Copenhagen's most unusual playgrounds

Tårnlegepladsen (the Tower Playground)

Østerbro

Five of Copenhagen's famous towers, shrunk down to kid size and joined by rope bridges: the City Hall tower, the spire of Our Saviour's Church, the Round Tower, the dome of the Marble Church and the Stock Exchange with its twisted dragon-tail spire. Kids can play tunes on the church bells and peek out between the boards of the Marble Church dome. It won the Danish Design Award in 2012, and it's the one we'd send you to first.

It's staffed, with a playhouse, a sand area, a small artificial turf pitch and a separate scooter track nearby. The toilets and changing table stay open even when the staff have gone home, which is rarer than you'd think.

Fun thing to point out: the real Stock Exchange burned in 2024 and is being rebuilt, so this might be the only version of its dragon spire your kid gets to climb for a while.

Picnic tables

Yes

Trafiklegepladsen (the Traffic Playground)

Østerbro

A miniature city in the middle of Fælledparken, with little roads, traffic lights, road signs, crossings and even a gas station, where kids ride laps and learn to cycle like a Copenhagener. If your kid is under about 130 cm, they can borrow a bike and a helmet while the staff are on, and there are tricycles for the smallest ones in their own fenced corner. The staff will happily get a wobbly five-year-old going on two wheels.

There's a regular play area too (swings, a climbing net, a big sandbox), and you can bring a picnic to the tables and the covered area. No scooters, skateboards or roller skates on the roads.

Bring your own bike if you've got one with you. The loaners go first on busy days.

Restroom

Yes

Picnic tables

Yes

Konditaget Lüders

Nordhavn

A playground and outdoor gym on the roof of a car park, 24 meters up, with a view out over the harbour and the Sound. Stairs run up the outside of the building, and the handrail keeps going once it reaches the top, bending itself into swings, climbing bars and a climbing spiral. There are trampolines, a panna football cage and a 60-meter sprint track (for the kid who wants to race you, and will win).

It's more for school-age kids than toddlers, since half of it is really a gym. It isn't staffed, and it's up high and open to the wind, so bring a layer.

Restroom

Yes

Legepladsen i Kongens Have (the Dragon Playground)

Indre By

A fairytale playground in the King's Garden, in sight of Rosenborg Castle. There are no swings or climbing frames here. Instead, two big wooden dragons guard a huge bronze egg on an island in a moat of sand, and kids ride the dragons, dig in the moat and find the carved figures along the paths. It's best for under-fives, whose imaginations do the rest.

It's hedged in with a single entrance, so a runner can't get far. In summer the little puppet theatre in the garden is worth timing your visit around.

Go after Rosenborg. The castle is right there, and the playground is the reward.

Ørstedsparken

Indre By

A central park built on the old city moat, with a lake down the middle and a staffed playground in the corner by Nørre Farimagsgade. The playground is fenced and aimed at the smaller kids: sand, climbing, swings, a slide and a small pitch for kids up to about ten.

When the staff are on, you can borrow balls, chalk, stilts, bikes and moon cars, and the little playhouse has toys and board games. On weekends you can still get in, but the bikes stay locked up.

Skydebanehaven

Vesterbro

A colourful staffed playground tucked behind a huge red-brick wall from 1887, built to stop stray bullets from the shooting range that used to be here. Now there's a giant parrot you climb into and slide out of, a zipline, swings, a carousel, a climbing net, a sandbox with playhouses and ball courts. Locals just call it the parrot playground.

In warm weather there's a shallow paddling pool, and it's swimsuits or swim diapers only, so pack them. Bikes and scooters get parked outside.

Restroom

Yes

Enghaveparken

Vesterbro

A 1920s park rebuilt in 2019 as a climate park: in a cloudburst, walls rise out of the ground at the gates and the whole park fills up like a bowl to keep the streets around it dry. Kids won't care about that until you tell them, and then it's all they'll ask about.

