visiting Denmark - itinery suggestions needed

My girlfriend and I are intending to travel to Struer this summer to go on the factory tour and visit the museum. Are any beoworld members (either those who live in Denmark or those who have visited before) able to suggest other places we should visit whilst we are in Denmark?

We'll probably fly (from the UK) and hire a car and are looking to spend a week in Denmark. The intention is probably to spend two nights in Struer and to find some other interesting places to visit during the rest of our week.

Any suggestions would be most welcome.

Cheers,

Martin.

At the risk of stating the obvious, you must try to spend at least one day in the centre of Copenhagen. Stroll along the longest pedestrianised shopping street in Europe, and visit the Tivoli Gardens. The Little Mermaid sculpture is a little disappointing being overshadowed by the docklands across the water.

Take a trip on the Oresund Bridge to Malmo, and maybe return by passenger ferry if going out by train rather than driving.

Graham

'Factory tour'!

I guess you know, that you can't just walk into the factory and ask for a 'tour'.

There are arranged tours - but not very often.

Check this site for details:

http://www.visitdenmark.co.uk/en-gb/denmark/visit-bang-olufsen-in-struer-gdk634284

Or contact the Struer tourist info in advance.

For the museum look here:

http://www.visitdenmark.co.uk/en-gb/denmark/struer-museum-bo-museum-gdk606559

MM

Maybe we are big kids at heart but we thoroughly enjoyed Legoland at Bilund

I had high ideals for Freetown Christiania in Copenhagen, but I was very disappointed by how run down it was --- democracy is a difficult at any time so having a drug culture / agenda greatly hinders progress (it seems).

Can't say we found the Copenhagen shopping mall impressive. We enjoyed the galleries but were amazed at how "dead" the place was on a Sunday -- and our disappointment (or citizens' absence in the country / islands) was compounded by Monday being equally "dead" on account of it being a religious holiday.

We did make use of a tour bus but it was not as informative & valuable as in Berlin (different scales, less "universal" history).

Missed out on the Carlsburg tour so can't comment.

We loved the drive up to Skagan and the night and day we spent there - it was one of our highlights.

We should have spent a similar time at Aarhus.

We drove down the coast to a replica Viking village and enjoyed that. Together with the lunch stop at Strandingsmuseum St. George near Thorsminde.

We want to return - mainly to enjoy the villages and history and nature of Jutland.

Millemissen:

I guess you know, that you can't just walk into the factory and ask for a 'tour'.

Thanks MM. I was aware and have emailed the tourist office about one of the dates in August, but you were right to check!

vikinger:

At the risk of stating the obvious, you must try to spend at least one day in the centre of Copenhagen. Stroll along the longest pedestrianised shopping street in Europe, and visit the Tivoli Gardens. The Little Mermaid sculpture is a little disappointing being overshadowed by the docklands across the water.

Take a trip on the Oresund Bridge to Malmo, and maybe return by passenger ferry if going out by train rather than driving.

Thanks Graham, our itinerary is totally open at the moment, and I won't be booking anything until I've heard back from the Struer tourist office about the factory tour, but we were thinking we'd either fly into Hamburg and back from Copenhagen or both into and back from Copenhagen - and either way with a view to spending a couple of days in Copenhagen at one end of the trip (without the hire car as I guess it is likely to be more of a hindrance than a help in the city).

We've added your suggestions to our list and I'm already beginning to think we might end up wanting more than a week away to fit everything in

Cheers,

Martin.

 

 

Thanks elephant, plenty of useful info there. I was looking at the maps and wondered whether we ought to head up to Skagen just so we didn't miss out the whole North-East corner of the Country, so it is great to hear it was one of your highlights and well worth a visit, and it sounds like it is worth spending a night or two at Aarhus.

We're more and more coming to the conclusion that 9 or 10 nights would be more appropriate than 7, and allow us to travel around and stop in places without feeling like we're just ticking them off a list of places visited. Our thinking behind flying into Hamburg and back from Copenhagen is that it would allow us to take a roughly clockwise tour around the country without too much duplication of route.

Thanks to everyone who has responded so far, it is really useful to receive all these suggestions.

Martin.

 

 

 

My pleasure Martin.

