Other tourist attractions in Kalundborg include the medieval Old Town and the Kalundborg Museum with period costumes and Viking artifacts. Accommodation: Where to Stay in Kalundborg. Denmarks second city makes its home on the edge of the Kattegat Sea, and sits enfolded by the wild forests of Djursland. Tivoli, also known as Tivoli Gardens, is the second oldest amusement park in the world (in Copenhagen). The downtown area is lined with cobblestones, small Danish restaurants, and coffee shops. Some, like the lovely fishing town of Dragr, are an easy bicycle ride away. We enjoyed our Saturday afternoon here. A new maritime museum and a world-class collection of modern art are nearby. Experiencing Scandinavia is something everyone must do at some point. Here, we delve into ancient burial sites and sophisticated, design-mad cities alike, to bring would-be travelers to the land of the Danes a selection of the top, must-see spots in the country. The fields that were once green are littered with yellow mustard flowers as far as the eye can see! Along with its historic churches are the beautiful dune-backed beaches from Maglehj Strand to Drummeholm. This was once one of the most important towns in Europe, controlling access to the Baltic and collecting tolls from passing ships. And thats not even mentioning the electric nightlife, led by the massive student population during term times! In the summer, art and music festivals are held here, and you'll often find open-air markets as well. Writer Hans Christian Andersen was born in Odense, on Funen, Denmark's "Garden Island." When you're in the Lego capital of the world, you might as well lean into it. The town of Maribo is popular for its beautiful setting by Snder Lake, and in nearby Hunseby is a 12th-century church with a Romanesque interior and a Gothic tower. Often included in a day tour to Kronborg Castle is Frederiksborg Castle, set in stunning gardens. We could have stayed here for multiple days. The daily workshops in the Children's Wing, where children from four to 16 can explore art techniques through painting, drawing, and sculpture, makes this one of the most popular places to visit for families. As Denmark is a Nordic country, the seasons are quite extreme. Childhood home of Hans Christian Anderson in Odense. The most famous of these ancient sepulchres can be found around the town of Lejre, which sits enfolded in enchanting swaths of beech forest and decorated with the pretty Baroque faces and manicured gardens of the Ledreborg Palace to boot. It is home to more than one million Danes and hosts neighbourhoods like Vesterbro and Christianshavn, where chic cafes abut restaurants like Noma (oft hailed as the single greatest fine-dining joint in the world!). On a sunny day, it is said that if you look North, you can see all the way to Copenhagen and Malm. To the north is the lovely Renaissance city of Aarhus, and with the help of our page on the port city of Esbjerg, you can explore its nearby beaches and nature reserves. Thanks to its namesake rock and pop festival that booms on the fields to the south of Roskilde each year in June and July, this Zealand city has become almost synonymous with hedonism. One of the prettiest villages in Denmark, the fishing town of Dragr is the perfect place to visit for a 12-kilometer bike ride across the Amager Flled moorland and along the coast. The castle that Shakespeare called Elsinore and used as the home of his fictional character Hamlet, has stood above the water at the head of the resund Sound in Helsingr since 1420. Join over 1 million people and get exclusive travel tips, giveaways and more! The palace chapel survived the fire intact, and much of the rest of the palace is devoted to the Museum of National History, with exhibits on the history of the castle and of Denmark, along with a sizeable art collection that includes historical paintings, portraits, and modern art. Resplendent Skagen, its rows of terracotta-roofed houses and painted timber buildings, glows against the deep blue-grey of the North Sea. Alholm features a 12th-century castle that now houses a vintage car museum. Note: Some businesses may be temporarily closed due to recent global health and safety issues. You'll find tours offered to many of these, or you can use Denmark's excellent public transportation network to visit them. The small city has three Michelin starred restaurants and museums like the ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum art museum, which sports an iconic rainbow walkway. Several major exhibitions each year feature their works and those of new and emerging modern artists.

