Inderhavnsbroen (Inner Harbour Bridge)

A curving link between two classic Copenhagen waterfronts

Inderhavnsbroen spans Copenhagen’s Inner Harbour, stitching together the pastel facades and busy cafés of Nyhavn on the west with the canals and cobbled streets of Christianshavn on the east. The gently curving deck feels more like an elongated plaza than a mere crossing, with broad lanes for cyclists and pedestrians threading side by side over the water. At around 180 meters in length, it is long enough to feel like a mini‑promenade, yet compact enough that the city remains close on both ends. From the center of the bridge, you can pivot almost 360 degrees and read the city’s history in every direction: traditional gabled townhouses, converted warehouses, and bold contemporary landmarks along the harbour. The bridge turns this busy stretch of water into a shared public room, where walkers, commuters, and sightseers mingle above the slow movement of boats below.

The “kissing bridge” and its unusual opening mechanism

Rather than lifting or swinging, the bridge’s two central steel sections slide diagonally back into the fixed approaches, leaving a navigation channel in the middle of the harbour. When they meet in the closed position, the tips of the two decks align in a characteristic “kiss,” a detail that earned the bridge its popular nickname. Watching the mechanism in action, with the decks gliding apart and the harbour suddenly opening for tall‑masted vessels, is one of the quiet pleasures of lingering here. Engineering firms and architects collaborated to achieve this uncommon sliding system, chosen to maintain clear passage for ships while keeping pedestrians and cyclists close to the waterfront action. The complex geometry, with no two cross sections exactly alike, pushed the design beyond conventional drawbridge forms and turned the structure itself into a piece of kinetic urban sculpture.

Design details, sharp turns and everyday use

Inderhavnsbroen carries only people on foot and on bikes, reinforcing Copenhagen’s reputation as a city built at human scale. The bridge deck is divided into a smooth cycle track and a generous pedestrian zone, with low railings and glass panels that keep views open to the water. Lighting integrated into the handrails gives the structure a soft glow after dark, outlining its curves against the harbour. One distinctive feature is a pronounced bulge in the plan of the bridge, where cyclists are required to bend sharply around a glass barrier. This curve is visually striking from above and from the quays, but it demands attention from riders, who must moderate their speed at the crest of the bridge. For walkers, the same bulge creates small balcony‑like bays that jut closer to the water, ideal for pausing to watch kayakers, tour boats, and harbour traffic slide past beneath your feet.

Harbour panoramas by day and by night

As a vantage point, Inderhavnsbroen rivals many of the city’s more formal viewpoints. To one side, classic wooden ships line Nyhavn’s quay; to another, the broad harbour stretches towards modern residential districts and, further out, the open sea. On clear days the water can seem almost glassy, reflecting the sky and the profile of nearby bridges and towers. At sunrise, the eastern sky bathes Christianshavn in pale light, while in the evening the setting sun often reddens the facades along Nyhavn and the warehouses on the harbourfront. After dark, the bridge’s subtle illumination, together with the lights of restaurants, offices, and passing boats, creates a layered cityscape of reflections and moving points of colour. It is an inviting place to pause with a camera, or simply to lean on the rail and let the city’s rhythms unfold around you.

A modern piece in Copenhagen’s bridge ensemble

Although relatively new, Inderhavnsbroen forms part of a broader family of harbour crossings that have transformed movement around central Copenhagen. Together with nearby bicycle bridges and historic road bridges upriver, it shortens everyday journeys between neighbourhoods that once felt separated by the water. The structure’s sinuous shape and mechanical choreography mark it out among these crossings, giving this stretch of the Inner Harbour a distinct identity. The bridge also anchors a sequence of public spaces along both quaysides, encouraging people to wander, stop at waterside benches, and explore side streets and canals. By prioritising slow travel and generous space for people rather than cars, Inderhavnsbroen encapsulates many of the principles that have reshaped the city in recent decades, making it both a practical thoroughfare and a compelling urban landmark.