This article is part of a new guide to Copenhagen from FT Globetrotter

Copenhagen has cleaned up its act so much in the past 25 years that its once-industrial 12km-long harbour is now an all-year outdoor-swimming destination. In summer, a local friend tells me, the city’s office workers pile down to the waterfront and swim after work, and you’ll spot rickety ladders going into the water as you walk along the harbour front.

This ad hoc dipping is, however, not technically allowed (although the city is looking at opening the entire waterfront to swimmers). The harbour is a busy waterway and there are spot fines for swimming outside designated zones, so if you are a newcomer or tourist, or swimming in winter (as I was), it’s vital to stay cautious and stick to the well-designed — and free to use — harbour baths that dot the waterfront. I visited two of the most notable year-round swimming spots — the oldest harbour baths, at Islands Brygge, and a new complex at Nordhavn, part of the regeneration of Copenhagen’s northern docklands.

Copenhagen is a small city and the harbour is easy to navigate. If you don’t spot a havnebad, keep walking or cycling and something will miraculously appear.

The pools at Fisketorvet harbour baths, Copenhagen, with a red and white striped lifeguard tower to the side
Fisketorvet harbour baths is about to get a DKr50mn makeover © Valdemar Ren

Many Danes also love to dip in the winter — it’s less than a full swim but enough of a cold blast to make the body glow. There are a few shallow dipping zones (dyppezoner) set into the harbour. If you are making a cautious start in harbour bathing, one of these might be a good place to begin.

Once you’ve given yourself an icy blast — the water temperature was 2C when I visited — it’s a treat to warm up in a sauna. There are seasonal waterfront saunas, including alongside the baths at Islands Brygge, but they are for members only, and a notice on the door of the sauna warns that even the waiting list is closed. The same goes for many of the inviting seaside winter swimming-and-sauna clubs just outside the city — they are members-only too.

The city of Copenhagen recently approved two new floating saunas for club members at the Kalvebod Bølge and Fisketorvet harbour baths, which will be open to the public for a portion of the time. If successful, they will add two more.

And the latest news is that Fisketorvet harbour bath, near the big Fisketorvet shopping centre, is getting a DKr50mn (nearly £6mn) makeover as well as a new sauna. It’s a place for serious swimmers, with three pools, including one divided into lanes, and diving springboards.

In the meantime, I tried two unusual harbourside saunas that welcome anyone (usual health caveats apply).


Swimming

Islands Brygge Harbour Bath

Islands Brygge 14, 2300 Copenhagen S
  • Good for: Year-round swimming for everyone, with five pools, including two for children, plus beautiful diving towers

  • Not so good for: Peace and quiet. This place is famous and central. The full capacity is 600 swimmers

  • FYI: The tallest jumping and diving tower is 5m, offering a summer nostalgia trip for anyone who laments the removal of diving boards from British swimming pools

  • Website; Directions

Bathers sitting on top of a triangular wooden jumping tower at Islands Brygge Harbour Bath
The jumping tower at Islands Brygge Harbour Bath © Valdemar Ren

It probably wasn’t the best idea to arrive for a swim at Islands Brygge on a clear morning with an air temperature around freezing. The locals had their members-only saunas to warm up in but I had to change by the side of the harbour pool, although there’s plenty of privacy — the small winter pool is set down steps, well below the busy harbourside path that runs alongside it. There’s also a much bigger adult pool here, with lanes, for serious swimming in warmer weather.

The water is clear and checked regularly — this is a fresh swim in all senses, and if you only do one harbour swim in the city, this is the spot. Islands Brygge is the original harbour bath in Copenhagen, opened in 2003 and designed by local hero Bjarke Ingels (now of the famous BIG architecture practice). The booming harbour-swimming culture in the city kicked off here.

Two female bathers getting into a pool at Islands Brygge baths
The Bjarke Ingels-designed Islands Brygge baths opened in 2003 © Valdemar Ren
A red and white striped lifeguard tower at Islands Brygge baths
A lifeguard tower at Islands Brygge baths © Valdemar Ren

The surrounding area — literally, Iceland’s Quay — is a regenerated former port where the price of apartments has rocketed in recent years. The harbourfront next to the baths, even in winter, is busy with walkers, runners, families with kids in enormous Babboe cargo bikes — and people having coffee in the sun. It’s a wonderful spot.

There are plenty of cafés in the area for a post-swim drink and cake. The best known is Wulff & Konstali, a five-minute walk away, but I am afraid I was so cold that I had to warm up inside the closest option — a branch of the ubiquitous Joe and The Juice. Five stars for its heating.


Sandkaj Bathing Zone at Nordhavn

Sandkaj 27, 2150 Copenhagen
  • Good for: Sunbathing; trying to blend in with the cool locals in this emerging neighbourhood

  • Not so good for: Visitors with limited time. The area is a way out from the city centre

  • FYI: A new metro station, Orientkaj, and waterbus stop both serve Nordhavn — and arriving or leaving by waterbus is a treat in itself

  • Website; Directions

This is not strictly a harbour bath, rather a series of swimming areas marked with barriers, walkways, ladders and a beautifully designed indoor changing area (not open when I visited in winter). The wider draw is the chance to swim, lounge, eat and drink in a relaxed urban setting.

The members’ wooden changing huts and sauna at Sandkaj Bathing Zone
The members’ changing huts and sauna at Sandkaj Bathing Zone © Valdemar Ren

Wide terraced seating alongside the bathing zone makes swimming here something of a spectator sport. Locals wear chic quilted changing robes — far less bulky than their UK counterparts. This place is a sun trap, and there are plenty of cafés nearby for warming drinks, including a branch of Copenhagen’s Original Coffee chain.