Along with static exhibits are large video projections that take full advantage of the museum's unique architecture. Learn how your comment data is processed. Beach wise, Gilleleje and Hornbaek take the biscuit with their yellow stretches of sun-splashed sand, backed by undulating dunes and colourful beds of roses. Since then, Ive traveled to over 70 countries and have knocked some big adventures off my bucket list. The most used of the Danish Royal Family's residences, Fredensborg Palace is also often used for state visits and family occasions. The top is 450 feet above sea level, and as you get closer to the top, many people turn back for fear of heights. Louisiana Museum of Modern Art | EQRoy / Shutterstock.com. The town evolved around the castle, although the ruins of a tower are all that remain of the castle today. Traveling around Denmark is easy and rather quick because the country is so small. Go here to see rare species of birds, crystal clear lakes, and even remnants of German World War II bunkers, which today serve as a museum. It isnt close to much, but if you fly into Billund, it would be a great place to start your trip. The most popular places to visit on the island are his childhood home and the excellent Hans Christian Andersen Museum, which explores the world of his imagination and reveals the writer's artistic talents as well. The palace occupies three small islands, and all around the castle is the Palace Garden, a romantic landscaped garden that has been re-created from the original 1725 plans and drawings. Exhibits tell the fascinating history of these ships and their recovery and preservation, and throughout the several buildings that make up the museum, you'll learn more about these ships and the Nordic maritime experience in the prehistoric and medieval eras. Dragr also has a strong fishing history. The largest of Denmark's "South Sea Islands" is the pancake-flat island of Lolland, in the busy waters between southern Denmark and Germany and about a 90-minute drive from Copenhagen. Follow Kiersten on her adventures! For children there is a Play Forest, with a 100-meter Tree Top Walk suspended 15 meters above the ground. The surrounding park is designed in long, straight avenues radiating from the palace, with pathways winding through the woodlands between them. Once here, explore streets lined with small thatched cottages and visit the museum at the picturesque harbor. A little more than an hour's drive from Copenhagen lies the town of Kalundborg with its famous five-towered Church of Our Lady (Vor Frue Kirke). Roskilde cathedral holds the world record for the number of royal burials in a church, but it is the artistry, rather than the numbers that will appeal to visitors. In the summer, Danes hang out on this shore all night, since the sun hardly goes down. Rising like hulking, petrified rocks where the Norwegian Sea fuses with the North, the Faroe Islands are the stuff of legends. The views of the forest change with the seasons and are especially beautiful when the leaves have turned to bright colors in the fall. Just a 20-minute train ride from Copenhagen, this pocket of the Danish countryside has remained relatively untouched for some 350 yearshere, ancient oaks are left standing until they fall down from old age. But truly, you can find good, cheap sushi almost anywhere in Denmark. Towards the end of the 12th century, a fortress was built on a peninsula in Guldborg Sound to defend against an attack by the Wends. Randers is a small town of 60,000. Notify me of follow-up comments by email. An area known as the Valley of the Norsemen displays dozens of sculptures depicting fishermen and farmers, and more sculptures are scattered throughout the grounds. More exhibits are in the castle's farm buildings and in a museum of vintage cars. Accommodation: Where to Stay in Helsingr. Lejre is about half an hour outside of Copenhagen and has a very cozy farm town feel. Or you can cross the remarkable Oresund Bridge to Sweden to visit the exciting city of Malm. Fredensborg Palace is north of Copenhagen, about 90 minutes by train or a 30-minute drive. Constructed in 1554, Egeskov Castle is known as the best-preserved moat castle in all of Europe. If you like legos, or you are traveling with your husband or kids, this will be awesome. Lindley Gallegos Bach is the founder of Lindley Loraine, and she is an ex-pat living outside Copenhagen, Denmark. This town only has about 2,000 residents, but what I love most about it is the rolling hills. Lindleys husband, Rasmus, is a professional basketball player, and together they are traveling the world. Stranded on its own betwixt the icy rollers of the Baltic Sea, the island of Bornholm is a laid-back place where travelers can seek out salt-washed fishing villages, rugged seascapes complete with chiselled granite cliffs, Scandinavian timber towns, deep forests and anthropomorphic monoliths protruding from the ocean. Use this handy list to plan your day trips from Copenhagen. More Places to Visit from Copenhagen: After visiting on day trips from Copenhagen, you may want to spend more time exploring Odense and the island of Funen or to see more of the attractions in Helsingor. When we stumbled upon it, I was got so excited! Pointed spires cap the towers, four of which are named: St. Gertrude, St. Catherine, St. Anne, and St. Magdalene. Where to Go from Denmark: Heading south to the Jutland, you can cross the border into Germany to visit the lively city of Hamburg. While in Roskilde, visit the beautiful Roskilde Cathedral, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Its roots go all the way back to the 9th century, and its sloping cobbled streets and narrow alleyways, ice-cream coloured cottages and wobbly web of red-brick buildings stand as testimony to a past thats wrapped up in tales of the Vikings and a medieval merchant boom. The park is in an obscure location, right outside the Billund Airport. Bring a picnic to enjoy overlooking the water or stop at one of the several cafs and restaurants at the harbor. A relatively recent addition to Denmarks line-up of national parks, the Skjoldungernes Land is a fascinating and beautiful area that encompasses sections of Frederikssund, Roskilde and Lejre in the very heart of Zealand. Address: Skovtrnsvej 1, Rnnede, Denmark, Official site: https://www.campadventure.dk/en/. Wide Dueodde beach also draws a crowd, while the gorges and forests of Almindingen are watched over by European honey buzzards and white-tailed eagles. This is potentially my best-kept secret about Denmark: sushi. And if youre lucky, youll come upon some seals. Any information published