Our First Family City Break to Copenhagen with Two Young Kids
At the end of April 2026, we took our very first city break as a family of four — me, my husband, our three-year-old daughter, and our eleven-month-old son. We chose Copenhagen, hoping for a relaxed but family-friendly adventure, and honestly, it exceeded our expectations.
We’d always wondered whether city breaks with such young children would feel more stressful than enjoyable… but Copenhagen completely changed our minds.
Day 1 – Arrival in Copenhagen
We flew from Heathrow Terminal 5 with British Airways. The flight was only around 1 hour 40 minutes, which made travelling with little ones much more manageable.
Once we landed, we took the metro from the airport to a stop just a few minutes walk from our accommodation, Eric Vökel Boutique Apartments - Copenhagen Suites. The metro system was surprisingly easy to navigate, even with a pushchair and luggage. Copenhagen’s public transport is incredibly well designed for families — there’s loads of space for bikes and prams, which makes complete sense once you see the city.
Bikes are absolutely everywhere in Copenhagen!
The cycling culture is honestly one of the first things you notice. Wide cycle lanes run alongside most roads, and locals cycle everywhere. It gives the city such a calm, outdoorsy feel.
After settling in, we kept things simple for our first evening. My husband popped out to a nearby supermarket while I stayed with the kids, and we cooked dinner at the apartment before having an early night.
Day 2 – Science, Ball Pits & Food Hall Disappointments
Our first full day was packed.
We headed to Experimentarium, Copenhagen’s famous science centre. We took the overground train and then walked about twenty minutes from the station. It was all very straightforward, with plenty of signs along the way.
Experimentarium was brilliant for children.
Spread across three floors, it was full of hands-on activities involving water, movement, light, and problem-solving. There was plenty to keep our three-year-old entertained, and even the baby enjoyed looking around at all the sensory activities.
One of the highlights was the massive rooftop playground, where we stopped for a picnic lunch in the sunshine.
The only downside was that there were quite a few school groups visiting that day. Some sections involved team games, so we couldn’t really participate with the younger children. Still, we easily spent the entire morning and lunchtime there.
Afterwards, we travelled across the city to IKONO Copenhagen.
IKONO was… chaotic fun!
There were ten immersive rooms (although one was closed when we visited), each filled with completely random experiences. Highlights included:
A giant ball pit with a slide
A room full of giant balloons
A light-drawing room where you could create glowing artwork for photos
A confetti room with huge fans blowing everything around
A beautifully designed glass maze
Some rooms felt more interactive than others, but overall it was a fun way to spend an hour with young children.
For dinner, we tried TorvehallerneKBH after hearing lots of recommendations online. Unfortunately, it wasn’t quite what we expected. We imagined a huge variety of ready-to-eat food stalls, but many of the vendors actually sold ingredients and produce for cooking at home.
We ended up getting burgers, which were delicious — but also very expensive.
Day 3 – An Underwhelming Museum and a Beautiful Garden Full of Rides!
The next morning, we walked to the National Museum of Denmark because we’d heard it had a great children’s section.
We arrived early, so we continued another five minutes to see Amalienborg Palace first. Compared to Buckingham Palace, it felt much more understated, but we did get to see some beautiful horse-drawn carriages passing through the square.
The museum itself wasn’t quite what I expected.
It had a very clean, minimalist Scandinavian style, and at times it almost felt like the children’s displays were too neat to touch! There were dress-up areas, small play spaces, a little boat, toy swords, and historical displays showing how people used to live.
My daughter became particularly attached to a doll sitting in an old-fashioned pram — convincing her to leave it behind was a challenge!
The rest of the museum was lovely to walk around, with exhibitions including Egyptian artefacts and artistic installations. My husband and I are huge fans of the TV show Vikings, so we were slightly disappointed there wasn’t more Viking-related content.
After a couple of hours, we walked to the iconic Tivoli Gardens.
Before going in, we made the mistake of stopping at the LEGO Store Copenhagen to build custom LEGO mini figures.
Never again.
Trying to supervise a three-year-old in a packed LEGO shop was one of the most stressful moments of the trip — although my husband was delighted with the final creations.
Tivoli Gardens, however, was absolutely magical.
Even if you aren’t interested in rides, it’s worth visiting just to wander around. The gardens are beautifully designed, with flowers, lakes, little cafés, and a lovely atmosphere throughout.
We had another picnic lunch in the sunshine before attempting some rides.
Ride passes are separate from entry tickets, and individual rides were expensive. We decided to buy a ride pass just for our daughter and pay individually for ourselves when needed.
Thankfully we did, because she only ended up wanting to do around five rides altogether.
The best one was definitely “The Flying Trunk,” although holding onto a baby while sliding around inside a moving ride nearly gave me a heart attack!
For dinner, we visited the nearby Tivoli Food Hall, which was much better for actual meal options than our previous food hall experience. There were loads of different cuisines available, although seating was limited.
We ended up having delicious gyros before heading back for the evening.
Day 4 – Pandas, Polar Bears & a Baby Elephant
Our final full day was spent at Copenhagen Zoo.
We caught a bus from near our apartment, and once again the public transport system was incredibly easy to use.
The zoo itself was fantastic.
We saw animals we’d never seen before in other zoos, including polar bears and pandas, and one of the highlights was spotting a baby elephant.
There were plenty of places to eat, although we’d packed lunch again to save money. We stayed for most of the day before heading back to the apartment to cook dinner, pack our bags, and prepare for the flight home.
Final Thoughts on Copenhagen with Kids
One of the best decisions we made was buying the Copenhagen Card. We bought three cards for the adults and our daughter (the baby travelled free), and it gave us access to attractions as well as public transport.
The app was incredibly simple to use — just scan and enter, with no need to pre-book attractions.
Overall, Copenhagen felt:
Clean
Safe
Family-friendly
Easy to navigate
Full of kind, helpful people
The cycling culture was one of our favourite things about the city, although you definitely need to watch out for bikes when crossing roads. Cyclists are very serious about staying out of their lanes!
Yes, Copenhagen is expensive. Food, attractions, and drinks all added up quickly. But despite that, we’d absolutely recommend it for families — even with very young children.
Most importantly, the trip gave us confidence.
Before this holiday, we weren’t sure whether city breaks with two small children were really possible without complete chaos. But Copenhagen proved they absolutely are.
And now we’re already thinking about where our next family city break might be.
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