Discovering the Danish town where plastic bricks trump sm...

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Discovering the Danish town where plastic bricks trump smartphones

On a trip to Legoland in Billund, Robin McKelvie finds creativity and familial connection

Tuesday 25 November 2025 06:30 GMTComments

open image in galleryLegoland Billund makes a fun family holiday, whatever the ages of your brood (Robin McKelvie/The Independent)

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“We are all about the brick,” smiles Kathrine Kirk Muff, of Lego House, as we sip a coffee in the slick café in the massive, multi-floor oasis dedicated to the wildly popular plastic toy. “Lego is at the heart of the ‘Capital of Children’ that is Billund – and we celebrate that. Billund is somewhere that everyone can enjoy.”

It’s impossible to ignore Lego in this town of just under 8,000 residents in central Denmark. Arriving at the airport, Lego takes centre stage and I’m left in no doubt that Billund is home to the Danish company’s headquarters. A 10-minute bus ride away is the Hotel Legoland, which emerges like a fever dream I had as a kid, when I was a huge Lego fan. It even looks like it’s built of Lego and there are opportunities to play with it everywhere. Plus, of course, the chance to buy Lego in the many guises that it takes today.

Hotel Legoland is brilliantly fun and my two daughters – 17-year-old Tara and 14-year-old Emma – forget about trying to look cool and throw themselves right in. It helps that we have a Ninjago-themed room which kids can enjoy as parents take a well-earned break. I’m pleasantly surprised by breakfast – a huge smorgasbord alive with healthy options and chunks of hot smoked salmon on the buffet. Just feet from the buffet is the tunnel that leads into Legoland.

open image in galleryHotel Legoland doesn't deviate from the brief (Robin McKelvie)Recommended

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You’ll find Legoland theme parks all over the world, but Billund hosts the original, and it’s the second biggest tourist attraction in Denmark outside Copenhagen. I’m not looking forward to visiting, though, after a stressful past experience sweating in the UK’s packed Windsor Legoland, not helped by (at best) brusque staff. Billund’s Legoland is a welcome sea change. As hotel residents, we enjoy early access and breeze in to an empty park that, even when the main doors open, never gets too busy. We’re armed with “Reserve and Ride” fast passes, but don’t really need them with minimal queuing.

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The staff in Billund mercifully reflect Billund: they are welcoming, relaxed and cheery. We ease around in a sea of smiles – the vibe is more Florida “have a nice day” Disney than Windsor grumpiness. Tara reckons the “rides are better”, while Emma is mesmerised by the sprawling Lego recreations of various part of the world, laughing at the Lego version of our native Scotland, complete with the drone of bagpipes.

It would be a huge mistake to come to Billund to visit Legoland and not visit Lego House, and if I had to choose just one, it would be the latter. By the end of our full day there, both my daughters agree. This is where I meet Kathrine Kirk Muff, who is rightly proud of the hulking Lego-shaped edifice that is her charge. “We wanted this to be a special place for everyone, so anyone can come in and use our large Lego Square space on the ground floor, or choose to come through the barriers to explore the world of Lego upstairs,” she tells me.

open image in galleryClassic lego reigns supreme at the theme park (Robin McKelvie)

Lego House was the single biggest investment by Lego in years when it opened in 2017, taking a year-and-a-half to build. It is – and will remain – one of a kind. There are an incredible 20 million Lego bricks on site and Kathrine emphasises that it is indeed “all about the brick here”, rather than the fancy new themed ranges like Ninjago and Lego Friends. We follow a towering Lego-clad tree up the staircase into a world where time seems to be suspended, where play rules over the everyday, and where kids, for once, lose interest in their phones.

In a word, Lego House is fun; it’s impossible not to get sucked into its smile-inducing vortex. My daughters peel back the years, magicking up all manner of creations, from buses to animals and spaceships. They record them on the digital bracelets we are all issued with, which make a great souvenir, and curb the temptation to retrieve our phones to take photos. I also lose half an hour with my wife creating our own Lego movie, which, of course, the smiling girls find “really cheesy”.

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You could spend hours just walking around Lego House looking at all the lavish creations of the “Lego Masters” from all over the world – everything from huge Lego cities, through to “artwork” and a hulking T-Rex. There is something to compel in every room and if you return, you keep finding more. It’s a joy that they limit numbers so everyone gets space to relax and express themselves.

open image in galleryAn 'under the sea creation' at Billund's Lego World (Robin McKelvie / The Independent)

Not ones to rest on their hard-won laurels, Kathrine shares a sneak peek into Lego’s “Masters Academy”. This new attraction opens in autumn 2025, adding another five million bricks to Lego House and new levels of fun and intrigue. It’s set up like a TV studio with live interactive shows planned for just 40 guests at a time, who will learn about being a “Lego Master”. Booking ahead is essential, with slots already released.

Lego House also takes high-tech next level with its Mini Chef experience. Robert and Roberta serve us the healthy lunchboxes that are fashioned in Lego and ordered through our table console. The food is fantastic, but the service from our twin servers is unsmiling and procedural. To be fair, they are both robots – my daughters love being served by them, and it’s a new one for me.

open image in galleryRooms in the Legoland Hotel are themed – this one is (Robin McKelvie / The Independent)

Of course it is not all about Lego in Billund. This flat town is easy to get around – accessible walkways and cycle paths snake around its tree-shrouded streets – and is home to over 20 family attractions if you want a break from the brick. WOW Park is a huge play and amusement park, Lalandia Billund is Scandinavia’s largest water park and there is even a Teddy Bear Art Museum.

I try to prise my daughters away from Legoland and the remarkable Lego House to explore elsewhere, but that brick has a magnetic appeal. “We just want Lego, dad – Billund is like a Lego dream,” Tara beams. It’s hard to disagree: it’s a beautiful, thoughtfully-sculpted magical dream. And a striking testament to a Danish creation that stacks up for kids and big kids alike.

Getting there

British Airways and Norwegian both fly direct to Billund from the UK. Flight time is around 1 hour 40 minutes.

Robin and his family were hosted by Lego House.

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