Anyone know Denmark?

[originalbiglymavis]

Planning 2 weeks in the summer for family hols. Any tips? Love museums, countryside, sightseeing, history, Lego...

How old are your children? Staying on working farms is quite popular. The area called Mols and eastwards to Ebeltoft is pretty, gently rolling hills with safe white sand beaches.

Camping and outdoorsy activities are everywhere. Practically everybody under 60 is fluent in English and embraces smartphones and technology. Family-friendly attitude.

Ødense, where Hans Christian Andersen lived, is charming. And the original Legoland is terrific!

AirBnB will turn up lots of choices for summer houses to rent.

The second city, Aarhus, is the European city of culture 2017. www.aarhus2017.dk/en/programme/children-and-young-people/

www.visitdenmark.com/denmark/activities/family-holidays

We stayed in Billund last year just for legoland. It was brilliant. No queues in August as local kids back to school. I would like to see other parts of the country next time.

Lalandia next to LEGOLAND is great - similar to Centreparcs

We really liked Aarhus
Loads to do with kids in Copenhagen too

Like salsamummy we went to Billund in August & it was very calm & peaceful

Also the catering was the best we've ever encountered in a theme park - it was 15 years ago though so might have changed.

We liked Copenhagen a lot but found the rest of the country we drove through pretty flat & boring. (Also Danish drivers seemed to be surprisingly aggressive!)

My sister lives in Denmark so we've had a few trips there. I love Copenhagen and Lego land is great. I'd also recommend Givsgud zoo in Jutland. It's a brilliant zoo.
There are lovely beaches and sailing if you like that sort of thing.

@originalbiglymavis, did you go? Did you have fun? They didn't have much of a summer but I still managed to get sunburnt in Copenhagen on June 2nd!

Away from Legoland.... we spent 4 days in Copenhagen last year with the dc, who were then 5 and 8. I’d recommend -
Tivoli Gardens - big, old funfair in centre of Copenhagen. Lots of smallish rides, old fashioned vibe. Many restaurants, outdoor theatre. It is said this is where Walt Disney got the inspiration for Disneyland. Well worth a good half day. If not longer.

National Museum of Denmark - brilliant. Kids loved it. Real Viking longboat. The area especially for Kids is excellent for 3-8 years ish, but intriguing stuff throughout the museum, all info in English too.

Design Museum - I like design, not a designer though. Kids enjoyed it. Lots of chairs!

Boat Trip - great way of seeing the city. Ours took us up to the surprisingly small Little Mermaid statue.

Changing of the Guard at Kristiansbourg Palace. All the ceremony of Buckingham Palace, but not he scale. Kids walked round with the soldiers. Lots of fun.

All of the above are free (entrance to Tivoli Grds but not rides) with a Copenhagen card - from Tourist Info in the make station .

I agree with all the above. If you get a Copenhagen card, it's worth starting it halfway through the first day (e.g. 12pm). You can then use it on the last day, and arrive in the morning but stay all day. This was included in the Copenhagen card, and what we did on the last day.

It's worth getting the lonely planet guidebook, many of the historic sites- graveyards, stones etc are free and can be visited en route to other places. For example Lindhom Hoje

We also have enjoyed Skagen, Ebeltoft, Faarborg for Aero, Bornholm, Koge, Ribe, Aarhus, Helsingor. You can even pop over to Sweden for a a daytrip!
Our fav parts:
Moesgaard museum and Den Gamle By in Aarhus.
Roskilde viking ship
Sagnlandet Lejre
Egeskov Slot
Design museum in Copenhagen and Trapholt- you can sit in more chairs than you've ever dreamed of!
Tivoli
Jelling stones

If you have two weeks, you could spend a few days on Bornholm, an island in the Baltic where many Danes seem to have spent childhood holidays. It has white sand beaches, lots of self-catering accommodation, cycling’s very popular, lots of nice, forest walks, cute white-washed churches, fishing villages and boat trips. You can get there by ferry from Sweden, over the Oresund Bridge>Malmo>Ystad.

It’s a great country for a holiday.
We drove one year and loved it. The children were about 3, 11 and 13. We drove up from shuttle , stopped over night in Germany and crossed to Denmark by ferry. We stayed for a few days in Copenhagen and then drove over to Aarhus where we stayed in a lovely house by the sea. There are beautiful beaches and a lovely laid back atmosphere. I think we booked through inter home.
The journey was very manageable.

I've wondered about going to Copenhagen and Billund. How far is it to travel between the 2? If we flew, is there a train? How long would you stay at lalandia for? Is there Nything else to do I the area? Lots of questions!

It isn't far to travel between Copenhagen and Billund - as a child we used to drive there in a day.

Apparently you can get the train from Copenhagen to Vejle and then bus to Billund - takes 2.5 hours

www.visitbillund.dk/ln-int/billund/transport-and-billund

Public transport in Denmark is v easy, as is driving if you hire a car. Plus everyone (I would say under 80!) speaks fluent English.

Things we used to go to again and again - Legoland, Den Gamle By, beaches anywhere esp Fano, Tivoli, Roskilde viking ship and Jelling standing stones.

We went to Denmark this summer. Flew from Stansted to Copenhagen, spent 4 days there in an aibnb, hired a car and drove to billund for Legoland. We stayed 3 nights at Lalandia and then flew back from Billund airport to Stansted.

Could probably have done with an extra night in Billund - we wore ourselves out in Copenhagen and then wanted to spend all day in Legoland and do the swimming pool at Lalandia.

It was a great holiday though. Kids were 15, 12 and 9. The drive across denmark took 2-3 hours I think. I enjoyed the huge long bridge between islands! And then we went to see the viking place at Jelling.

Food was eye-wateringly expensive though. I think Denmark always was expensive, and then with the awful exchange rate on top!