Copenhagen's Harbor Activities
Ask a local what to do in Copenhagen and the answer usually involves water, one way or another: a swim, a sauna, a slow boat, or a free kayak in exchange for picking up trash. The city built its identity around a harbor clean enough to bathe in, and the activities worth doing here mostly follow that lead.
Free harbor swimming, properly done
Havnebadet Islands Brygge is a free public harbor bath at Islands Brygge 14 with five basins, including a 50m pool and a diving tower with platforms up to 5m. It runs 1 June to 30 September with lifeguards on duty 10:00-19:00. Stay inside the pool platforms; the open channel beyond it is a working shipping lane, and jumping from nearby bridges carries a 1,000 DKK fine under port regulations.
A sauna on the harbor’s edge
La Banchina, a natural wine café at Refshalevej 141A, rents time in its 8-person wood-fired harbor sauna for about 60 DKK per person an hour, with a direct plunge off the pier between rounds. CopenHot, further along at Refshalevej 195, offers a more formal setup: panoramic barrel saunas and wood-heated hot tubs, roughly 250-350 DKK per person for 1.5 hours, prepaid online at copenhot.com . Copenhagen sauna and hot tub sessions are bookable on GetYourGuide if you want a same-day slot.
Kayaking, including a free version
GreenKayak, a non-profit, lends a two-person sit-on-top kayak free for up to two hours, on the condition you collect floating trash during the paddle and post a photo with the hashtag; it runs April through October from a handful of spots, including Kayak Bar, booked at greenkayak.org . Kayak Republic at Børskaj 12, beneath Knippelsbro, rents standard kayaks for about 295 DKK single, 495 DKK double, for two hours through Christianshavn’s canals. Guided kayak tours of Copenhagen are also listed on Viator .
CopenHill’s free rooftop
Amager Bakke, the waste-to-energy plant known as CopenHill at Vindmøllevej 6, doubles as a park: an 85m rooftop hiking trail, free to walk daily roughly 10:00-19:00, with the best skyline view in the city at the top. The dry-ski slope on the same roof runs about 175 DKK an hour with gear included. Bus 37 or 2A gets you there from the center.
Self-drive picnic boats
GoBoat, at Islands Brygge 10, rents silent solar-powered boats with a central picnic table, no license needed, for about 499-549 DKK an hour split among up to eight people. The route stays within the central harbor and Christianshavn’s canals, and the driver has to stay under the 0.5 promille maritime limit.
Reffen, for after
Refshalevej 167, Scandinavia’s largest open-air street food market, with more than 30 stalls from 18 countries. It only runs April through October, so check the calendar at reffen.dk before planning a winter visit.
The verdict
Do one free thing and one paid thing per day rather than stacking three paid activities: a morning GreenKayak paddle costs nothing but your effort, paired with an afternoon sauna, makes for a full day without a heavy bill. For a slower, sight-focused day instead, see the Copenhagen sightseeing guide , or check the 3-day Copenhagen itinerary .