Book nowBook Tivoli tickets for Thursday and the Rosenborg slot online: summer days sell out, and online tickets skip the queue.
Hours, prices and coordinates are from general knowledge; re-check them on the official sites the week before you fly.
Ten days of jazz across the city, with hundreds of free concerts in squares, parks and on the harbour, once a year in early July.
Dates from general knowledge — check the official site
Three days: a castle and Tivoli on arrival, boats, guards and a harbour swim on the full day, a spire and the canals before the flight.
Land at 10:00, bags at the hotel by 11:00. The Round Tower's ramp and Rosenborg's crown jewels, a rest, then the evening at Tivoli.
🗺 The whole day in Google Maps →card, tap in15 min
The metro station is at the end of Terminal 3. Buy tickets in the DOT app or at the machines with a bank card; two children under 12 ride free with each adult on a paid ticket.
The reception keeps the bags until the rooms are ready.
Two glass market halls of food stalls by Nørreport station, opened in 2011.
100–150 kr each
Metro to Nørreport or 20 minutes on foot. Smørrebrød, open rye sandwiches, for the adults; the children usually go for the fish cakes or pizza slices. Eat at the tables between the halls.
A 17th-century observatory tower built by King Christian IV, climbed by a wide spiral ramp a horse and carriage once drove up.
about 40 kr adults, 10 kr children
Ten minutes' walk. The ramp is 209 metres round and gentle; children run it. Halfway there is a glass floor over the tower's hollow core. From the top, the rooftops and spires of the old town. Forty minutes.
Christian IV's 1606 castle in the King's Garden, where the Danish crown jewels are kept in the vaulted treasury.
about 140 kr adults, children freeday's highlighttimed ticket
Five minutes north. Book a timed ticket online. The children will want the treasury first: down the steps to the crowns, swords and the jewels, behind guarded doors.
Upstairs, the Long Hall has the coronation thrones guarded by three silver lions. Afterwards the King's Garden has a playground and lawns. Allow an hour and a half.
The second-oldest amusement park in the world, opened in 1843 in the middle of the city, with gardens, a wooden rollercoaster of 1914 and thousands of lamps at dusk.
entry about 165 kr; ride pass extrabook ahead
Metro M3 to Rådhuspladsen. Entry and the ride pass are separate; for children who ride a lot, the pass beats single tickets. The wooden Rutschebanen takes riders over 1.2 m. Eat inside, from hot dogs to tablecloths; open until 23:00, lamps on after 21:30.
A canal boat from Nyhavn, the noon changing of the guard and the Little Mermaid. Swimming at the Islands Brygge harbour bath, and street food at Reffen.
🗺 The whole day in Google Maps →Nyhavn is the 17th-century canal of painted gabled houses; the open boats tour the harbour and the canals of Christianshavn.
about 140 kr adults, 70 kr children1 hour
Two minutes from the hotel. Boats leave from the head of Nyhavn every half-hour; some bridges are so low everyone ducks. Sit at the back, where the spray does not reach. An hour.
The four rococo palaces of the Danish royal family round an octagonal square, where the Royal Guard changes every day at noon.
free
Ten minutes north along the water. The guards march in at 12:00 from Rosenborg; stand by the statue in the middle of the square for the best view. Twenty minutes. Look up: if the flag flies, the Queen or King is home.
120–180 kr each
Cafés along Store Kongensgade and by the Kastellet fortress, a middle option with sandwiches and burgers. Or buy a picnic at a supermarket and eat on Kastellet's grass ramparts.
The 1913 bronze of Hans Christian Andersen's Little Mermaid on a rock by the harbour, smaller than most people expect.
freecrowds
Walk round the star-shaped ramparts of Kastellet, then down to the shore. The statue is 1.25 metres tall and sits close to the path. Fifteen minutes.
