This is a harbor city that runs on boats and bikes, and kids notice. Yellow water buses zig-zag between the banks, canal boats slip under low bridges, and S-trains rumble past a playground built like a station. These are the spots for the kid who stops to watch them all. Here's what we checked, from driving your own picnic boat through the canals to climbing aboard Viking ships in Roskilde.
GoBoat rents small electric picnic boats from Islands Brygge that you drive yourself, no license needed. Each seats up to 8 around a central picnic table.
The crew show you the tiller first, then you cruise the harbor at about 3 knots: south toward Sydhavnen, or north through the Christianshavn canals and around the Opera House. Bring a picnic or buy snacks at check-in. Dogs can ride along.
A guided harbor and canal loop on one of the low blue Netto boats, with commentary in Danish, English and German. The route passes Nyhavn's old houses and sailing ships, the former naval islands of Holmen, the Little Mermaid, Amalienborg Palace, the twisted spire of Our Saviour's Church on Christianshavn's Canal, and Christiansborg Palace.
From October to March the boats are glass-roofed and heated.
Havnebussen is the city's public water bus: yellow, battery-electric boats that zig-zag across the harbor between stops on both banks. Kids ride past Nyhavn, the Opera House and the Black Diamond library, and can hop off at Refshaleøen or Islands Brygge to explore.
Nyhavn is a 450-meter canal dug in the 1670s, lined with brightly painted 17th and 18th-century townhouses and moored historic wooden ships. Canal tour boats leave from the quay, and the Memorial Anchor stands at the harbor end. Hans Christian Andersen lived in three of the houses.
The quay is mostly restaurants and cafés, so it suits a stroll and a boat ride more than a long day out.
A train-themed playground in Grøndalsparken, on the north side of Femte Juni Plads and right up against the S-train line.
Younger kids play at the station and platform, climb on the rails and take the driver's seat of the train. Older kids get a tall climbing frame with balance sections, a slide and a view of the passing S-trains. A rubber mound gives parents a place to sit and watch.
Trafiklegepladsen is a staffed public playground built as a kid-sized town, with little roads, bike lanes, traffic lights, road signs, zebra crossings and a mini gas station. Kids practice cycling and traffic rules on loaner bikes and balance bikes, or on their own. A small fenced track with tricycles suits the youngest.
At the other end are swings, a climbing net and a big sandbox with buckets and toy cars.
A big museum of Danish technology, from the first cars to early computers. Kids get up close to the space capsule that carried Andreas Mogensen, the first Dane in space, then climb into a play capsule of their own. They can sit in plane and car cockpits and see the aircraft of inventor J.C.H. Ellehammer.
On weekends and holidays, kids build machines and rockets in the Spektakel workshop.
The museum tells Denmark's seafaring story in galleries below ground, built around a former dry dock beside Kronborg Castle. Interactive exhibits let kids play an 18th-century merchant, navigate with traditional tools and get a washable sailor's tattoo.
The Dream Ship play area is a toy 1950s motor ship where kids crawl through the engine room, load cargo, ring the engine-room telegraph and make their own boats from rope and sails.
The museum is built around five original Viking ships, sunk in Roskilde Fjord to block a sea route about a thousand years ago, then raised in one of Denmark's major excavations. A giant window frames the fjord behind them.
Kids can climb aboard two full-size Viking ships as a light-and-sound storm rolls across the walls, play in a Viking children's village, and watch boatbuilders at work on Museum Island.
This is a harbor city that runs on boats and bikes, and kids notice. Yellow water buses zig-zag between the banks, canal boats slip under low bridges, and S-trains rumble past a playground built like a station. These are the spots for the kid who stops to watch them all. Here's what we checked, from driving your own picnic boat through the canals to climbing aboard Viking ships in Roskilde.
GoBoat rents small electric picnic boats from Islands Brygge that you drive yourself, no license needed. Each seats up to 8 around a central picnic table.
The crew show you the tiller first, then you cruise the harbor at about 3 knots: south toward Sydhavnen, or north through the Christianshavn canals and around the Opera House. Bring a picnic or buy snacks at check-in. Dogs can ride along.
A guided harbor and canal loop on one of the low blue Netto boats, with commentary in Danish, English and German. The route passes Nyhavn's old houses and sailing ships, the former naval islands of Holmen, the Little Mermaid, Amalienborg Palace, the twisted spire of Our Saviour's Church on Christianshavn's Canal, and Christiansborg Palace.
From October to March the boats are glass-roofed and heated.
Havnebussen is the city's public water bus: yellow, battery-electric boats that zig-zag across the harbor between stops on both banks. Kids ride past Nyhavn, the Opera House and the Black Diamond library, and can hop off at Refshaleøen or Islands Brygge to explore.
Nyhavn is a 450-meter canal dug in the 1670s, lined with brightly painted 17th and 18th-century townhouses and moored historic wooden ships. Canal tour boats leave from the quay, and the Memorial Anchor stands at the harbor end. Hans Christian Andersen lived in three of the houses.
The quay is mostly restaurants and cafés, so it suits a stroll and a boat ride more than a long day out.
A train-themed playground in Grøndalsparken, on the north side of Femte Juni Plads and right up against the S-train line.
Younger kids play at the station and platform, climb on the rails and take the driver's seat of the train. Older kids get a tall climbing frame with balance sections, a slide and a view of the passing S-trains. A rubber mound gives parents a place to sit and watch.
Trafiklegepladsen is a staffed public playground built as a kid-sized town, with little roads, bike lanes, traffic lights, road signs, zebra crossings and a mini gas station. Kids practice cycling and traffic rules on loaner bikes and balance bikes, or on their own. A small fenced track with tricycles suits the youngest.
At the other end are swings, a climbing net and a big sandbox with buckets and toy cars.
A big museum of Danish technology, from the first cars to early computers. Kids get up close to the space capsule that carried Andreas Mogensen, the first Dane in space, then climb into a play capsule of their own. They can sit in plane and car cockpits and see the aircraft of inventor J.C.H. Ellehammer.
On weekends and holidays, kids build machines and rockets in the Spektakel workshop.
The museum tells Denmark's seafaring story in galleries below ground, built around a former dry dock beside Kronborg Castle. Interactive exhibits let kids play an 18th-century merchant, navigate with traditional tools and get a washable sailor's tattoo.
The Dream Ship play area is a toy 1950s motor ship where kids crawl through the engine room, load cargo, ring the engine-room telegraph and make their own boats from rope and sails.
The museum is built around five original Viking ships, sunk in Roskilde Fjord to block a sea route about a thousand years ago, then raised in one of Denmark's major excavations. A giant window frames the fjord behind them.
Kids can climb aboard two full-size Viking ships as a light-and-sound storm rolls across the walls, play in a Viking children's village, and watch boatbuilders at work on Museum Island.