The staffed playground inside is fully fenced, with a spider net, an obstacle course, a zipline, sandboxes and little bike paths, plus pedal cars, toys and balls to borrow. The toilet and changing table are inside the playground house, open while the staff are there.

Superkilen

Nørrebro

Less a playground than a long, strange public park filled with 108 objects from around 60 countries, picked by the people who live in the neighbourhood. The one your kid will remember is the black octopus slide from Japan. There are swings from Iraq too, a fountain from Morocco, a Thai boxing ring and neon signs from all over.

It's not fenced, and it's a through route for bikes, so keep the little ones close. Treat it as a half-hour stop and a good story, then walk on to Guldbergs Plads or BaNanna Park.

Guldbergs Plads

Nørrebro

A square turned into a climbing forest: 200 blue poles and 75 larch trees on ten grassy hills, with swings, rings and bars hung between them. It was designed so grown-ups would play too, which means you're allowed on it (you'll be tempted). The city pitches it at ages four to ten.

There's a ball court and picnic tables, and Bæst is across the street for pizza after.

BaNanna Park

Nørrebro

A small park built on an old industrial lot that local parents and a school fought to save, named for the long banana-shaped earth wall with its bright yellow coating. The 14-meter climbing structure at the entrance is for real climbers, not kids.

What you're here for is the small playground tucked behind the planted jungle, with swings, slides and low climbing that works for toddlers, while older kids run the banana.

Restroom

Yes

Naturlegepladsen i Valbyparken (the Nature Playground)

Valby

The city's biggest nature playground, about 23,500 square meters of low hills, paths, willow huts and sand. A round wooden footbridge loops over it all, with five towers along the way (a Tower of Light, a Tower of Winds, a Tower of Birds, a Tower of Change and a Green Tower), and there's a snail-shaped mound to climb for the lookout.

It's staffed, with tricycles and balls to borrow and drop-in bonfires on some afternoons. Toilets with changing facilities and picnic tables are on site, and the big lawn next door is made for a picnic. Best from about three up.

The rest of Valbyparken has themed gardens, so there's a walk after if anyone's still standing.

Restroom

Yes

Remiseparken

Amager

A staffed playground in two halves. Bonderen is a small farm for younger kids, with goats, pigs, ponies, rabbits and chickens, and at set times kids can help feed and look after them. Byggeren, the building playground, is for the older ones, with a castle, a maze and a train built by kids and parents over the years.

Honest heads-up: the city has closed a lot of the self-built structures on the Byggeren side while it checks them for safety, and the rebuild runs for a few years. The farm is the reason to go right now. There's a toilet with a changing table, and the toilets close an hour before the playground does.

Toddler giving up the pacifier? The farm has a troll, Sanka, who collects them.

Torvehallerne

Indre By

Two glass market halls by Nørreport station with around 60 stalls, so everyone picks their own lunch. It's a few minutes' walk from the Ørstedsparken playground and not much farther from Kongens Have.

Wheelchair access

Yes

Café Bopa

Østerbro

A French-leaning café on Bopa Plads, a leafy square a few minutes' walk from Fælledparken. The square has its own tiny toddler playground ringed by hedges, so one grown-up drinks the coffee while the other one pushes the swing.

For the kids

Outdoor space

Juno the Bakery

Østerbro

A small bakery on Århusgade, on the way to Konditaget Lüders, famous for its cardamom buns. Take a bag to go and eat them on the roof.

For the kids

Outdoor space

Bæst

Nørrebro

Wood-fired pizza and mozzarella made in-house, across the street from Guldbergs Plads. It's a dinner place most days, so go early with little ones.

For the kids

Outdoor space

Wheelchair access

Yes

Folkehuset Absalon

Vesterbro

An old church turned community house between Skydebanehaven and Enghaveparken, with ping pong and board games during the day and a shared dinner at long tables every evening. It's loud and very local, and a kid who gets up between courses fits right in. Book the dinner ahead.