After about 10 minutes of fruitlessly paddling Copenhagen’s pristine canal, my son and I finally spotted our first piece of trash.
“Over there! An empty cigarette pack!”
We giggled as we struggled to maneuver our free kayak into a tight corner of one of Copenhagen’s marinas. Too far in, then too far out — trying not to smash into the nearest yacht — we finally managed to grasp the trash with our grabber and deposit it into our empty bucket.
Who knew that picking up trash would be such a fun vacation outing? I’m so glad we took advantage of one of the many free activities offered in Copenhagen in exchange for eco-friendly actions. This turned out to be one of our most favorite experiences on our multigenerational trip to France, Denmark and Norway.
How to get free activities in Copenhagen — by making it a better place
Our free kayak outing was through GreenKayak. Visit Copenhagen also runs a program called CopenPay, which rewards visitors for taking positive actions with free coffee, food discounts and free activities. You can get rewarded for actions like volunteering at an urban garden, taking public transit and more. In fact, looking at the CopenPay site now, I realize we could have also gotten a free drink at Hallernes Smørrebrød, where we had lunch later that day, as a reward for picking up garbage on a kayak.
We had so much fun on our free paddle. It was actually the highlight of our brief visit to Copenhagen. Paddling around grabbing trash felt more like a fun vaction activity than like volunteer work.
How to sign up for free Copenhagen activities
Signing up for GreenKayak was so quick and easy, even though we were only in Copenhagen for less than 48 hours. I simply downloaded the app and was able to book a 9 a.m. paddle for the following morning. To sign up for other free activities in exchange for earth-friendly actions, go to the CopenPay web site. Both programs operate in the summer months.
I booked our free kayaking activity late at night. I immediately received an email confirmation telling me our appointment time, the address and how long the trip would last — 1 hour, 45 minutes. Our free kayak trip would be at the vendor Kayak Republic.
The email also included step-by-step instructions for the free kayak trip, including what to do with the trash afterward. I appreciated that!
Getting started on our free Copenhagen kayak trip
The email instructed us to arrive 15 minutes before our appointment, and warned that late arrivals might be denied the chance to do this free activity. So we rushed over to Kayak Republic in the morning.
We needn’t have worried. We arrived to find workers getting ready for the day, but no one working the front desk. After a while, a harried-looking employee turned up and told us that the person sending folks out on kayaks hadn’t showed up to work that day. He gave us lockers, where we put our bags. Then he handed us two paddles, two life jackets, a map, grabber and a big bucket, and showed us to a floating kayak.
He showed us on the map that we were to do a loop in the canals, avoiding the Nyhavn marina that appears on Copenhagen postcards. He gave us very brief instructions: Hug the sides of the canal and don’t get in the way of big boats. Then he sent us on our way.
Attempting to pick up trash in Copenhagen’s canals
Toth (15) and I have been in a double kayak together before, but maybe only once at Moss Landing in California. So it took us a few minutes to get our strokes coordinated and start cruising along the peaceful morning waters.
Then we turned our attention to our assignment of picking up trash. Only one problem: Copenhagen is already pretty clean! We scanned the reflective surface of the water for garbage. Sometimes we’d spot something and manuever over, only to find that we were chasing after a duck’s feather or a leaf.
When we did spot a legit piece of garbage, it took some practice to become proficient at grabbing it. We had to paddle our kayak close to it, then put down the paddle and pick up the grabber. Slowing down near the trash, we had to pluck it out of the water — not easy when most of the trash pieces were tiny! Then — and this was the hardest part — we had to get the trash from the grabber into the bucket.
Since Toth was in back steering, I manned the grabber. We kept the bucket between us, so I had to maneuver the grabber above a bucket that was directly behind me and release without missing.
Eventually, we got good at our task. We started learning where to look for garbage: In corners where the current would wash flotsum up against the canal walls. With practice, we were able to pinch even cigarette butts — some of the most plentiful trash — in the grabber.
By the end of our free paddle, we had in our bucket:
- a whole banana
- half a plastic bottle of Coke
- a kid’s swim wing
- 2 balloons
- many tiny bits of plastic
- too much seaweed
Having fun on our free Copenhagen paddle
One thing that surprised us about our free Copenhagen activity: Having a goal actually made kayaking more fun. I have a kayak at home, and this experience actually inspired me to get a grabber and take it out on my local waters.
One incident made our free Copenhagen outing even more fun:
A bunch of middle school aged boys squeezed onto a canalside bench, eating candy.
“Hi!” one of them shouted, then followed it up with some unintelligible-to-us Danish. Through gestures, though, we understood what the kids wanted: They were holding up a candy wrapper for us to grab with our grabber.
They were high above us on the sidewalk, though, and we couldn’t reach it. So they tossed the candy wrapper into the canal and laughed as we chased it down and collected it. After they threw a second one in and we collected that too, I said to Toth, “Let’s get out of her, this could go on all day!” So we waved goodbye to our new friends and went off in search of more cigarette butts.
The beauty of Copenhagen from the water
Our free paddle wasn’t all hard work. In between floating garbage, we glided under low stone bridges. We appreciated the low morning sun striking Copenhagen’s lovely buildings. And we saw a swan family!
We were also pretty sure we saw the exact area where Marcus stays on a houseboat in the Copenhagen episode of The Bear.
Taking time apart on a multigenerational vacation
Although our Copenhagen kayak outing was part of our three-generation Europe trip, my parents did not accompany us on this activity. My mom, who is quite active at 75, would have loved it! But my dad has limited mobility due to recent surgery and would not have been able to get into — or out of — a kayak bobbing on the water.
Beyond the limitation in ability, I find it really important to take some time in smaller groups — or solo — on multigenerational family vacations. Toth and I got up relatively early to kayak, giving my parents a slow morning after several whirlwind days of travel. When we met up over pastries and coffee later, they were well rested and we had a story to tell.
I’ll definitely take advantage of more free activities next time I visit Copenhagen
We were in Copenhagen for far too short a sojourn this summer. Next time, I’d love to stay longer! And I really only found out about free Copenhagen activities in exchange for action when we were about to leave. It would be really fun to spend a day or a weekend in Copenhagen doing nothing but eco-actions and collecting as many freebies as possible!