Copenhagen's new Kai bathhouse opens December 5 with 10 pools for about $10

Copenhagen's harbor is getting a landmark new pool, and it costs about the same as a coffee. Kai, a 62,500-square-foot bathing house designed by Japanese architects Kengo Kuma Associates, opens on Paper Island on Saturday, December 5 with ten pools, an open-air rooftop pool, and a heated onsen overlooking the water.

The project has been eight years in the making and was originally meant to open in 2021 before the pandemic and its knock-on effects pushed it back. Now it joins the string of architecturally bold buildings along Copenhagen Harbor, sitting alongside the modern Opera House and the Royal Danish Playhouse.

What you get for the price

Pools are spread across several levels of the minimalist interior, with an 82-foot pool on the ground floor plus designated swimming and dipping zones in and around a timber boardwalk. While the harbor itself gets properly chilly in winter, the outdoor first-floor pools run on a sustainable vertical ground-source heat pump, so they stay heated year-round.

The surprise is the price. Tickets are expected to match other city-run water culture houses, where entry typically comes in under 100kr (about $10). The $150 million project was funded by the City of Copenhagen and Nordea Fonden, and total capacity is capped at 380 swimmers.

Lord Mayor Sisse Marie Welling is already on board: "Copenhagen needs more swimming facilities, so it's incredibly important that we are now getting new pools for adults, as well as paddling pools for children."

The site sits directly across the harbor from Nyhavn and is reached by pedestrian and cycle bridge, linking the old town with the former military area of Holmen and the old shipbuilding district of Refshaleoeen. If you want a head start on Copenhagen's swimming culture before December, Sandkaj in Nordhavn has a harbor swim zone, and Saunanor offers the city's distinctive saunagus tradition.