Copenhagen Canal Tours

The best Copenhagen canal tour for a first visit is Stromma’s one-hour Canal Cruise with Guide: about $24 per person, live-guided in Danish and English, and rated 4.6 from 12,933 reviews. It loops past Christiansborg, the Opera House, Amalienborg and the Little Mermaid and brings you back to the centre an hour later. If you would rather sit in a small, quiet boat and talk to the person steering it, book the GoBoat Electric Canal Tour for nine guests at most. If you want to drive the boat yourself, rent a GoBoat for up to eight people.

Big boat, small boat or your own boat

Every canal tour in Copenhagen covers much the same water: the old canals around Slotsholmen, Christianshavn and Nyhavn, then the open harbour. What changes is the size of the boat, who talks, and how much say you have over the route.

The large Stromma boats seat well over a hundred people, so you get a guide with a microphone and a fixed script. That suits most people on a first visit, and it is the cheapest guided option on this site. The small electric boats are quieter and more conversational, and you pay for it: the GoBoat captain tour costs about a quarter more, and Stromma’s 12-seat boat close to double. The price page explains what each step up buys.

Where the boats leave from

This trips up more visitors than anything else. The boats you see in Nyhavn belong to Stromma and to the budget Netto boats, but the classic ticket on this page boards at Ved Stranden 26, on the quay opposite Christiansborg, five to ten minutes’ walk away. GoBoat leaves from Islands Brygge on the other side of the harbour, and Hey Captain’s small boats from Ofelia Plads beside the Royal Danish Playhouse. The Nyhavn canal tour page has every departure point on one table.

Is it cheaper at the dock?

Not much. Stromma charges DKK 199 at Ved Stranden and DKK 169 at Nyhavn in 2026, roughly $30 and $25, with a cheaper early-bird fare on its own site. The $24 GetYourGuide ticket sits in the same range and adds free cancellation up to 24 hours before. The one genuinely cheaper boat is Netto-Bådene, about DKK 80 for 50 minutes from Nyhavn, which you pay for on the spot.

If you hold a Copenhagen Card Discover, the classic tour is already included, but only from Ved Stranden and only with a time reserved at the box office on the day. Our Copenhagen Card page does the sums.

What you see, and what you don’t

The classic one-hour loop leaves Ved Stranden past Christiansborg, crosses to the Playhouse and the Opera House, runs up the harbour to the Little Mermaid, and comes back by Amalienborg, the Royal Library and Slotsholmen. Two things surprise people. The Little Mermaid is small, 1.25 metres of bronze on a rock by the water. And Børsen, the 17th-century stock exchange with the dragon-tail spire, burned in April 2024 and is a building site until its planned completion in 2029.

Not every route passes the mermaid. Some small-boat and private one-hour routes stay in the canals and the inner harbour instead. The canal tour route page shows which tour goes where.

When to go

Copenhagen’s boats run all year, but the experience changes with the light. In June and July the sun sets between about 21:30 and 22:00, and Stromma’s last summer departures leave Nyhavn between 19:30 and 21:00, so an evening boat from Nyhavn catches the low light. From Ved Stranden the last boats go earlier, between 18:30 and 19:30. In December the sun is down before 16:00, and Stromma switches to covered, heated boats. The best time for a canal tour has a month-by-month table, and the winter page covers the Christmas season.

Book one of your first days in the city, so a change of plan still leaves time. Rain doesn’t stop the big boats: Stromma’s tour includes a poncho, and several listings say they sail rain or shine.

Before you board

In the narrow canals the bridges sit low. On the lowest, in Christianshavn, there is less than two metres of clearance, and the crew asks everyone to stay seated. Prams are not allowed on Stromma’s boats, and non-folding wheelchairs can’t be taken on board. Dogs up to 5 kg can travel on your lap. The what to expect page covers seats, guides, accessibility and children.

Want the water without a tour at all? Harbour buses 991 and 992 cross the harbour on an ordinary DKK 24 public-transport ticket, with no commentary and no narrow canals. See harbour bus vs canal tour.

All twelve tours are on the all tours page, and the comparison table above sets the three most-booked formats side by side.