Copenhagen Harbour Baths (Danish: Københavns Havnebade) is a system of recreational bathing facilities along the waterfront of Copenhagen, Denmark. There are currently three harbour baths, the first and most well-known of which is located at Islands Brygge. A fourth venue at Sluseholmen in South Harbour is set to open in 2011.[1]
The harbour baths serve as a supplement to the beaches around the city, such as the extensive urban beach at Amager Strandpark. In 2010 the Royal Danish Theatre also established the temporary artificial Ophelia Beach on the Kvæsthusbroen pier next to the Royal Playhouse.[2]
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For the swimming season of 2002, the harbour bath at Islands Brygge opened as the first harbour bath in town.[3] In 2003 the harbour bath was towed to the other side of the harbour and set up at Fisketorvet, while Islands Brygge got a new larger and permanent harbour bath designed by PLOT.
In 2010 the third harbour bath opened at the Svanemølle Bay after several delays and changes to the design.[4]
The water in the harbour today being as clean as that of Øresund, the harbour baths are a result of a consistent effort to improve the water quality in Copenhagen Harbour to an extent that allows for bathing to take place. The harbour baths are generally open all days of the week in the bathing season. In the event of unusually strong rains, sewage water may spill into the harbour and cause pollution with E. coli bacteria, closing the harbour baths temporarily. Such a closure normally lasts for a couple of days until tidal flux has changed all the water. Water quality is being monitored and reported on a dedicated web site
The harbour bath at Islands Brygge has a total of 5 pools and a capacity for 600 people. There are two pools dedicated to children, two 50 metre pools for swimming and a diving pool with three and five metre springboards.[3]
Copencabana[5] lies next to the Fisketorvet Shopping Centre and Havneholmen in Vesterbro. It is a 650 sqm complex with three pools and springboards of 1 metre, 2 metres and 3 metres.[6]
The Svanemølle Beach is located in the Svanemølle Bay in Østerbro and was inaugurated on 20 June 2010. It provides 4,000 sguare metres of beach with family-friendly low waters as well as a 130 metre long pier providing direct access to deeper waters.[4]