A day on the water in Copenhagen

Copenhagen is a harbour city that most visitors only see from land. The old centre, the palaces and the shopping streets are all on one bank. The opera house, Christiania, the old shipyard at Refshaleøen and the harbour baths are all on the other. Crossing is easy, either by Metro or on one of the boats that work as ordinary public transport, but it does change the shape of the day. You eat on the city side, then you cross. Here is how that works in practice.

The simplest way to think about the crossing is that the water is part of the transport system, because it is. The city's harbour buses are public transport boats rather than sightseeing cruises, and they work their way along the harbour with stops on both banks. They stop near Nyhavn in the centre, at the Copenhagen Opera House on the far side, and out on Refshaleøen. The Metro covers the rest: Christianshavn for Christiania, Islands Brygge for the harbour bath. None of it is a long journey. What it does require is a decision about where you eat, because the cafés are not on that side.

So eat first, on the city side. Sonny is on Rådhusstræde, close to Rådhuspladsen Metro, which puts it between the old city and the harbour and makes it the most useful of the three central cafés we cover for a day that ends up on the water. Atelier September on Gothersgade sits between Nørreport and Kongens Nytorv, a few streets back from the quay. Kalaset is on Vendersgade, close to Nørreport, which suits an early arrival by train. All three are in Indre By, and all three are a walk rather than a ride from the harbour front.

The Opera House is the easiest of the far-side sights to reach, because the boat stops at it. It is glass-fronted and faces the old city across the water, so the view back towards the centre is half the reason to go, whether or not you have a ticket for anything. Standing there also makes the geography obvious. The harbour is narrow, the two banks are quite different in character, and you have just crossed between them on a scheduled boat.

Christiania is a different kind of visit. It is a self-governing community on a former military site, half counterculture and half woodland, and it is reached from Christianshavn Metro rather than from the water. Two things are worth knowing before you walk in. It is somebody's home as well as a sight, and parts of it ask visitors not to take photographs, which is a request worth honouring rather than testing.

Refshaleøen, further out, is the one place on that side of the harbour where food is the point. The old shipyard has turned into a street-food market, with saunas and big-warehouse culture around it, and the harbour bus stops there. It is also almost entirely outdoors, so it rewards a clear day and punishes a grey one. If you cross late and want lunch rather than breakfast, this is the part of the plan to aim at.

The harbour bath at Islands Brygge is the one that surprises people: open-air swimming in the middle of a working harbour, in water clean enough to jump into. It is unheated harbour water in an open pool, so it belongs to the warmer months and to people who do not mind the cold. The nearest Metro station is Islands Brygge.

If you are staying north of the centre, the harbour starts at your door. Nordhavn was built on old container quays, and it is the one part of the city where the water sets the street plan. Original Coffee is at Sandkaj, on the waterfront itself, which makes it the most literal harbour coffee we cover. Wulff & Konstali is on Århusgade and Andersen & Maillard is in the same district. Just inland, in Østerbro, Baryl Østerbro on Århusgade serves brunch and breakfast all day, which is the useful detail if your harbour plan is an afternoon one and you want a long table first.

Fitted into a short trip, the water works better as a half day than a whole one. Breakfast in the centre, cross by boat, the opera house and Christiania in one stretch, and Refshaleøen if the weather holds. Our weekend food itinerary builds the rest of two days around it, and if the forecast turns, a wet morning is better spent indoors in the old town. For the inland half day, coffee near the Round Tower covers the Latin Quarter, and where to eat breakfast near the Little Mermaid covers the northern waterfront on foot.

For the cafés themselves, the best brunch in Copenhagen is the short list, and breakfast near Nyhavn covers the few streets closest to where the boats come in.