Copenhagen with kids: National Museum or a short canal boat trip?

For a flexible indoor day with children who enjoy history, start with the National Museum of Denmark. Under-18s enter free, so buy adult tickets rather than multiplying the adult price by the whole family. For an outdoor outing with a fixed finish, consider the one-hour electric canal tour. However, the museum’s dedicated Children’s Museum is closed for renovation until summer 2027, according to its exhibition page. Do not book expecting the Viking play ship or the hands-on children’s galleries to be open.

Make one activity the anchor

Copenhagen with children works better as a day with room to stop than as a race through tickets. My suggested plan is one main activity, lunch and an optional second outing. This is a planning suggestion, not a promise that every child will manage both. A child who wants to run around may prefer a different day entirely while the Children’s Museum is shut.

For the museum, let each child pick a subject rather than asking them to follow the whole history of Denmark. For the boat, the decision is whether everyone is comfortable staying aboard for the full trip. Leaving a gallery early is different from wanting to get off halfway through a cruise.

National Museum: control the pace and the lunch break

The adult National Museum ticket starts at €18.06, with 4.5/5 from 1,240 reviews. It is an admission ticket for exploring independently, not a guided family tour. The Viking exhibition gives history-minded children a concrete subject to look for; do not confuse it with the closed Children’s Museum.

According to the museum’s visitor information, admission is free below 18. You may bring food and use the lunch room. Your own pram or pushchair stays outside the exhibitions; the museum provides loan pushchairs. That makes the choice more specific for parents: plan for transferring your child, rather than assuming a nap can continue in your own buggy throughout the galleries.

The museum opens daily from April to October, 10:00 AM–5:00 PM. From November to March it opens Tuesday–Sunday at those hours and closes on Mondays. It also closes on 24, 25 and 31 December. These are the museum’s published hours, so a winter Monday needs a different plan.

See adult tickets for the National Museum

Electric boat: an hour together, with boarding to consider

GoBoat’s shared guided outing leaves from Islands Brygge 10 and returns there. The booking page allows nine passengers, gives the duration as one hour and asks you to arrive 15 minutes early. Commentary is in English and Danish. If your children understand neither language, choose it for the boats and buildings rather than expecting them to follow the stories.

The starting price is €26.62 per person, with 4.7/5 from 1,644 reviews. Drinks and snacks are on sale, and GoBoat’s FAQ also allows your own food and drinks on board as long as other guests are not bothered. Blankets can be borrowed on arrival; a heated seat is an optional upgrade.

GoBoat’s Harbor Tours FAQ says staff provide children’s and babies’ life jackets, with sizes down to 5 kg. Confirm the fit for your child before booking; that figure is an equipment size, not an age limit. The operator says passengers must be able to get into and out of the boat and that there are no boarding ramps. It offers a chain lock for securing a pushchair nearby. GoBoat has no toilets of its own at Islands Brygge; the FAQ points to Islands Brygge Kulturhus, also in winter, and asks you to go before departure. With small children, do that before you reach the boat 15 minutes ahead of departure.

See departures for the electric canal tour

Spend on the part your children want

Do not buy a city pass purely because children travel with you: the museum already admits under-18s free. Compare the adults’ actual paid plans in our bus, boat and Copenhagen Card guide. For a rides-focused day, use the separate Tivoli ticket guide.

Choose the National Museum for a flexible history visit, with the children’s-gallery closure understood. Add the boat only when the full hour, language and boarding arrangements suit your family; buying both is not the goal of the day.