4-Days of Family-Friendly Travel in Copenhagen

If you arrive in Copenhagen mid-day, it's a great city to hit the ground running. With so many neighborhoods to explore, you can truly just walk out your door and start exploring.

The quintessential and probably most icon area in Copenhagen to visit is Nyhavn (pronounced Newhaven). The colorful buildings that line the canal are just as beautiful in pictures as they are in photos. I would suggest grabbing a bite to eat along the walkway, enjoying a cocktail and people watching. We stopped for lunch at Il Rosmarino for a lovely Italian influenced lunch. Views of the waterfront can be seen from every seat outside.

For dinner, we ate The Union Kitchen, just blocks away. If you have time and/or energy after lunch, I recommend walking through Nyhavn and venturing off to the waterfront area behind the iconic street or heading to the center square, Kongens Nytorv to go shopping for a bit.

Copenhagen is rich in history and the architecture throughout the city tells a vibrant story. If you love to learn about royal history and architecture, there are a few places I would recommend visiting.

If you love castles, be sure to check out Rosenborg Castle. Walking distance from most places in the city, you can explore many floors of this Danish Castle and see huge collections of royal belongings Rosbenborg Castle is located in Kongens Have Park, which is a beautiful green space to spend some time. You can wander through the lovely gardens around the castle. Just be sure to buy tickets in advance and don't skip the basement — it's where they keep all the jewels.

If you want to see more gardens and outdoor spaces, not far from the castle you will find the Copenhagen Botanical Gardens. After the Castle you can head over to Round Tower, for a small fee you can walk up to the top and take in some great city views. 

For lunch we went casual and stopped at Gasoline Grill, which offered a great burger. In and around this area there are endless options to eat. Others on our short list were Atelier September and Esmée. 

When we travel we try to immerse ourselves in local culture and on this trip, we did our first art class. We are not artistic people but it was so fun to work with a local artist and take a class in printmaking. This class took place in the neighborhood of Nørrebro in a small art gallery. This two-hour class sent us home with our own art piece. 

If you love pottery, be sure to stop by the local pottery shop, Studio Arhoj, where local artists are creating beautiful and reasonably priced pieces for purchase. If you have energy left in your day, be sure to wander through the market of TorvehallerneKBH. Fresh food, local eats and sweet treats can all be found here. Not to mention you get to be among the locals, who frequent the market.

After a long day of taking in Copenhagen, a place that I highly recommend for dinner is Baest, considered to be among the top 5 pizza places in the world — it is absolutely worth making reservations weeks in advance. Every bite was memorable. After dinner, if you still have room, walk across the street to Brus to enjoy some local beers. There is plenty of seating inside and out!

After history, art and lots of walking, we wanted day three in Copenhagen to be all about the teens — a chance to let loose and have some fun.

Our day started out with a boat ride thanks to GoBoat. We took the ferry on a short ride across the river to Islands Brygge. GoBoat is a great way to get out onto the canals and avoid the big tour boats. You can rent a boat for as little as an hour or a few hours. You can bring your own food and even some alcoholic drinks to enjoy. They will provide you a map of the canals and you can venture off to see a side of Copenhagen from the water. It's a very family friendly, relaxed way to explore. If you get great weather like we did, you can soak up some sunshine and putter through the many canals of Copenhagen. 

After our boat ride, we tried to continue the fun so we headed to Tivoli — a big amusement park right in the city. We all exclaimed how gorgeous the grounds were inside this park, unlike most parks we see in the states. We purchased our tickets online and had no line getting in. If you can go on a weekday, I strongly recommend you do so. There were no crowds on a Thursday afternoon.

In this park, there is something for everyone: rides, games, dining, gardens and more. Each of us throughly enjoyed this day and since it stays light out until 10:30 in the summer, the park actually closes before dark. The park also hosts outdoor concerts if you want to stay until close. We did eat dinner in the park on this evening, which is a great option because there are so many cuisines to choose from.

We were heading home on day four but had a little time in the morning. With the sun shining, we decided to take a walk down the waterfront area of Langelinie to see the Little Mermaid statue for ourselves. This waterfront offers great views, boats and locals just enjoying a warm summer day. You can grab a coffee, take pictures or take a quick bike ride in the area. 

After a nice walk we made it to the statue, where many had the same idea. You will find crowds there but if you have your heart set on taking a picture with the statue, your wait won't be too long. On your way back, stroll slowly through the park to see gardens, statues and more green spaces of Copenhagen. It's a great activity if you have to spend the rest of your day in airports.

In conclusion, we all agreed that Copenhagen was a favorite spot on our European summer tour. This city is inviting, friendly and easy to navigate. We also couldn't help but notice and appreciate how clean Copenhagen is. They are very environmentally focused, they work hard to save our planet by encouraging electric cars, the use of bicycles to go everywhere and many resources for recycling. If you want to explore Europe, Copenhagen is a great city to start with — it's very walkable, everyone speaks English and we felt safe everywhere we went.