by Cond Nast Traveler is not intended as a substitute for medical advice, and you should not take any action before consulting with a healthcare professional. The museum includes beautiful historic gardens, and ancient breeds of domestic animals forage in the fields and farmyards. The most colorful is the Coral Reef, where brilliant tropical fish swim in a garden of coral shapes and colors. Official site: http://www.vikingeskibsmuseet.dk/en/. The boats, cruises, demonstrations, hands-on experiences, and things to do here make this one of the region's most popular places to visit for families. Their coastlines are dramatic in the extreme; chiselled and sheer-cut, carved by crashing waterfalls and topped with a layer of verdant green grass. This cataclysmic event caused the extinction of about half of life on Earth, and Stevns Klint preserves a record of the ash cloud created by the impact, as well as a complete fossil record showing the succession of fauna throughout the recovery from the mass extinction. The museum includes a studio where adults and children can learn handcrafts of the Viking age. We loved the Aarhus one, there is less hype, it was cheaper, and we adored the Christmas market there last year. They have lots of excellent Danish food like smrrebrd and flskesteg sandwiches, but when Im missing home, I can also find great American cuisine and Mexican food, which can be hard to come by in Denmark. You can also reach Dragr by bus from the city center. Follow the Hans Christian Andersen Trail to discover the island's 15 manor houses and castles that are connected to his life or writing. There is a beautiful church in the middle of town that borders a cemetery, and I loved walking through the cemetery and looking at old Danish names. Hanging out in Mariager is like taking a step back in time. Rising above the protected forests of the Gisselfeld Kloster, the 45-meter-high Forest Tower is built of local oak wood and weathered steel to merge with the woodland setting. Ohh, this has given me all the travel inspiration. If you happen to be in Denmark in the spring, March or April, you have to drive through Lejre. Spread across the large property (which you can explore in a horse-drawn carriage) are farmhouses, homes, and windmills from all parts of Denmark and the Faroe islands. Also nearby is Rbjerg Mile, which is the largest migrating sand dune in Northern Europe. Established in 1859, it is the oldest art museum in Denmark, and consistently has cool new art featured. Nestled in the coastal join between the Jutland Peninsula and the pretty island of Funen, Fredericia began life as a purpose-built fortified town to protect Danish lands in the aftermath of the Thirty Years War. Mns Klint are all the more spectacular for being formed of white chalk, and the surrounding protected area is habitat for unique flora and fauna, including 18 species of wild orchid. Originally from New Mexico, USA, I am a small-town girl gone global. Despite it's rich history, it is perhaps best-known as "Elsinore, the setting of Shakespeare's Hamlet, home of Denmark's most famous (albeit fictional) prince. Spread out over more than 240 square kilometers on the windward tip of Jutland, the untrodden Thy National Park is a place which still holds true to Scandinavias reputation for wild landscapes and untouched natural beauty. You can find all of her recent adventures on Instagram. In March, we cruised to the top with a hot chocolate, it was cozy. Address: Lyngby, Kongevejen 100, Copenhagen, Official site: http://en.natmus.dk/museums/the-open-air-museum/. It can be found facing Malmo across the Oresund Strait, rising against the rollers of the Baltic Sea in a patchwork of red-tiled medieval roofs and uber-modern new builds. In the north, the gorgeous Hammeren Peninsula is a favourite amongst walkers, boasting windswept cliffs and undulating farm fields, stone churches and beautiful lighthouses to boot. Activities with a naturalist, such as fossil hunting and creating crafts from natural materials, are included in the admission price. Copyright 2022 The Blonde Abroad | All Rights Reserved, #ad The best travel hack for 2022! Five Viking ships that were recovered from underwater are the focus of the Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde, spectacularly displayed in a hall that was built to showcase them against a full view across Roskilde Harbor and the fjord. A 40,000 square foot Lego House recently opened in Billund, where you can play with 25 million bricks and look and impressive public art. It can be combined with a visit to nearby Frederiksborg Castle and Kronborg Castle on the North Zealand Castle Tour, with pickup at your hotel in Copenhagen. Highlights of the cathedral are the carved stone pillars in the crypt; the 14th-century carved choir stalls; and the golden altarpiece, also from the 1300s. You can take a cruise of Roskilde Fjord on one of these from May through September. The birthplace of Hans Christian Andersen would today do the fairy-tale writer proud, with fantastic attractions like an award-winning zoo, a bevy of art museums and galleries, and seasonal open-air operas and events, like the annual Odense International Film Festival. One of these, Mn, ends at Denmark's highest cliffs, a 300-foot drop above the Baltic Sea. The Fredensborg Palace Garden is Denmark's finest example of Baroque gardens and after its restoration in 2021 was awarded the European Union Prize for Cultural Heritage. In short: theres never a dull moment in this truly bucket-list metropolis! Sprawled out over the banks of the pretty Limfjord Sound, Aalborg is a post-industrial centre with a difference. Museums like the ARoS and the Den Gamle By (one of the largest open air exhibitions in the country) draw in big crowds, while the old centre of half-timbered homes and Germanic municipal buildings is perfect for strolling and indulging in caf culture. Its definitely a modern take on a park. A little more than 15 kilometers from Copenhagen is the Open-Air Museum, part of the Danish National Museum, and one of the most popular things to do for families. My husband is a professional basketball player, and his career has us chasing big travel dreams in Europe. Highlights are the sunken semi-circular columns, the Baroque-style altar-piece (1650), and the granite font adorned with palm motifs, which dates from the 12th century. Stop for a snack or lunch at the caf in the adjacent Slottsparken, where there are brilliant gardens. From Lolland, a ninety-minute drive from Copenhagen, the Frederik IX Bridge traverses Guldborg Sound to Nykbing, the largest town on the island of Falster.