A free open-air pool built in the harbour itself, with a children's pool, diving towers and lifeguards in summer.
freewater about 19°C
Harbour bus or metro to Islands Brygge, 25 minutes. The children's pool is shallow and fenced; lifeguards watch in summer. Changing rooms are basic; bring towels and a picnic blanket for the lawn behind. Two hours.
A street-food market of about 50 stalls in containers on the old shipyard island of Refshaleøen.
120–180 kr each
Harbour bus 991/992 from Nyhavn, 15 minutes. Everyone picks a different stall; tables and deckchairs by the water. Free jazz-festival concerts may be on nearby. Harbour bus back.
The outside spiral of Our Saviour's spire, lunch on Christianshavn's canals, the LEGO store on Strøget. Bags at 16:00 and the metro to the airport.
🗺 The whole day in Google Maps →A baroque church of 1696 whose black-and-gold spire has a staircase winding round the outside to the top, 90 metres up.
about 65 kr adults, children lessday's highlight400 steps, exposed
One stop on the M2 to Christianshavn, then five minutes. Inside the tower the stairs are narrow and wooden; the last 150 steps wind round the outside of the spire, narrowing to the golden globe.
Children must be with an adult; the railing is high, but it sways in wind and closes in rain or storm. Go at opening, before the queue. Allow an hour.
A 17th-century quarter built on reclaimed islands, with a canal of houseboats down the middle.
free
Walk along Christianshavns Kanal from the church to the harbour, 15 minutes, past the houseboats and old warehouses.
150–220 kr each
Cafés and restaurants along the canal and on Torvegade, a middle option with burgers, smørrebrød and children's plates.
LEGO's flagship shop on Strøget, the long pedestrian shopping street; LEGO was invented in Denmark in 1932.
free to enter
Metro back to Kongens Nytorv and ten minutes along Strøget. Building tables and a wall of bricks sold by the cup. On a July Saturday the street is crowded; hold hands.
50–70 kr each
Ice cream in a waffle with a flødebolle, a chocolate-covered marshmallow on top, the Danish way. Sit on the quay edge.
The metro takes a contactless bank card at the readers on the platforms, and children ride free with an adult.
Buy tickets in the DOT Tickets app or at the machines, both with a bank card. Each adult on a paid ticket may take two children under 12 free. The yellow harbour buses, 991 and 992, are on the same tickets. Inspectors fine 750 kr without a valid ticket.
Copenhagen's bike lanes are busy and fast. Keep the children off them, look both ways before crossing one, and never stand in a lane to take a photo.
Eating out is expensive; street-food markets and bakeries keep it down. Danes eat dinner early, from 17:30. Tap water is excellent and free. Tipping is not expected; service is included.
Denmark is nearly cashless: cards and phones are taken everywhere, even at the ice-cream kiosk. You do not need to change money.
For a family of four, 3 days and 2 nights in Copenhagen, staying by Kongens Nytorv. Covers the hotel, transport, Tivoli, tickets, the boat, every meal and a buffer. Flights are not included.
| Item | Economy | Comfort | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Family room by Kongens Nytorv, 2 nights | 4,000 kr | 6,400 kr | 2,000–3,200 kr a night for four |
| Metro and harbour buses | 300 kr | 400 kr | Children ride free with an adult |
| Tivoli entry and ride passes | 1,300 kr | 1,600 kr | Entry for four, passes for the children |
| Round Tower, Rosenborg, Our Saviour's | 560 kr | 560 kr | Children free or cheap |
| Canal boat | 420 kr | 420 kr | |
| Lunches | 1,500 kr | 2,200 kr | 3 lunches for four |
| Dinners | 1,200 kr | 2,000 kr | Tivoli and Reffen |
| Ice cream, snacks, coffee | 500 kr | 700 kr | |
| Buffer | 600 kr | 1,200 kr | LEGO bricks by the cup |
| Total | 10,380 kr | 15,480 kr |
Realistic figure: About 12,000–13,500 kr for four (€1,600–1,800), without flights
No cash is needed: cards and phones work everywhere, including market stalls and kiosks.
All of them: the WayFriend guide library.
