distance of each other, at the highest room prices in the city and with late-night noise around the harbourfront bars.

  • Vesterbro & Islands Brygge

    Best for apartment stays and self-catering

    Residential blocks a few minutes' walk or ride from the centre, with supermarkets, relaxed family restaurants and the harbour bath on the Islands Brygge side.

  • Nørrebro & Østerbro

    Best for quieter, more local stays with playgrounds

    Park-heavy districts with strong playgrounds and cheaper eating, at the cost of a fifteen-minute ride or a metro hop into the sights.

  • Ørestad & Amager

    Best for bigger units, beach and airport access

    Modern apartment buildings on the metro line, minutes from the beach park and the airport, but with little street life in the evening.

Family hotel picks in Copenhagen

  • Apartment in Vesterbro or Islands Brygge
    Vesterbro / Islands BryggeMid-range

    Apartment in Vesterbro or Islands Brygge

    A two-bedroom apartment in these districts costs less than two central hotel rooms and adds the two things that change the daily budget in an expensive city: a kitchen for breakfast and a washing machine. Both areas are a ten-minute ride or a short metro hop from the centre, with supermarkets on the street and a harbour bath on the Islands Brygge side.

    • Kitchen and washing machine
    • Metro or S-train within 10 minutes
    • Supermarkets on the doorstep
    • Cycle hire and cargo bikes nearby

    Fitting a family in

    Two-bedroom units in these blocks typically sleep four to five, often with a sofa bed in the living room rather than a third bedroom.

    Watch out. Many of the older apartment blocks are walk-ups with a small lift or none at all, which is a real problem with a pushchair on a fourth floor — check the floor and the lift before booking. The streets immediately behind the central station are noisy late and less pleasant after dark than the rest of the district.

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  • Family room near Nørreport or the lakes
    Indre By / the lakesHigher-end

    Family room near Nørreport or the lakes

    Suits short stays where walking out of the door to the pleasure garden, the canals and the shopping street matters more than having a kitchen. The lakes edge is quieter than the harbourfront while still being inside walking distance of almost everything a first visit covers.

    • Walking distance to the central sights
    • Breakfast usually included, which is worth more than it sounds here
    • Metro and S-train interchange within a few minutes
    • Lifts standard in hotel buildings

    Fitting a family in

    Danish hotel doubles are often too small to take a third bed, so a designated family room, a room with a sofa bed, or two connecting rooms is the realistic configuration for four — and cots usually need reserving rather than requesting on arrival.

    Watch out. This is the most expensive accommodation in the country per night, and rooms are small for the price. Parking is charged separately and is rarely worth taking.

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  • Aparthotel in Ørestad or on Amager
    Ørestad / AmagerMid-range

    Aparthotel in Ørestad or on Amager

    Larger, newer units at a lower nightly rate, on the metro line that runs to both the airport and the city centre, and close to the shallow beach park — which makes it a practical base for a trip that mixes sightseeing with beach afternoons, or for a family arriving late and leaving early.

    • Kitchen or kitchenette in most units
    • Direct metro to the centre and the airport
    • Beach park within a short ride
    • Step-free access and lifts throughout

    Fitting a family in

    Purpose-built aparthotel units in this area commonly sleep four to six, with a separate bedroom and a sofa bed.

    Watch out. The district is modern, spread out and very quiet in the evening, with limited street life and few restaurants within walking distance — most evening meals mean cooking in or riding back into the city.

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All family stays in Denmark

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Things to do in Copenhagen with kids

  • Tivoli Gardens
    Theme parkBook ahead

    Tivoli Gardens

    Copenhagen

    A nineteenth-century pleasure garden in the middle of the city, immediately outside the main railway station, mixing gentle rides for small children with a few larger ones, gardens, free stage shows and a lot of places to eat.

    Ages
    2–14
    Time
    5h
    Adult, from
    €20

    Good to know. Admission covers the grounds and the shows only — rides need individual tickets or a wristband, and several carry a height minimum, so the line-up is worth reading before a child joins a queue. The garden runs in seasons with closed weeks between them, so it is not open all year. Evenings and weekends are the most crowded and the food inside is expensive even by Copenhagen standards.

