A stay at the Generator Hostel Copenhagen with kids

On our trip to Denmark, we spent four nights at the Generator Hostel Copenhagen. Prior to the trip, I did quite a bit of research on where to stay and which type of accommodation to use. Copenhagen has a good selection of hotels, hostels and self catering apartments. I opted for the Generator due to its central location. It had positive reviews online and seemed like good value for money.

If you’re used to traditional youth hostels where you stash your food in a communal fridge and hope that it’s still there the next day, you’ll be in for a surprise at the Generator Hostel Copenhagen. This is a new breed of hostels: part hostel, part hotel. The Generator is a sociable place with plenty of communal space and there’s a relaxed and informal vibe. You can stay in a private en-suite room or a dorm and there’s a laundry room for washing clothes. You can’t self cater which is tricky if you’re trying to save money in an expensive city like Copenhagen. However, the Generator serves a good value buffet breakfast as well as catering for lunch and dinner. There’s a supermarket round the corner to stock up on food for the rest of your day.

There are dorms (mixed and female only), double rooms, and family rooms at the Generator. You can even book a private six bed en-suite room making it a particularly appealing option for larger families or groups of friends. We booked an en-suite family room which had two single beds pushed together plus a set of bunk beds. It was a spacious and light room with big windows overlooking rooftops (we were on the top floor of six). There was no noise from adjoining rooms or corridors despite the hostel seeming pretty busy during our stay in April.

While we were in Copenhagen it was quite warm during the day but the temperature dropped to zero at night. However, our room remained quite hot each night so we needed all the windows open (there’s a fan for summertime, no air-con). The Saturday night revellers were out on the terrace below us until the early hours which might disturb some people but we were so tired it didn’t bother us. The terrace was fairly quiet for the rest of our stay and no doubt if you request a room elsewhere in the building this might not be an issue.

Our room had a separate toilet room and separate shower room and the sink was in the bedroom area. The furnishings were stylish and looked new. Several shelves contained books, a plant and a few decorative objects, definitely a step up from a traditional hostel. There’s a full length mirror and there are two large lockers under the bunk (which require a padlock), the lockers were commandeered by our boys as a particularly appealing play space, our valuables went elsewhere. The room was cleaned each day which surprised me, I’d expected to be left to our own devises. Although amusingly, the boys’ messy beds were left unmade while ours was made up, a subtle note to our children perhaps…

The first floor of the Generator Hostel Copenhagen is given over to various communal areas including a large outdoor terrace and a covered petanque area. There are spaces to socialise in with shuffleboard, table football and darts and there are spaces in which to be alone: plenty of comfy furniture where travellers can curl up with a book and a coffee or beer. There are also a couple of TVs showing sport.

I’ve been out of the hostel world for too long it would seem so I was impressed and horrified in equal measure to discover the Generator has an app for meeting other residents. Do we need an app for that? Surely you can just make eye contact with someone? There are also USB charging points everywhere so that everyone can always have everything fully charged. Next to the reception you’ll find lockers for hire in case you have a late flight and need somewhere to store your luggage (it’s only a 10 minute metro ride to the airport).

We arrived at around midday on a Saturday when the hostel was pretty quiet. Check in is a civilised 2pm so we spent an afternoon exploring the city before returning to the Generator for an early dinner as we were quite tired after a 5am start in the UK. The food is crowd-pleaser stuff: burgers, chips, pizzas and so forth.

We ate at about 6pm by which time the bar area was heaving with groups of men at the start of their night out. I guess the Generator is such good value that groups of local non-residents (of all ages) use it as a bar. What had been a pleasant communal space earlier in the day became a full-on drinkers bar by the evening so I didn’t feel particularly relaxed letting the boys (aged 5 and 7) out of my sight. On the other nights it was noticeably quieter with a more youthful clientele. During the day there were lots of students from all over the world along with a good mix of families, couples and solo travellers, which gave the hostel a more appealing vibe.

The staff are young, patient and friendly (even when they’re asking an unsuspecting youth if he’s paid for his breakfast). They speak such perfect English that I had no idea whether they were Danish or from an English-speaking nation. The reception desk is manned 24/7 and bike hire, tours and other travel arrangements can be made there.

The Generator has a pretty unbeatable location. It’s a 6 minute walk to Kongens Nytorv metro station (15 minute journey direct to the airport) and an 8 minute walk to Nørreport train station where you’ll find direct trains to Malmo in Sweden (journey time around half an hour).

We only used public transport for the airport and for a day trip to Malmo. Otherwise we walked or cycled everywhere. Nyhavn is 10 minutes walk from the Generator while the National Museum of Denmark and the Tivoli Gardens are both a 20 minute walk from the hostel.

Just around the corner from the Generator you’ll find an Aldi supermarket where we stocked up on fresh bread, cheese, ham and fruit for lunches. You also have Kongens Have park just a 2 minute walk from the hostel which is perfect for families needing a green space to let off some steam.

Where to eat and drink near the Generator Hostel Copenhagen

Our verdict