When we were doing our initial research on destinations, Amsterdam and Copenhagen were at the top of the list. We just had to figure out how we were going to get from point A to point B, and how many days we were going to spend in each spot. Since we have some friends that live in Hamburg, Germany, our options were to start in Amsterdam, head to Hamburg, and then either a) drive northeast and take the Rødby – Puttgarden ferry or b) go “the long way” by driving north and taking the Storebælt Bridge east. Little did we know, there’s a nice stop if you follow the second route: Billund, Denmark.

If you’re a Lego fan, then you probably already know Legos were not only invented in Denmark, but Billund is home of the original Legoland. Although Lego fans ourselves, we’re embarassed to admit we had no idea of Billund’s history and notoriety until we added the destination to our itinerary. It also wasn’t until we actually made it to Billund and realized how incredible it was, that we were extremely disappointed we didn’t carve out more days to visit. Next time…

Tips for Tackling Billund

Plan for naps – it may sound silly but if you have kids 5 and under still taking naps, don’t forget to carve out time for that temporary shut eye! When our girls started to hit a wall, we made sure they were fed, walked the short distance over to our hotel (Hotel Legoland), and re-energized with a 1.5 hour nap that set us up for an extremely pleasant last few hours at the park.

Stay at the castle, eat at the castle – even though we stayed at a different hotel, if you’re willing to walk just a little bit further, the Legoland Castle Hotel will definitely catch your eye! Not only is the building itself eye-catching with it’s medieval themed building and playgrounds, the restaurant inside is all you can eat and all you can drink for 2 hours. Yes, you read that right. All you can drink is included in the price. While you and your partner enjoy good conversation over drinks, the kids can play inside the play room within the restaurant (foam legos and Nintendo Switches included).

Visit Billund in April – if you have the opportunity to travel in April, we highly recommend visiting Billund during this time. This is the last year we can really travel outside of the school holidays so we took full advantage. Although the weather is a little chilly (40-50 degrees Fahrenheit, 4-10 degrees Celsius), you just need to bring a heavy jacket and gloves and you’ll be all set! There were zero lines so we got to participate in every ride we wanted to ride.

Plan 3-4 days in Billund – unfortunately, we only planned 2 full days in Billund which gave us the opportunity to spend one day in Legoland and one day at Lalandia. You could easily spend 2 days at each of the parks, as well as spend a day at Lego House and some additional time at some of the other nearby destinations including the Dyrenes Verden Filskov Mini Zoo. If we had the chance to do it over again (and waited until the girls were just a tad bit older), we would have made sure we had a day saved for the Lego House. We were just worried it wouldn’t keep their attention as much since we heard it’s a little more museum-like.

Hotel Legoland

If you’re staying in Billund, we highly recommend staying on site at one of the Legoland hotels. We stayed at Hotel Legoland mainly for convenience since it’s connected to the park. From the second you walk into the hotel, you are greated with massive figurines made out of Legos including a giant dragon connected to a treehouse. Scattered throughout the entire hotel, you’ll also find bins full of Legos where you’re encouraged to built whenever your heart desires.

Legoland

We originally planned to spend two full days at Legoland, but with rain in the forecast on our second day, we only spent one full day there. Due to the time of year we were visiting, one day was all we needed. We got to enjoy all of the rides our kids wanted to ride, and were able to go straight to the front of the line due to the small(er) number of visitors.

More information about each of the rides we rode, including entertainment value and height restrictions below: *Note this list is only inclusive of the rides we participated in due to our 5 year old’s (120 cm, or 3 ft. 11 in.) and our 3 year old’s (95 cm, or 3 ft. 1 in.) heights. For a full list of attractions, visit the Rides & Attractions page.

95 cm and below:

• DUPLO® Express – this is a fun ride for really small kids and right outside of Hotel Legoland. Riders under 90 cm must be accompanied by an adult

• DUPLO® Playhouses – if our kids could have spent all day playing around in this playground, they would have. The playground equipment looks like oversized DUPLO® pieces with slides and ladders added throughout. Although the website does not show any height restrictions, we vaguely remember a sign outside listing either a height or age restriction

• LEGONDOL® – right outside of the Duplo playhouses, you’ll find a small version of a ferris wheel. Our girls had a great time and it gave us a temporary relief from the cold. Riders under 100 cm must be accompanied by a responsible person
• LEGO® DUPLO® PEPPA PIG Playground – another fun playground our kiddos didn’t want to leave. This playground includes trampolines, swings, and live shows in different languages

• LEGO® NINJAGO® The Ride – this 3D, interactive game requires you to karate chop or move your hands quickly over a sensor in front of you to defeat the bad guys. We weren’t extremely clear on the instructions so we didn’t score very high, but the kids had a great time. Riders under 115 cm must be accompanied by an adult

• Miniland – you cannot miss Miniland while you’re at Legoland. Miniland was constructed with over 20 MILLION LEGO® bricks, and takes you throughout different parts of the world. It even has moving vehicles, windmills, ships, trains, etc.

