Christianshavn

Christian IV founded Christianshavn in 1618 on reclaimed ground across the harbour, laid out on a Dutch model with a central canal, ramparts and a grid, intended as a merchant town and a defensive outwork. The canal is still the centre of it, lined with old warehouses converted to flats, moored houseboats and small wooden craft, and crossed by low bridges that are the standard place to sit in summer. Above the quarter rises the black and gold external spiral spire of the Church of Our Saviour. The northern end holds the converted warehouses of the old shipyard district and the Opera House across the water; the eastern edge holds Christiania, the self-declared free town established in a former barracks in 1971 and a long-running argument in Danish public life.

What you actually see

• The central canal - houseboats, wooden craft and low bridges.
• Converted warehouses - merchant storehouses turned into flats.
• The spiral spire above the roofs - the Church of Our Saviour landmark.
• Old ramparts and grid plan - the Dutch-model town layout of 1618.

When to go

April to October for sitting on the canal bridges, which is the local habit. Half a day for a walk, longer with a meal. Summer evenings are the liveliest. Winter is quiet but the quarter still works.

Honest expectations

It is heavily gentrified and expensive. Photography inside Christiania is not permitted in parts of it and the rules should be respected. Bridges and quays get very crowded on warm evenings. Cycling traffic is fast and pedestrians are expected to keep out of the lanes.

Nearby

The Church of Our Saviour is in the quarter; the Opera House is across the water.