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  • Den Blå Planet
    Animals

    Den Blå Planet

    Copenhagen

    Northern Europe's largest aquarium, on the waterfront at Kastrup, built as a spiral of tanks around an ocean basin with hammerhead sharks, a rainforest section and touch pools.

    Ages
    1–14
    Time
    2h 30m
    Adult, from
    €30

    Good to know. It is the default wet-day option for the whole city, so a rainy weekend or a Danish school holiday makes the walkways genuinely crowded and the touch pools hard to reach with a small child. The lighting is deliberately dim throughout, which some toddlers dislike, and it sits a metro ride plus a ten-minute walk from the centre.

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  • Copenhagen canal boat tour
    Water

    Copenhagen canal boat tour

    Copenhagen

    An hour-long open boat circuit from Nyhavn or Gammel Strand through the harbour and the older canals, passing the opera house, the royal palace and the little mermaid from the water.

    Ages
    2–16
    Time
    1h 15m
    Adult, from
    €15

    Good to know. Most boats are open or only partly covered, so wind and rain are felt, and several bridges are low enough that everyone is asked to stay seated and duck. There is no way off once it starts, which is worth weighing with a child who will not sit for an hour. The scheduled harbour bus does a similar waterfront run on an ordinary transport ticket for a fraction of the fare.

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  • Experimentarium
    Museum

    Experimentarium

    Copenhagen

    A large hands-on science centre north of the centre at Hellerup, with a soap-bubble hall, a climbing pipe tower, a human-body floor and a few hundred exhibits children are meant to operate rather than read.

    Ages
    4–14
    Time
    3h 30m
    Adult, from
    €30

    Good to know. The exhibits reward children who can read an instruction, so under-fives get much less from a full-price ticket. It is entirely indoors and fills up on wet days and in school holidays, when the queues for the popular exhibits are long. Reaching it means a train or bus out of the centre plus a short walk.

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Getting around Copenhagen

A single fare system covers the metro, S-trains, buses and the harbour buses, and the harbour buses are ordinary public transport rather than an excursion — a cheap boat ride down the waterfront on a normal ticket. The Copenhagen Card bundles transport with entry to most paid attractions including the pleasure garden, and pays off only for a family visiting two ticketed places a day; a transport-only city pass is the better buy for a slower trip. The centre is walkable end to end, so the real reasons to use transport are the aquarium, the beach and the science centre.

Copenhagen tips for families

  • Money & costs

    Do the arithmetic on the city card

    The all-in card only beats individual tickets for families doing two paid attractions a day, and children's cards are priced separately. A trip built around the pleasure garden, a beach afternoon and a canal boat is cheaper on single tickets plus a transport pass.

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  • With kids

    Harbour swimming is normal, but it is deep water

    The public harbour baths are free and clean, and locals treat them as a swimming pool. Several have no shallow end at all, lifeguard cover is seasonal rather than constant, and the baths close after heavy rain when the sewers overflow — check the day's status before promising a swim.

  • Money & costs

    Garden entry and rides are two purchases

    Admission to the central pleasure garden buys the grounds, the gardens and the shows. Rides need either individual tickets or a wristband, and for children who will ride repeatedly the wristband is usually the cheaper of the two.

  • Getting around

    Leave the car out of the city entirely

    Street parking runs on paid zones that are dearest in the centre, and hotel parking is charged on top of the room. A family driving in from Jutland does better to park at a station outside the centre and ride in.

Copenhagen with kids: common questions

How many days do you need in Copenhagen with kids?
Three to four. That covers the pleasure garden, the aquarium, a canal boat and a beach or harbour-bath afternoon without a day so full that nobody wants to walk. A fifth day allows a train trip up the coast.
Is Copenhagen walkable with a pushchair?
Yes, more so than most European capitals. The centre is flat, pavements are wide, and every metro station has a lift. The awkward parts are the cobbled lanes around the old centre and the narrow stairwells in older apartment buildings.
Is it safe to cycle in Copenhagen with children?
The lanes are kerb-separated from traffic and have their own signals, which makes it far calmer than cycling in most cities. Rush hour on the main arteries is fast and busy, so a family is better off riding mid-morning or using a cargo bike for younger children.
Can children swim in Copenhagen harbour?
Yes, at the designated public baths, and the water is tested and clean. Some baths are deep-water only with no shallow section, and they close temporarily after heavy rainfall.

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