Overview:

Art galleries have never been particularly child friendly, or even interesting for children. In Copenhagen, this problem has been addressed and corrected. Many attractions are family oriented, and most contain a special area of interest to children. Copenhagen is a perfect city for visiting children.

No trip to Copenhagen would be complete without a visit to Tivoli (it's open from mid April to mid September). Right in the middle of town, Tivoli offers both the fun of the fair, the peace and tranquility of a park and the ambience of the many open air cafes, restaurants and bars. It's a real wonderland for children of all ages, with its marooned pirate ship, roller coaster rides, shooting galleries, and the Valhala Castle, home of The Nordic God, Odin, who welcomes children to the Valhala Restaurant.

For more rides and amusements, just out of town lies Bakken, (open from late March to late August, with free admission). A well established pleasure park situated on the wooded outskirts of Dyrehaven. The child friendly restaurant is the perfect place to relax after Bakken's notorious roller coaster.

As a visitor with children in Copenhagen it's not difficult to keep both yourself and them entertained. There are now many children friendly museums, where it's designed to be interesting both for you and the kids. The National Museum for example features a special children's section.

National Gallery's (Statens Museum for Kunst) new Children's Gallery. The idea behind the new addition of the art museum is to teach children the values in art, but on their own terms. Featuring selected original works from the permanent collections, workshops and a theater, the Children's Gallery gives children an insight into various creative processes.

For the more scientifically minded there's the Experimentarium, a collection of hands-on installations and exhibitions demonstrating the wonders of natural science. Crazy mirrors, water wheels, computer rooms, logic puzzles, and so on.

The Kids´ Pavillion is for children aged 3-6. Continuing the scientific theme, there's the Tycho Brahe Planetarium. In it's impressive building at the end of the city's string of lakes, the Planetarium boasts an Omnimax theatre, which projects a hemispherical image within its dome. As you sit in the reclining seats, it's impossible not to physically experience the movie; be it an underwater safari or a trip on a roller coaster.

Copenhagen is also the proud owner of a major Zoo. Probably the most popular are the Monkey House, Children's Zoo and the Night Zoo where day is turned into night. Just outside the city lies

Denmark's Aquarium with it's spectacular tropical and sea-water landscape tanks filled with fish and aquatic mammals from all over the world.

If you take one of the Water Buses, you can hop off at Langelinie for a closer look at the grand cruise liners moored there and the Little Mermaid.

A spectacular trip along the North coast leads to Lousiana Museum of Modern Art. Situated right on the coast, the gardens, beach and the special children's house, make it an ideal destination.

A perfect way to round off the day could be a visit to Vandkulturhuset in DGI-town, Copenhagen's new sports and cultural centre. Vandkulturhuset includes a new swimming pool with lots of fun for children: young and old. Take a swim in the pool formed as a super-ellipse, play in the children' s pool or the water park with diving and climbing areas, or relax in hot water baths with spa, etc.

Among Copenhagen's many parks, Frederiksberg Have is particularly suitable for children. It's a park for football, rounders, kites and general fun. There's even a boat trip around the park's canal system. In the center of town are: Kongens Have (Rosenborg Castle) and the Botanic Gardens. They are peaceful places to take an ice-cream or a hot dog from one of the street stalls. Close to the international Football Stadium is another park, Fælledparken, with its outdoor pavilion café and wide open spaces.

Attractions:

Bakken Amusement Park Dyrehavevej 62, Klampenborg 39-63-73-00 Daily 1pm-midnight Closed late Aug to late Mar S-tog: Klampenborg train from the Central Railroad Station to the Klampenborg station (about a 20-minute ride); then walk through the Deer Park or take a horse-drawn cab Free admission On the northern edge of Copenhagen, about 7 1/2 miles from the city center, this amusement park was created years ago. It's a local favorite, featuring roller coasters, dancing, the tunnel of love, and a merry-go-round. Open-air restaurants are plentiful, as are snack bars and ice-cream booths. Proceeds from the amusements support this unspoiled natural preserve. There are no cars allowed: only bicycles and horse-drawn carriages.

