Esbjerg's signature building is the redbrick water tower on the bluff above the harbour, completed in 1897 to the design of Christian Hansen Clausen. It looks like a transplanted German medieval gate — squat, square, and topped with crenellations and corner turrets — which is exactly what Clausen intended. For the new and rather plain port city it provided an instant landmark, and it has been the postcard image of Esbjerg ever since.
The tower stopped supplying water in 1957 and is now a small museum about the city's industrial history. The real reason to climb the stairs is the view: from the top you see straight down to the working harbour, out across Ho Bay to the island of Fanø, and back over the gridded streets of the city centre. The opening hours are limited; check before walking up the hill.