A new permanent CopenHot (see below) sauna complex is set to open at Nordhavn later this year — the combination of café culture, harbour swimming, hot tubs and saunas will make this an unmissable destination.


City saunas

CopenHot

  • Good for: Anyone who wants an authentic hot/cold Nordic sauna experience with amazing views

  • Not so good for: People with a poor sense of direction. My taxi driver struggled to find CopenHot’s winter pop-up. Permanent sites are opening soon

  • FYI: Danish public-sauna culture is clothed; keep swimwear on (unless a sauna specifies that it is “swimwear optional”)

  • Website; Directions

A topless man sitting beside the window at the far end of CopenHot’s Panoramic Sauna
CopenHot’s Panoramic Sauna offers views over the harbour and the city skyline © Valdemar Ren

CopenHot has been at the heart of the city’s outdoor sauna scene for a decade, and this year it ran a seasonal winter pop-up outside the Mikkeller brewery in the cool Refshaleøen area. It offers a range of saunas and hot tubs to book by the hour — the same experiences will soon be on offer at the company’s new permanent site at Nordhavn.

I chose the Panoramic Sauna, a spacious pod with a glass wall offering views over the harbour. This is a much less claustrophobic experience than a traditional cabin sauna, although the downside is that passers-by have an uninterrupted view of you, too.

A wooden stove with a thin tiny chimney on decking at CopenHot sauna complex
CopenHot is located at the mouth of Copenhagen Harbour © Valdemar Ren
The wood for CopenHot’s stoves comes from offcuts from manufacturing © Valdemar Ren

Founder Thorbjørn Froda stresses its sustainable business practices: certified sustainably grown wood for the stoves comes from offcuts from manufacturing, and the water for the ice baths is drawn directly from the sea. There’s no swimming at this site, but a couple of minutes submerged in the ice bath is enough to make you lose feeling in your extremities, then it’s back into the sauna or book one of the pleasingly hot hot-tubs — they are heated to 40C. Staff are on hand and can bring cold drinks.

Froda’s advice? “Always end on the cold.” Finishing your sauna or tub session with a blast in icy water is what Nordic wellness culture is all about.

One hour in a CopenHot hot tub for up to six people, DKr1,300 (about £155); Panoramic Sauna for up to 10, DKr1,200 (about £140) per hour. Bookings are a flat rate per sauna or hot tub, regardless of the number of people. Check the website for most up-to-date opening times and locations. Bring Crocs or flip-flops. CopenHot provides towels, and secure changing cabins. Book at least 24 hours ahead.


Butcher’s Heat mobile sauna

  • Good for: Getting (very) close to the locals

  • Not so good for: Anyone who struggles with extreme heat or small spaces

  • FYI: This sauna is in a van and moves around the city, so check where your session is taking place. There is also a stationary Butcher’s Heat sauna here

  • Website

Butcher’s Heat offers the hottest, trippiest and most exhausting sauna session I’ve ever had. And also the only one playing Pink Floyd while we roasted. If you are happy to try something new and challenging, this one is for you.

Blue and purple coloured globe lights in the darkened Butcher’s Heat sauna
‘The hottest and trippiest sauna session I’ve ever had’: Butcher’s Heat © Valdemar Ren
A woman in swimwear looking out through the back door from the Butcher’s Heat sauna van
Butcher’s Heat specialises in ‘saunagus’: aromatherapy in a sauna © Valdemar Ren
A man coming out of the back of the Butcher’s Heat sauna van, a converted ex-military vehicle
The mobile sauna is a converted ex-military truck that fits a dozen visitors © Valdemar Ren

The Butcher’s Heat van is a converted ex-military vehicle that seats 12 cosily — it was parked on a popular stretch of the harbourfront when I visited. It’s no frills: you have to change outside, but the organisers provide plenty of water, fruit and snacks.

Butcher’s Heat specialises in saunagus: aromatherapy in a sauna. The session is led by a “gus master” who sits next to the stove and puts oils on to the coals. As we piled into the van, she explained we’d be sitting inside — in silence with music playing — for 12 minutes at a time, followed by a break for water and harbour dipping.

Men and women in bathing kit and pointed felt hats sitting inside the Butcher’s Heat sauna
Each sauna session in the Butcher’s Heat truck is divided into intense 12-minute stints . . .  © Valdemar Ren
Two male and one female Butcher’s Heat sauna visitors walking on a small jetty in a harbour pool
. . . followed by a break and a dip in the water © Valdemar Ren

Once the doors of the van shut and the oils go on to the coals, things get very intense, very quickly. The group was a mix of couples and groups of friends, both locals and non-Danish speakers. Most of us wore pointy felt hats provided by the organisers to help our bodies manage the heat. We looked like sweaty pixies as we listened to the loud in-van music that started off dance-y and strayed into psychedelia later.

The “gus master” poured citrus oils in part one, cedar and peppermint essence in part two — the latter makes your skin feel cold even in the heat — and I can’t remember part three because by that time I’d elevated to a higher plane.

Make sure you haven’t got anything big planned after a session. I was in bed by 9pm.

A one-hour session in the Butcher’s Heat mobile sauna is from DKr220 (about £25). Bring your own towels and slippers.

Where do you like to sauna and swim in Copenhagen? Tell us in the comments

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