Copenhagen for The Family Explorers: a Friday-to-Monday weekend
Copper roofs, bicycles, and the long northern dusk.
A weekend the children will remember and the parents will survive. Short walks between real highlights, a boat or a tram instead of a museum queue, dinners at six, and room to run.
Friday: Andersen and the gardens
- Rådhuspladsen
The city hall square with Andersen's statue looking across at Tivoli; the children can find the dragon fountain while the grown-ups find tickets.
- Tivoli Gardens
The 1843 amusement garden by the station, with the Demon coaster, the carousel and the lamps coming on at dusk; check the season dates before booking.
- Tivoli Food Hall
Fifteen counters under one roof at the Tivoli gate, open year round: a hot dog for the children, a bowl of ramen for the parents.
Saturday: Fish, then the ferry
- Den Blå Planet
Northern Europe's largest aquarium, a whirlpool-shaped building by the sea with hammerhead sharks and a rainforest; metro to Kastrup, twenty minutes.
- Harbour bus to Refshaleøen
The yellow 991 ferry from Nyhavn past the Opera and the old shipyard cranes, for the price of a bus ticket; children ride on the deck.
- Sporvejen
Burgers served inside an old city tram parked in a quiet square; the children eat at the driver's seat and nobody complains about the noise.
Sunday: Experiments and the dragon
- Experimentarium
A science centre in the old Tuborg bottling plant, with a bubble room, a beach of water tables and the helix staircase; three hours, then a nap.
- Kongens Have playground
The dragon playground by the Rosenborg garden walls, a wooden dragon to climb and a puppet theatre in summer; the lawns are for running.
- Grød
Porridge as the whole menu: oats with caramel and apples for the children, risotto or dal for the parents, at a shared table in Nørrebro.
Monday: Up the ramp, down to lunch
- Rundetaarn
A 1642 tower with a spiral ramp instead of stairs, so the buggy goes to the top; the tsar rode up on horseback, the children will try to run.
- Statens Museum for Kunst
The national gallery with a children's workshop where they make their own art, free for under-eighteens; adults pay for the Matisse upstairs.
- Paludan Bogcafé
Lunch in a bookshop café of old shelves and big tables, with a children's plate, before the metro from Nørreport to the airport.