Denmark – This is the winter swimming season
Winter swimming has been growing in popularity across Denmark in recent years. On the island of Langeland, the ice cold-water plunge will be celebrated. This marks the debut of the Bagenkop Winter Swimming Festival, organized by a thriving community of volunteers, the Bagenkop Inn and the watersports organization SHORES.
A tally found 182 winter swimming clubs around the country with over 68,000 members. The biggest club is The Viking Club Jomsborg in Aarhus, which has around 9,500 members, but it is of course free for everyone to simply jump in the water at one of the many good winter swimming spots.
New certification for winter swimming spots
Bagenkop is one of the three official Winter Swimming Spots on Langeland. This is a news seal of approval given on a yearly basis by The Outdoor Council (Friluftsrådet in Danish) based on water quality, security and facilities. You can recognize a Winter Swimming Spot by the dark blue flag with light blue stripes and the text “Vinter Badepunkt”. The certification was established as a response to the rapidly growing interest in in winter swimming. The three spots on Langeland were piloting the project, which is a sister-certificate to the existing Blue Flag program for swimming spots around the country. The projects now continues outside the first pilot locations.
For the Danish city-dwellers, harbor swimming is often the way to go. No matter the season. The Copenhagen, Aarhus and Odense harbor baths are open through the winter, but the one in Aalborg harbor is closed. In Copenhagen, the bathing zones are open as well and the two mobile dipping zones are also popular choices.
New Copenhagen saunas
For a more luxurious addition to the winter swimming experience, CopenHot has opened a new location in the Copenhagen neighborhood Refshaleøen with harbor front jacuzzies and a panorama sauna. Similarly, Hottub Copenhagen have opened nearby with saunas, hot tubs and colorful cabins for changing.
Two new mobile saunas are expected to be added to Copenhagen harbor by the Fisketorvet Harbor Bath and the Kalvebod Bølge Bathing Zone in February. These will be designed by the Maritime Architecture Studio, MAST, and will be open to members and paying guests.
