Copenhagen Hidden Gems Small Electric Boat Tour with Guide

Ved Stranden and Slotsholmen

The tour begins at Ved Stranden, the quay opposite Christiansborg Palace, where the ticket office stands and the boat waits at pier 3. Christiansborg occupies Slotsholmen, the small island where the first fortress of Copenhagen was built in 1167, and today it houses the Danish parliament, the Supreme Court and the royal reception rooms under a tower that is the tallest in the city. From the water you see the palace, the old stock exchange with its spire of four twisted dragon tails, and the canal frontage of the Royal Library.

The electric boat is quiet enough to hear the guide without a microphone, and because it is small it passes under the low bridges that ring Slotsholmen, which is the first hidden corner of the Copenhagen canal tour: the inner canal between the palace and the old town, with its stone embankments, moored boats and the backs of ministries that most visitors never see.

Frederiksholms Kanal and the Black Diamond

Along the western edge of Slotsholmen runs Frederiksholms Kanal, a quiet waterway lined with 18th-century buildings, the former royal arsenal and the museums of the old town. The guide uses this stretch to tell how Copenhagen grew from a fishing village into the capital of a kingdom, and how the canals were dug for defence and trade. At the southern end the canal opens into the harbour beside the Black Diamond, the modern extension of the Royal Library finished in 1999, whose polished black granite and glass reflect the water.

This is one of the best places to see old and new Copenhagen side by side: the brick warehouses on one bank, the library and the waterfront offices on the other. The boat pauses here for photos before turning into the harbour toward Christianshavn.

The canals of Christianshavn

Christianshavn was laid out in 1618 by King Christian IV as a fortified merchant town on the harbour, modelled on Dutch cities with a grid of canals and bastions. Its main canal, Christianshavns Kanal, is still lined with 17th- and 18th-century merchants' houses, warehouses converted into flats and a row of houseboats, and the small electric boat can go deep into these narrow waterways where the large tour boats are too long to turn. Above the rooftops rises the spiral tower of the Church of Our Saviour, with its external staircase and golden globe.

The guide points out the quiet corners: the old shipyards, the side canals and the ramparts that still mark the edge of the district. If you are wondering how to see Christianshavn, the water is the way, and this part of the tour is the reason many travellers choose the small boat over the big one.

Nyhavn from the water

Nyhavn, the New Harbour, was dug in the 1670s to bring ships right into the heart of the city, and its two quays are lined with tall painted houses, several of them from the 17th century, with old wooden sailing ships moored along the canal. From the street it is the most photographed spot in Copenhagen; from the water, on a small boat passing slowly between the ships, it is a different picture, with the facades reflected in the canal and the crowds on the quay above you.

The guide explains how the harbour changed from a rough sailors' quarter into the promenade it is today, and which houses are the oldest. The boat continues out of Nyhavn into the main harbour, where the view opens to the Royal Playhouse, the pedestrian bridge to Christianshavn and the Opera House across the water.

The inner harbour and the Opera House

The final part of the tour crosses the inner harbour, the wide stretch of water that was once the naval port of Denmark and is now its most modern waterfront. On the Christianshavn side stands the Opera House, opened in 2005 on the island of Holmen, with its vast flat roof reaching over the water; on the city side are the Royal Playhouse, the quays of Amalienborg and, further north, the Kastellet fortress and the Little Mermaid statue on the Langelinie promenade. The exact route varies with the guide, the season and the water conditions, which keeps every departure a little different.

Harbour swimmers, kayaks and ferries share the water in summer, and in winter the quiet of the electric boat suits the grey light and the blankets on board. The boat returns to Ved Stranden after about 65 minutes.