Denmark's Aquarium Strandvejen, in Charlottenlund Fort Park, Charlottenlund 39-62-32-83 Mar-Oct, daily 10am-6pm; Feb, Mon-Fri 10am-4pm, Sat-Sun 10am-5pm S-tog: Line C to Charlottenlund. Bus: 6 Admission charged. Opened in 1939 north of Copenhagen along the Øresund coast, this is one of the most extensive aquariums in Europe. Its large tanks are famous for their decoration. Hundreds of salt- and freshwater-species are exhibited. One tank houses piranha from South America.

Eskperimentarium (Hands-On Science Center) Tuborg Havnevej 7, Hellerup 39-27-33-33 Daily 10am-5pm S-tog: Hellerup or Svanemøllen. Bus: 6, 21, or 23 Admission Charged; free for children 3 and under Located in the old mineral water-bottling hall of Tuborg breweries, this museum has a hands-on approach to science.. Visitors use not only their hands but all of their senses as they participate in some 300 exhibitions and demonstrations divided into three themes: Humans, Nature, and The Interaction Between Humans and Nature. Visitors hear what all the world's languages sound like, make a wind machine blow up to hurricane force, check their skin to test how much sun it can take, dance in an inverted disco, or visit a slimming machine. Families can work as a team to examine enzymes, make a camera from paper, or test perfume. Exhibits change frequently.

Louis Tussaud Wax Museum H. C. Andersens Blvd. 22 33-11-89-00 Apr 29-Sept 13, daily 10am-11pm; Sept 14-Apr 28, daily 10am-6pm Bus: 1, 2, 16, 28, 29, or 41 Admission charged. Now a part of Tivoli, the Louis Tussaud Wax Museum is a major commercial attraction in Copenhagen. It features more than 200 wax figures--everybody from Danish kings and queens to Leonardo da Vinci. Children can visit the Snow Queen's Castle, or watch Frankenstein and Dracula guard the monsters and vampires.

Tycho Brahe Planetarium Gammel Kongevej 10 33-12-12-24 Daily 10:30am-9:30pm Bus: 1 or 14 Admission charged, depending on the show, for Omnimax films The marvel of the night sky, with its planets, galaxies, star clusters, and comets, is created by a star projector using the planetarium dome as a screen and space theater. Named after the famed Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe (1546-1601), the planetarium also stages Omnimax film productions. There's an information center and a restaurant.

Zoologisk Have (Copenhagen Zoo) Roskildevej 32, Frederiksberg 36-30-25-55 Daily 9am-6pm S-tog: Valby. Bus: 6, 18, 28, 39, or 550S Admission charged. With more than 2,000 animals from Greenland to Africa, this zoo boasts spacious new habitats for reindeer and musk oxen as well as an open roaming area for lions. Take a ride up the small wooden Eiffel Tower, or walk across the street and let your kids enjoy the petting zoo. The zoo is mobbed on Sundays.

Nationalmuseet 10, Ny Vestergade 45 33 13 44 11 This brilliantly restored 18th-century royal residence, contains some of the finest rooms in the city. It was extensively modernized in recent years. It has housed what is regarded as one of the best national museums in Europe since the 1930s. Extensive collections chronicle Danish cultural history from prehistoric to modern times . Included is one of the largest collections of Stone Age tools in the world. Egyptian, Greek, and Roman antiquities are on display. All exhibits have English captions.

The children's museum, with replicas of period clothing and "please touch" exhibits condenses the rest of the museum into something understandable to children 4- 12.

In addition to their special area, children enjoy the whole museum, as it is engaging throughout.

Louisiana - Museum of Modern Art 13, Gl. Strandvej 45 49 19 07 19 The elegant seaside town of Humlebæk, located 19 mi. north of Copenhagen, is home of this outstanding modern art museum famed for its stunning location and architecture as much as for its collection. It is surrounded by a large park. Housed in a 19th-century villa surrounded by dramatic views of the Øresund waters, the permanent collection includes modern American paintings and Danish paintings from the COBRA (a trend in northern European painting that took its name from its active locations, COpenhagen, BRussels, and Amsterdam) and constructivist movements. Paintings are displayed from several of Picasso's periods, as well as many from the Pop Art movement of the 1960's. Be sure to see the haunting collection of Giacomettis backdropped by picture windows overlooking the Sound.

In the gardens are sculptures by Calder, Henry Moore, Joan Miro, Max Ernst and Giacometti. The gardens are very popular with children, who also enjoy the special exhibit area called Bornehuset (The Children's House), which was designed just for them.