Section 01 / Awesome Place 10 / Mode: Walk
01.10
Køge Å.
The stream that runs through the town, five minutes from the square. Walk it after the Saturday market — along the back gardens, past the jetties, out to the meadows — and, if you are lucky, meet a seal on its way up from the harbour.
The walk
File: 10-AA-CUT / the bank as shot, the river printed in ripples · Photo: The Contentmakers · CC BY 4.0
Still water, five minutes from the square.
Køge Å is the stream the town was built beside: 20.6 km from the bogs at Regnemark to the harbour, and for the last stretch a slow, mirror-flat canal between back gardens, jetties and the odd dinghy. From Torvet, walk down Brogade — bridge street — to the old bridge, and turn west along the water. Market days are Wednesday and Saturday; the walk is the second half of the morning. The gardens give way to willows, then to the parkland and meadows around Gammel Køgegård; a marked path follows the stream for 22 km to Borup, but the first two are the point.
And the seal. Seals come up from Køge Bugt into the harbour basin and the stream now and then; in the spring of 2026 one made the stream its beat and half the town came down to look. No promises — it is a seal, not a schedule. Look for a round head in the still water, then look again. The photograph is Saturday 10 October 2026, after the market: the bank as it was, the river printed the way a river prints — in ripples.
Where
The stretch in town: from Køge Bro at the foot of Brogade, five minutes south of Torvet, west along the water. Follow the stream, not the streets.
When
After the market — Wednesday and Saturday mornings. Any day for the walk; the still water is at its best in low sun, early or late.
The stream
20.6 km from the bogs south of Regnemarks Mose to the harbour, ten metres wide at the mouth; the last stretch meanders through the town’s back gardens. Home to the spined loach, which is why the valley is an EU habitat area.
The walk
Køge Å-stien: a 22 km marked walking and cycling path along the stream from Køge to Borup station, signed with wooden posts and blue metal signs. Three map folders at VisitKøge on Vestergade; the first two kilometres are the ones you want after a market.
The bridge
Køge Bro, where Brogade meets the water: 1637, by Hans van Steenwinckel the Younger, listed, widened several times.
The seal
Seals come up from the bay into the harbour basin and the stream now and then; one was the talk of the town in April 2026. No promises — look for a round head in the still water.
Source
lex.dk and Wikipedia on the stream; visitkoege.dk on the path; Sjællandske Nyheder, sn.dk, 23 April 2026, on the seal: “Sulten sæl i åen deler vandene”.
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