Nyhavn by the numbers

The quay, counted

The first two figures are our own. We went through the canal address by address and counted only the places that open directly onto the water — not the ones round the corner that call themselves Nyhavn.

• 28 confirmed venues directly on the canal — restaurants, bars, hotels, cafés and attractions (VisitNyhavn.com Verified Venue Inventory 2026)
• 23 of them sit on the sunny side, the odd house numbers (VisitNyhavn.com Spatial Distribution Audit 2026)
• 5 sit on the shady side, the even numbers — same source
• 400 metres is the full length of the canal, from Kongens Nytorv to the harbour (City of Copenhagen GIS)

Odd house numbers run along the sunny side, even numbers along the shady side. The 23-to-5 split is therefore no coincidence: the sunny side gets the afternoon light on its terraces, while the shady side carries mostly hotels and homes. That is why the quay looks so lopsided from the air.

The dates

• 1673: on 19 October the dam to the harbour was removed and the canal filled with water, after being dug in 1671–73 (Trap Danmark)
• 1681 is the oldest building standing on the canal, Nyhavn 9 (Danish Registry of Protected Buildings)
• 3 addresses along the canal were homes to Hans Christian Andersen: numbers 18, 20 and 67 (Hans Christian Andersen Centre)

A building's age and a business's age are not the same thing, and that is where most listings go wrong. We reviewed founding years for 28 venues and could confirm 8 as the business's own. The other 20 belong to the building, or could not be documented — so we put no year on them. Vaffelbageren from 1953 and Nyhavns Færgekro from 1983 are among the confirmed.

What does it cost in Nyhavn?

We read the menus of 16 places to eat on the quay and counted the prices on 9–10 October 2026. We only used 2026 menus or current undated pages, and only prices we could find again on the venue's own site. The figures are medians: half the places charge more, half charge less.

• DKK 67 for a draught beer (12 places, DKK 65–80 for 40–50 cl). Per half litre: DKK 80 (the 7 places that state the size)
• DKK 85 for a glass of wine (10 places, DKK 70–100)
• DKK 35 for an espresso and DKK 45 for a cappuccino (11 and 9 places)
• DKK 25 per person for water, usually filtered with free refills (8 places, DKK 15–40)
• DKK 40 for a 50 cl bottle of spring water (4 places, DKK 35–40)
• DKK 125 for the cheapest open sandwich, smørrebrød (11 places, DKK 85–245)
• DKK 179 for a stjerneskud, the classic fish open sandwich (7 places, DKK 168–199)
• DKK 205 for a dinner main course (130 dishes at 14 places; the middle half cost DKK 181–268)
• DKK 70 for the cheapest dessert (14 places, DKK 45–110)
• DKK 80 for an adult ticket on the Netto boats' canal tour; children aged 3–14 pay DKK 40 (Netto-Bådene, October 2026)
• 0 official visitor counts: the quay is free and open, so nobody counts the tourists in Nyhavn (Wonderful Copenhagen, «Turistens fodaftryk»)

Is Nyhavn expensive?

Yes for the beer, no for the coffee. Half a litre of draught beer costs DKK 80 in Nyhavn (the 7 places that state the size) against an average of DKK 60 in Copenhagen, so about a third more. A cappuccino costs DKK 45, the same as in the rest of the city (DKK 46.56). The Copenhagen figures are Numbeo's user-submitted averages (148 contributors in the past year, updated 2 October 2026), so read them as an estimate.

Lunch is the cheapest meal by the canal: smørrebrød from DKK 85 and herring typically at DKK 124–148. In the evening a main course is typically around DKK 200, and the most expensive dishes cost up to DKK 500. The prices carry a date because menus change: the figures here are from October 2026.

How we counted

We went through the canal address by address and recorded each venue with its house number, type and side. A venue counts only if its entrance opens onto the canal. Seasonal stalls and boats without a fixed address are not counted.

Where a figure comes from someone else, the source is in brackets above. Where it is ours, it says VisitNyhavn.com. We correct figures when we find them wrong, and we write down what changed.

Use the numbers

These figures are free to use in articles, coursework and presentations with attribution to VisitNyhavn.com. If you need something we have not published — the split by cuisine, say, or opening hours across the year — write to us; we usually have data that has not been published yet.