La Banchina Copenhagen: Sauna, Swim & What to Expect
La Banchina on Refshaleøen pairs a small wood-fired sauna with a harbour swim and a café serving natural wine. Here is how a visit works, from price to timing.
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La Banchina is a low-key harbour café and restaurant on Refshaleøen with its own wood-fired sauna and a marked swimming zone in the harbour. Come for a sauna round and a dip rather than a full spa: the room fits eight, it cannot be booked, and the whole experience leans on the water and the weather.
The place has two personalities. From spring into autumn it is a pier scene of swimmers, coffee and natural wine; in the colder months it narrows to a café with a sauna and a small winter dinner service. Which one you get depends entirely on when you turn up.
What La Banchina is and who it suits
This is a harbour shed on the Refshaleøen waterfront, a short step from the post-industrial docks that now hold food stalls, bars and creative spaces. The draw is the combination: a café, a restaurant with a very small dining room, a sauna and direct access to the water.
It suits travellers who want a sauna that feels incidental to a day by the harbour rather than the centrepiece of a spa complex. It does not suit anyone expecting a scheduled session, a large changing area or a guaranteed slot on arrival.
If your reference point is a Nordic wood-fired room with a cold plunge, the ritual here is recognisably in that family; our guide to the Finnish sauna explains the round-and-cool rhythm that most visitors follow without being told.
Where it sits on Refshaleøen and how to reach it
The address is Refshalevej 141 on Refshaleøen, the peninsula east of the city centre that once belonged to the shipyards. It is a healthy bike ride out of the centre and a reasonable walk from the surrounding harbourfront.
Plan the journey around Copenhagen's own cycle and public transport network rather than a fixed timetable; the ride is part of the outing and the waterfront approach sets the mood. Bring a lock if you cycle, because the pier area fills up on warm days.
The sauna: wood-fired, eight people, no booking
The sauna is wood-heated, fits eight people and runs on demand every day rather than on a published session schedule. It cannot be reserved, so you turn up and take your chances on space.
Published sauna hours follow the seasons: roughly 10:00 to 16:00 in winter and 10:00 to 21:00 in summer. Those windows are the practical constraint on any sauna-first visit, so build the rest of the day around them.
With eight seats and no booking, the room works best for small groups who can be flexible. Arriving mid-afternoon on a cold day is a different proposition from a sunny Saturday in July, when the pier and the sauna both fill.
The harbour dip: the designated swimming zone and its seasons
La Banchina has its own marked swimming zone off the pier, busy with bathers from early spring to late autumn and open all year round. In summer the pier fills with people moving between the water, the sun and a glass of something cold.
Out of season the dip becomes a genuine cold-water plunge, and the sauna is the reason most people do it. Finns usually stay 5–15 minutes per round and cool off between rounds; the same rhythm makes sense here.
The transition from sauna to water is short but outdoor, so a cold, wet walk is part of the experience. Bring something to stand on and something warm to pull on afterwards.
Eating and drinking at the café and restaurant
The café serves coffee, homemade baked goods, beer and natural wine, which is what most sauna visitors want afterwards. For a growing number of Copenhageners this pier is as much about the spritz and the sunset as the bathing.
The restaurant is a different scale entirely: it seats 17 people at most, with a Nordic menu built on Italian ingredients. Winter dinner runs Thursday to Sunday from 18:00 to 23:00 and is the one part of the operation that takes reservations.
Daytime service does not take bookings at all, so lunch and coffee are walk-in affairs. If the meal matters more than the sauna, reserve the evening and treat the water as a pre-dinner rinse.
How a visit works step by step
Arrive, find your spot on the pier or in the café, and wait for space to free up in the sauna — which in practice means the pace of your day comes from other people's rounds. There is no schedule to slot into.
Take a sauna round of five to fifteen minutes, cool off in the harbour, sit for a while, then repeat as often as you like. Between rounds the café keeps you fed and watered, which is the main reason people stay for hours rather than one session.
Lock in the practical bits before you commit: the sauna's seasonal windows, the café's seasonal closing time and whether the kitchen is serving that evening. A summer visit and a January visit barely resemble each other.
What it costs and how payment works
The sauna costs 40 DKK per person, paid at the venue. That is a modest outlay for a harbourfront sauna and plunge, and it is the only published price the place quotes for the bathing side of the operation.
Café and restaurant spending is in line with Copenhagen prices — coffee and baked goods sit at the lower end, the tasting menu at the higher end. Treat the food as a proper budget line if you plan to eat rather than just sip.
Denmark is a card-first society, and casual harbour venues generally expect card or mobile payment. Carry a card as your default and keep a little cash only as backup.
Opening patterns by season
From October through April the café opens Monday to Friday 08:00–16:00 and Saturday to Sunday 09:00–16:00. Those short winter days are the single most important fact for planning: an after-work sauna needs to start early.
