Copenhagen Harbor: The City’s Blue Soul

A boat tour through Copenhagen Harbor is a journey through centuries of urban development.

Sailing from Nordhavn to Sjællandsbroen, you’ll travel through Copenhagen’s long, fascinating history. 

The Danish capital is a true harbor city, with the waterfront as the center of much of its growth – not only over the past 30 years but extending back to Christian IV’s Christianshavn and the historic military installations on Refshaleøen.

The urban and architectural transformations that the harbor has undergone since the 1980 explosion of the Dansk Sojakagefabrik (the Danish Soy Cake Factory) are remarkable. Today, the former silos from the Soy Cake Factory have been transformed into the exclusive Gemini Residence apartments, which stand as a tribute to the harbor’s industrial past. This history, otherwise hard to imagine today, has given way to a harbor where people swim year-round in harbor baths – a testament to vastly improved water quality since the days when factories and heavy industry lined the waterfront.

From north to south, nearly every part of the harbor showcases some form of urban or architectural transformation, innovation, restoration, or preservation, resulting from the past three decades of development. 

Copenhagen Harbor stretches across 26 miles (42 km) of waterfront – miles filled with residences, cultural institutions, cafés, bike paths, offices, harbor baths, outdoor stages, and promenades. Over 30 bridges connect neighborhoods, making it easier than ever for locals and visitors to cross the harbor by foot or bike. Copenhagen Harbor truly is the city’s blue park.

Nearby Activities

Here, people swim, fish, sail, sunbathe, and enjoy numerous events and cultural activities along the waterfront. From the water, you’ll get a fresh perspective on the city’s architecture and sights, including Nordhavn, BLOX, Amager Bakke, the Opera House, the Royal Danish Playhouse, the Black Diamond, Refshaleøen, Havneholmen, Enghave Brygge, Teglholmen, Sluseholmen, Nokken, and Islands Brygge – to name just a few.