Nyhavn means New Harbour, which is a touch misleading given it was dug back in the 1670s. It isn't, strictly, even its real name. The canal was officially christened Gyldenløves Kanal after Christian V's half-brother, but Copenhageners ignored that entirely and kept the building-site nickname, which is more or less how naming tends to go.

For two centuries this was the city's roughest quarter, a tangle of sailors' taverns, gambling and prostitution that locals called the sinful side, all of it within sight of regal Kongens Nytorv. Improbably, it was also home to Hans Christian Andersen, who lived at three different addresses here and wrote "The Emperor's New Clothes" at number 20.

VoiceMap's self-guided audio tours trace Andersen across his Nyhavn doorways, untangle the canal's official-versus-nickname history, and follow the colourful harbour as the route toward royal Amalienborg.