From May through September it opens Monday to Friday 08:00–23:00 and Saturday to Sunday 09:00–23:00, which is what makes long summer evenings on the pier possible. The kitchen's winter service is a separate matter, running Thursday to Sunday evenings by reservation.
The sauna follows its own published pattern, opening earlier in the day in winter and running into the evening in summer. Check the venue's own site once for the current pattern before you commit to a long journey.
Swimwear, towels and changing: what to bring
Regulars bring their bathing suits, and the harbour setting makes swimwear the normal choice here rather than a nude sauna. Pack a towel, something warm for afterwards and a bag that keeps dry clothes dry.
Facilities are on the simple side of a working harbour café, so arrive as self-sufficient as you would for any outdoor swim in Copenhagen. A dry bag and a spare layer matter more than a full kit.
This is an outdoor, weather-facing visit: the pier, the water and the sauna are the venue, and comfort comes from what you carry. In winter, a hat and a towel within arm's reach change the experience.
When to go and how busy it gets
Summer evenings are the peak, when the pier fills with swimmers and wine drinkers and the sauna queue stretches. If you want the sauna without the crowd, a cold-season weekday is the calmer choice.
In the colder months the place is quieter and the draw shifts to the sauna after a cold dip. Winter café hours end at 16:00, so the light and the opening window both push you towards the middle of the day.
Refshaleøen as a whole has become a destination, with food stalls and bars drawing crowds on weekends. Pairing a sauna with a wander around the peninsula works well on a weekday.
Honest trade-offs: capacity, no reservations, weather
The sauna fits eight people and cannot be booked, the café takes no daytime reservations and the restaurant seats 17 — three hard limits on the same small site. On a busy day you will wait, and on a rainy one you will get wet.
The walk between sauna and water is outdoors, in Danish weather, and that is the honest cost of the setting. The payoff is the view and the swim, which no indoor spa matches.
Anyone with a heart condition, or who is pregnant, should speak to a doctor before using a sauna or cold plunge; otherwise stay hydrated, skip alcohol before bathing and leave the room if you feel unwell.
Nearby alternatives for a longer sauna day
Copenhagen has a serious sauna culture beyond this pier, and our guide to the saunas in Copenhagen covers the citywide spread. Across the wider harbour, Islands Brygge has long been the classic city swim spot, while Kastrup Søbad offers a landmark sea bath on the other side of town.
For a sauna you can actually book, Winter Island Copenhagen and the Sauna House in Nordhavn run session-based, wood-fired saunas in the harbour. Other options include saunas in the city such as CopenHot and Green Island.
If you are chasing the ritual rather than the scenery, saunagus sessions and the city's harbour baths are the other tradition worth planning around.
Plan Your Visit
La Banchina works when you give it time: arrive inside the sauna's seasonal window, bring swimwear and a towel, and let the rounds and the water set the rhythm. Watch the calendar as much as the clock — winter hours cut the day short.
Before making the trip out to Refshaleøen, check the venue's own site once for the current opening pattern and dinner reservation times. A small place with a long, wet walk between sauna and water rewards a little planning.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Can you swim at La Banchina?
Yes. La Banchina has its own designated swimming zone on the harbour, busy with bathers from early spring to late autumn and open all year round. It is a short walk between the sauna and the water, so the dip is part of the sauna routine rather than a separate outing.
How much does the sauna at La Banchina cost?
The sauna costs 40 DKK per person and is paid at the venue. Café and restaurant spending is separate and sits in the normal Copenhagen range.
Do you need to book the sauna at La Banchina?
No, and you cannot: the sauna is open on demand every day and cannot be booked. You turn up and take your chances on the eight seats, which means timing — a quiet weekday or a cold-season afternoon — matters more than planning.
How many people fit in the sauna at La Banchina?
The wood-heated sauna fits eight people. That is small enough that a busy summer day means waiting for space to free up, so allow for a pause on the pier between rounds.
What does La Banchina mean?
The name translates roughly as “the quay” or “the platform”, a fitting label for a harbourside café built around a pier, a swimming zone and a sauna by the water. The venue sits on Refshaleøen, the former shipyard peninsula east of central Copenhagen.
Is La Banchina open in winter?
Yes. The café opens every day from October through April, Monday to Friday 08:00–16:00 and Saturday to Sunday 09:00–16:00, and the sauna runs on a shorter winter window of roughly 10:00–16:00. Winter dinner is served Thursday to Sunday evenings by reservation.
How do you get to La Banchina from central Copenhagen?
The address is Refshalevej 141 on Refshaleøen, a healthy bike ride or a harbour walk from the centre. Check Copenhagen's public transport and cycle route planners for the day you travel.
Can you swim at La Banchina in winter?
The swimming zone is open all year round, though the crowds and the sun go with summer. In winter the water becomes a genuine cold plunge rather than a swim, and the sauna is what pulls most people in.
Sources
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