Nyhavn is a neighborhood located on a canal that connects a square called Kongens Nytorv ("the King’s New Square") with the harbor. The canal was dug by Swedish prisoners of war between 1670 and 1673, under the orders of Christian V. It was used for commerce for many years, but for the most part this is no longer the case, with modern land-based alternatives being used instead. Nyhavn (pronounced "new-hown", meaning "new harbor") was restored in the 1960’s and 1970’s, and is now quite picturesque. This being the case, it is swarmed by tourists in the summer months, and this being the case, anything for sale in its vicinity can be expected to be extra-expensive.

One exception to this rule is the popular tour boats that leave from this point. While not cheap, they could almost be considered reasonably priced. We walked around Kongens Nytorv a little bit while we thought about whether to go on a tour or not, but the route seemed interesting and the price seemed less than outlandish, so eventually we decided to go for it.

We paid our money and boarded the boat. As it was late in the day, the boat was mostly empty. Our tour guide was a young woman who didn’t interact with the customers much as it turned out, but ably delivered the facts, multilingually.

The tour boats are all long and packed with seats, and are very low to the water. This didn’t seem like it would be very practical if things were to get choppy, and we briefly wondered why they weren’t a little higher. Until we came to our first bridge, that is.

Noting that the route included several more bridges, we were now fine with being low in the water. Especially as we entered the main channel of the harbor and found it not to be choppy at all. On exiting the Nyhavn canal, we noticed a large building on the left that the guide called the Royal Danish Playhouse, but we didn’t linger near it, crossing directly to the other side of the channel.

On nearing the far side, we turned left and headed up-channel, directly toward the Opera House, which we’d previously seen from Amalienborg.

We didn’t quite reach the Opera House, though, turning right just short of it and going around its back into a channel through the multi-island neighborhood of Holmen. We found ourselves passing through what looked like a residential area, with a long apartment block on our right. Our tour guide stopped talking for awhile, so as not to disturb the locals. But after passing the apartment blocks, on our left the guide pointed out an interesting-looking building that had been built in 1952 as a torpedo boat factory, but was converted to apartments in 2003.

Across from the back side of Holmen was a road which was mostly surrounded by trees and shrubbery, but along the road there was a tiny stretch of mostly bare sand which some of the locals had turned into their own Waikiki.

Our channel turned left on reaching the oldest island in Holmen, called Nyholm. Holmen was originally established as a home for the Royal Naval Base. Nyholm is a man-made island, created through land reclamation, and its creation was followed by the creation of the other islands that make up Holmen. The islands are no longer used by the navy, with the exception of Nyholm, where the Royal Danish Naval Academy is based.

As our channel headed back toward the harbor’s main channel, we passed a three-masted training vessel called the Georg Stage (built in 1934), and as we turned into the main channel we passed the Royal Danish Naval Museum, where a modern frigate called the HDMS Peder Skram (in use until 1990) and a 155-foot submarine called the HDMS Sælen (or "seal", in use until 2003) are displayed.


Moored off Nyholm when it’s not travelling is Her Danish Majesty’s Yacht Dannebrog, a 257-foot yacht used by the royal family. The yacht was commissioned in 1932, and has a commander who is officially a member of the Royal Household.

After passing the Dannebrog, we’d reached the northernmost point in the tour. To the north we could see the island on which Trekroner Fort is situated. This fortification was an important part of Copenhagen’s defenses from 1713 through the end of World War I, and saw considerable action during the 1801 Battle of Copenhagen, in which the British attacked the Danish fleet to prevent Danish trade with Napoleon’s France.

Our tour boat at this point crossed back over toward the mainland and passed pretty close to the Little Mermaid statue we’d visited the previous day.

We then turned back southward, passing between Amalienborg and the Opera House.

On nearing our starting point of the Nyhavn canal, we instead turned left, crossing the main channel and entering the area of Christianshavn. Christianshavn is a neighborhood made up of artificial islands (the Holmen area is officially part of Christianshavn) that is culturally known as being a home for artists and hippies. But the area is bisected by a long canal (which we traversed), and if the houses and boats we saw are any indication, there’s plenty of affluence going on there too.


The most noticeable landmark in Christianshavn is undoubtedly the Our Savior Church, which has a tower with a spiral stairway wrapping around its exterior. This looked like something we would have to try later.


Eventually the canal took a right turn and headed back toward the main channel. Crossing the channel, to the right we noticed the Knippelsbro Bridge, a drawbridge that connects Christianshavn with the mainland, and straight ahead we couldn’t help but notice the Royal Library building, a monolithic construction of black marble and glass known as the "Black Diamond", which opened in 1999.

We turned to the left, and then took a quick right to enter the Frederiksholms Canal, which connects with the Slotholmens Canal to surround the island of Slotsholmen, on which stands the Black Diamond, among other structures. The most important of these structures is no doubt Christiansborg Palace. This building is the seat of the Danish Parliament, the Danish Prime Minister’s office and the Danish Supreme Court, thereby housing all three branches of the Danish government. Parts of it are also used by the monarchy. A number of castles and palaces have been built on the site, starting with Bishop Absalon’s Castle, built in 1167. The current structure was completed in 1928.

Floating down Frederiksholms Canal, we passed under the Marble Bridge, which connects to a back entrance into the Christiansborg grounds.

Shortly after the Marble Bridge (and another bridge), the canal took a sharp turn to the right and became the Slotsholmens Canal. At this point we had a very nice view of the baroque spire of the Nikolaj Church, built in 1909 (as a replica of the original spire, which burned in 1795) through a generous donation by Carlsberg’s Carl Jacobsen. Next to the canal we could also see an equestrian statue of Bishop Absalon himself, who had risen to prominence in the 12th Century as a close advisor of King Valdemar I.

Following another right turn in the canal, we motored past the front of Christiansborg Palace. Ahead of us on the canal we could see kayakers, who seemed to be enjoying themselves.

To the right of the canal was a distinctive spire, which we found to belong to the former Copenhagen Stock Exchange. This building was built in the 17th Century by Christian IV. The spire is made from the twisted-together tails of four dragons. The Stock Exchange moved to more modern facilities in 1974, and the structure is now used to host parties and events.

Completing our circuit of Slotsholmen, we were expelled from the canal and back into the harbor’s main channel, and a brief northward voyage brought us back to our starting point, the Nyhavn canal.


Back in Kongens Nytorv, we found the end of the Strøget, and we walked back in the direction of our hotel, keeping an eye out for a restaurant with food that was decent and affordable. This last characteristic was hard to come by on the Strøget, but we eventually settled on an Italian place that didn’t rob us too badly.

After dinner we continued back to the hotel, where we retired in anticipation of the following day’s plans, which included a visit to Tivoli Gardens.