Different strokesIt's not wild. It's awesome.
Just 20 minutes from the centre of Copenhagen, a short walk from a nondescript Metro stop, through a small parkland area, this gorgeous wooden structure emerges from the sea, unfurling itself before you on approach. Kastrup Sea Bath forms the heart of a public recreation area, used by locals and tourists alike.
Colloquially known as ‘The Snail’, the Sea Bath was designed to create a safe, inclusive swimming environment for all ages and abilities. It allows visitors to spend time in or near the water without getting sand in their pants or drowning. Showers and changing rooms make things easier than trying to wrap it all up in a towel. Seating is provided for those who want to look on, or ‘hold a coat’.
Free to use all year round, there’s space for open-water swimming, paddling, or diving off the 2.5 or even 5m diving platform – looking out towards Sweden and the former Soviet states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
Swimming in the sea, or rivers? It’s possible, and wonderful, but for those living in Great Britain, it seems that we’re in a country where many politicians don’t seem concerned about the dumping of pollution in the sea, considering it a necessary evil to protect valuable shareholder dividends. Enthusiasts must regularly check online to stop the shit hitting the swimming fans.
Do UK residents really live in a place where simply the act of swimming anywhere but a chlorine-disinfected pool is considered ‘wild’. Even then, anyone wanting to swim outdoors is signposted to keep out of huge watery expanses, claiming there’s a risk of being skewered by ‘underwater equipment’. But when yet another summer hosepipe ban is announced and those poorly managed reservoirs retreat to new lows, I’ve never seen anything sharp I could land on. Though they did find two bodies in the bottom of Baitings Dam last year. Or was that a scene from Happy Valley? I sometimes get confused.
It’s incredible to look at the trajectory we’re on in the UK. It’s reported that spills of raw sewage into England’s rivers and seas reached their worst on record in 2023. Discharges of untreated sewage by water companies doubled from 1.8 million hours in 2022 to a record 3.6 million in 2023. Culturally then, swimming in the UK, it seems, needs to take place in chlorinated pools among floating Elastoplast, before drying off in pissy-floored changing rooms.
Denmark Is Different
But it hasn’t always been. In the late 80s and into the 90s, Copenhagen was dealing with similar conditions to those currently afflicting the UK. But now there is water in the city centre where it’s not just possible to swim, the concept is actually embedded in the culture of the city in a way that’s quite alien to some visitors. Wind the clock back to 1990, and the waterfront in and around the city was heavily polluted. Nobody would swim there. It was unthinkable.
The post-industrial slump meant factories and shipyards were being abandoned and warehouses left idle. The process of cleaning up the harbour began in 1990, when Copenhagen decided that vacant harbour-front properties should be used for offices and residential spaces.The sewage system needed improving for these new buildings, and so a ground-up (or rather underground) reworking of the system was started.
So how did they pay for this? It took a forward-thinking government and typical Scandinavian tax rates so high that UK readers would think there was a misprint. Add to that corporation tax so stratospheric that any British politician would tell you it was unviable starting a business. But who believes a British politician these days?
If that isn’t Scandinavian enough for you, some locals walk or bike down to the pier in their bathrobe for their morning exercise, and jump in fully nude. Then they leisurely get out and dry off right there with everyone around.
Designed by architects White Arkitekter from Malmö, just across the water in Sweden, the Kastrup Sea Bath transformed a glum, redundant brownfield site into a gorgeous and desireable destination.
The wooden structure has been in place for nearly 20 years, but shows no signs of wear. It’s constructed from galvanised steel and ethically sourced azobé, an African hardwood selected for its remarkable longevity and aesthetic qualities. The wood shares the same lifespan as steel and is resistant to rot and woodworm, ensuring that Kastrup will be enjoyed by several generations to come. So, if anything, it’s maturing into its landscape, being jarring, beautiful and practical at the same time.
Getting from the city to Kastrup is a breeze, with just a 12-minute ride from Nørreport Metro station to the Femøren St. stop, followed by a simple, straight, ten-minute stroll to reach the beach.
Downsides? Expect it a good few degrees colder that you might be used to in Brighton or Bridlington. It’s fine in high summer, but at other times of the year can be a bit cold. But what do you expect? The sea is literally Baltic!
Words: brant Richards
First published in Issue 2 of Bother Magazine, August 2024.
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