One of the questions that gets asked over and over again on social media are what are some suggestions of things to do with children in Copenhagen?
There are a tonne of things to do here in Copenhagen so I’m restricting myself to ten right now. I will update these posts as an occasional series. Especially as the Autumn holiday is now upon us, getting outside whenever possible is a great way to entertain the kids, burn off some energy and return feeling (hopefully) tired but refreshed so today I’m concentrating on the outdoor possibilities. Some of these are quite expensive, most are free, choose what your budget and children are most likely to be interested in!
Also, make sure that you remember hats, gloves, decent boots and waterproof clothing (jackets and trousers) and/or a flyvedragt (literally a flight suit) the iconic Scandinavian outdoors wear for kids.
- Your first port of call should probably be this map from the Nature Agency. Denmark doesn’t have much “wilderness” but the natural environment is managed superbly well to give everyone access. There are wild camping spots, many free, outdoor fire pits and thousands of kilometres of beach walks and forest. On this little tool you can find natural play areas (highly recommended), beaches, canoe trails, mountain biking areas, snorkelling highlights, sailing anchorages and much, much more. Play with the tick boxes to optimise for your family’s preferences
- Vestamager Naturcenter – they do a brilliant job of providing activities, mostly for free, through the year. You can also rent (cargo) bikes, borrow fishing nets, buy firewood and other supplies at the centre. There is a great cafe, a superb play ground, including the famous viking ship with a tower of boulders in the centre. We often go for a full day, cook sausages for lunch at one of the firepits and leave reluctantly only when it starts to get dark. As an added bonus, the centre itself is only about 10 minutes walk from Vestamager metro station and there are kilometres of bike paths and even a bathing bridge.
- Legeplads – there are many excellent parks around the city – if the weather isn’t great try to find a “bemandede legeplads” – these often have an indoor component where there are games, toys and crafts as well. Our favourites are Hans Tavsens Plads and Skyttebanegade, but there are literally dozens – check out this map from Copenhagen Kommune.
- We spend so much time biking to work, school and social events it’s sometimes tricky to think about cycling as a leisure activity, but try getting the bikes out and exploring a few places outside your usual locations. Particular highlights for us recently are a tour of the Copenhagen harbour including the many impressive bridges, the “green path” (den grønne sti) from start to finish and a lovely ramble through Valby parken with its impressive flowers, play areas and avenues.
- Hareskov is another gem on the north side of the city – mountain bike trails for the older ones, lovely walks and a micro-brewery in the middle to keep the adults entertained. Like many of the forests in Denmark there re fire pits around the place where an open fire and a picnic are a perfect accompaniment to a Saturday afternoon walk.
- Beaches – there are many of these around the city and just because the weather isn’t great doesn’t mean that it’s not fun to go and have a dig around. Our favourite this summer was at Amagerstrand – also excellent for windsurfing, kayaking and sandyachting
- The Go-Boat was one of the highlights of the summer this year and even thoguh we’re into Autumn, it still one of our kids favourite activities. Pack a picnic, and ask for a fishing net to scoop up any litter you find – there is a reward! You might want to choose a relatively windstill day for this one though…
- If you are pining for a long Autumn walk you could do worse than the Jægersborg Dyrehaven where you are very lilely to see a magnificent herd of deer. Take bikes and go for a ride or take a running buggy round with you (as I did last year).
- The zoo in Copenhagen is pretty nice. It has a large play area for kids and the former polar bear enclosure has even been turned into a climbing wall. All through the winter last year there were braziers around the zoo and it was possible to buy dough to make twist bread. They have a wonderful programme of activites for adults and especially kids and if the weather is truly terrible check out Zoolab next to the tropical houses. We’ve never regretted our zoo cards.
- Finally what list would be complete without Tivoli, in all it’s Halloween glory? If you’ve never been, you should definitely experience it once…
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