• LEGO® Mini Boats – the girls enjoyed “driving” the boats throughout the canals featuring different building landmarks throughout the world. This is great ride where you can enjoy some absolutely incredible lego builds. Riders under 100 cm must be accompanied by an adult

• LEGO® Safari – the girls enjoyed “driving” the safari vehicle throughout the African savannah. More than anything, we were just in awe of the animals built entirely out of legos! Riders under 110 cm must be accompanied by an adult

• Frog Hopper – a favorite for our kids; this ride “hops” or drops at short intervals. Riders must be between 90 cm and 150 cm

• Caterpillar – another favorite for our kids; this ride ended up setting the stage for multiple rides not only at this park, but a similar ride when we visited Tivoli Gardens a few days later. This mini roller coaster (if you can even call it that), sends riders up and down in a circle at fast speeds. This is not for the queasy. Riders must be at least 90 cm, and riders between 90 cm and 110 cm must be accompanied by a responsible person. In our case, they let our 5- and 3- year olds ride together while mom and dad couldn’t continue after the first ride left us motion sick…

• Pirate Boats – this ride takes you through a cave with different scenes of the pirate’s life. Riders under 100 cm must be acompanied by a responsible person

• Pirate Carousel – mom lost the hand of rock-paper-scissors to ride this ride with the kiddos. Imagine spinning around in circles in a tub that’s also spinning around in circles. Kids loved it; mom did not. Riders under 100 cm must be accompanied by an adult

• Western Ride, or carousel – riders under 90 cm must be accompanied by an adult; otherwise, riders must be under 150 cm

• Fire Brigade – not a favorite for us adults. With the fire brigade, you’re in a race against other competitors to move the fire truck to a designated location to “put out a fire”. This requires the team to crank a lever until you get to the “fire”, as well crank a lever to spray the water your loving children are pointing at (or above, or to the side, or below) the fire. This ends up being a complete workout for the parents, so if you’re into that, this has you covered. Riders under 90 cm must be accompanied by an adult
• Monorail – regardless of age or height, the monorail is a great opportunity to get a better view of the park. Riders under 110 cm must be accompanied by an adult

• LEGOTOP® – this is recommended over the Monorail if you only have the option of one or the other. This ride will take you to great heights and give you a complete panaromic view of the park. Riders under 90 cm must be accompanied by a responsible person

120 cm:

• Ghost – although this haunted house made our 5-year old a little nervous, she asked to do it again more than once. Riders must either be 130 cm, or riders between 110 cm and 130 cm must be accompanied by an adult
• The Dragon – a favorite for our 5-year old. This ride will take you through a fairytale adventure before speeding you away for a quick roller coaster ride. Riders must either be 120 cm, or riders between 100 cm and 120 cm must be accompanied by an adult

Lalandia

Believe it or not, Lalandia ended up being the highlight of both of the girls’ entire vacation. Lalandia Billund is home of Scandanavia’s largest water park within the Aquadome. Since rain was in the forecast on one of the two days we were in Billund, we decided an indoor waterpark was the key to our problems, and it clearly did not disappoint. Between a lazy river, wave pool, and numerous slides that were suitable for both of our kids ages/heights, we ended up spending a solid six hours at the waterpark. The youngest even got to enjoy a power nap midday lying on mom in a hammock while the oldest and dad got to enjoy some of the bigger slides.

The beauty of Lalandia? It’s not just a water park. It’s a massive facility that includes the water park, holiday homes, a bowling alley, high jump trampolines, shuffleboard, arcade games, and an indoor playground called Monky Tonky Land. After six hours of turning ourselves into raisins, we enjoyed dinner at Ristorante il Bambino which granted us free entry into Monky Tonky Land afterward. While the girls got to spend their free time climbing ropes, going down slides, and jumping on trampolines, mom and dad took turns spending 15 euro on the massage chairs within the facility (trust us, it was worth it).