During the summer and spring months in Denmark, there are so many visitors in Copenhagen’s center city that, between music concerts, museum shows, dining venues and MICE events, it is worth noting visiting the relatively new and quieter district of North Harbour, or Nordhavn, is a great alternative to dealing with the crowded city center.

The transformation of Nordhavn, a former industrial and warehouse district, continues Copenhagen’s step-by-step expansion project into the surrounding sea. The project is conceived as an urban archipelago, a series of dense neighborhoods in the northern part of metropolitan Copenhagen.

© Filipipi Phucko

Planning one island at a time, the Nordhavn masterplan is not a typical city vision, specifying every last detail, but instead a unique and flexible guideline intended to inspire future generations of urban planners. It is a way of addressing one of the challenges of city planning: designing for the needs and demands of today while trying to predict and address major environmental challenges shaping our future.

Nordhavn’s master plan makes use of reclaimed land and water. By breaking up the harbor space into intersecting canals and basins, new islands of various sizes are created, giving Nordhavn a new identity rooted in its maritime past. Water is everywhere, both surrounding and weaving through Nordhavn, creating intimate, human-scaled mini-neighborhoods while preserving a connection to the sea.

© Daniel Rasmussen

Small man-made islands, like Kronløbsøen, pop up everywhere. The neighborhood of Århusgadekvarteret received its first residents in 2015, and now buzzes with cafés, restaurants, shops and Danish Architecture Center. The Nordhavn urban grid is carefully oriented to capture sunlight and reduce wind exposure, ensuring Nordhavn becomes a truly livable waterfront community for generations to come.

In just a few decades, the former industrial harbor of Nordhavn has become a vibrant waterfront city, providing homes for 40,000 inhabitants and workspace for another 40,000. The origins of Nordhavn date back to the late 19th century, when Copenhagen expanded its harbor northward to meet the growing demands of trade and industry. Now, with a young residential population living in modern, converted mid-century warehouses, working in floating workshops, playing in lovely waterside sporting facilities and enjoying nearby new dining venues, Nordhavn is an excellent choice to rent a bicycle and explore the neighborhood.

Visitors to Nordhavn also benefit from a surge of new hotel properties. Hotel Frihavnen opened in June 2025, one of the newest hotels in the district. The hotel features 28 rooms, blending functionality with a minimalist aesthetic. Audo House is an exciting hybrid space operating as a boutique hotel, restaurant, café, concept store, library, and work and event space.

Another Nordhavn hotel is TheKrane. This former industrial coal crane in the city’s harbor area is now a luxury two-person retreat, a one-room/two-person hotel, and one of the most unconventional and exclusive hotel experiences in all of Copenhagen. The room at the top of the crane, the former engine room, has been rebuilt into a super modern, minimalistic room with the best Danish design furniture on display. Access to two terraces also allows guests to enjoy both the Copenhagen sunrise and sunset, as well as extraordinary views of the old industrial harbor, a sailing club and Øresund Strait.

© Rasmus Hjortshoj @coaststudio

Nordhavn’s newest dining venue is NordhusCPH, offering culture, creativity and communal dining. Everything is driven by a young culture collective, who, besides communal dinners, also will host concerts, workshops and events. The communal dinners take place Thursday–Saturday on the premise food and shared meals are our common language, needed in order to evolve and get to know one another. The idea for the dinners is to create colorful servings made from fresh and seasonal produce inspired by food from all over the world. As a sustainable practice, 1 percent of the bill is also dedicated to the organization called Foodprint Nordic and its projects supporting regenerative agriculture and sustainable food systems.

Residents use bicycles to travel around most places in Nordhavn, and the expansion of the city’s Metro line from Copenhagen’s Central Rail Station to Nordhavn Metro Station takes just 15–20 minutes on the M3 or M4 lines, with frequent departures.