We were advised to hire from and return the car to the same country to minimise the hire firms internal costs and therefore surcharges.  May or may not be true: none the less it influenced us coming up from Hannover.

I would fly early into Bilund, stay in the Legoland hotel overnight, then drive clockwise, first heading south west to the Viking village etc, then to Struer, Skagen, Arhus, Copenhagen, and then absolutely go to Sweden for a couple of days before flying out of Copenhagen.

Certainly don't miss out Skagen!

From Struer drive west through Lemvig and head north through Thyborøn (crossing the place, where the 'Limfjord' meets the see (Vesterhavet). Then continue further north 'till you reach Skagen.

From there you could take the 'motorway' south through Aalborg to Århus - which is definitely worth a couple of days. Take a walk through the older part of the city (called 'Latinerkvarteret'). There you find the best cafées and small shops.

By the way - you will find 2 B&O shops there, not far from each other. Be sure to visit the art museum (called Aros) and take a walk high-up along the many-coloured glass gangway. If you are interested, do visit 'Den gamle by' - the museum with old buildings from all parts of Denmark. There you can also find a (newly opened) street with houses and homes from the sixties - including a 'radio and tv shop' like they were 50 years ago.

If your plans (and your time) allows for it - do visit the old town Ribe (drive west to Esbjerg and then south) and drive further south/west to see the 'Vadehavet' by Højer. That is a part of the countryside, where you can experience the influences of 'ebb and flow'.

If Hans Christian Andersen is of any interest, stop by in Odense, when you head east for Copenhagen. Nice city - worth visiting.

Don't use your (hired) car in Copenhagen - walk or use the bus! Lots of things to see and visit in the capital of Denmark!!!

If you want to make a short visit to Sweden too, go north from Copenhagen, stop by at Helsingør (visit the castle) and go by ferry to Hälsingborg (a very short trip). From there go south to Malmö, and take the long bridge to Copenhagen.

You will be very close to the Airport (Kastrup) after arriving in Denmark again.

This might help you explore Denmark - I hope!

Have a safe journey

MM is right about the car in Copenhagen! Ours sat in the hotel's garage for 3 days - costing parking & rental fees ! Might be better to plan around two hirings !

If you are interested in modern art, then I recommend a visit to the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art. It's about a 20min drive north of Copenhagen, located on a headland with great views over the sea.

Lawrence

lawrencejmcook:

If you are interested in modern art, then I recommend a visit to the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art. It's about a 20min drive north of Copenhagen, located on a headland with great views over the sea.

Lawrence

And the other end of the spectrum ... 18thC and in the city ... An amazing place for one man's works

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thorvaldsen_Museum

elephant:

lawrencejmcook:

 

If you are interested in modern art, then I recommend a visit to the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art. It's about a 20min drive north of Copenhagen, located on a headland with great views over the sea.

 

Lawrence

 

 

And the other end of the spectrum ... 18thC and in the city ... An amazing place for one man's works

 

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thorvaldsen_Museum

Thorvaldsens Museum and Standingsmuseet is definitely worth a visit. I'd love to have a cup of coffee with another Beoworlder if you fancy visiting Aarhus - have already been visited by Elephant, Valve1, Søren Mexico and Geoff Martin himself who came to collect his own birthday present

Otherwise I recommend visiting Jernbanemuseet in Odense if you fancy trains; both diesel and steam engines are represented and you can even enjoy trips with them on selected days during the summer. The first MY locomotive has that nice sounding 16-cylinder two-stroke EMD engine

Thank you to everyone who has responded with so many great suggestions.

I've had confirmation from Struer tourist information that they have booked us onto the factory tour on 12th August so I'm now busy plotting all these places into google maps so I can plan a route and work out where we want to stay overnight (or longer).

Elephant: Thanks for the heads-up regarding the hire costs, you were correct - I've done some online quotes and there is a massive difference in car hire costs as soon as the collection and drop-off points are in a different country (an increase of 300-400 percent!).

MM: Thanks for your detailed route suggestions as well as places to visit - this is where local knowledge is so valuable as it is often not just the places you visit, but also the routes you take between them (even if you're not stopping) that shape the feel you get for an area.

Søren: We will definitely be visiting Aarhus and will likely be spending a night or two there so we would love to meet up with you for a coffee. I'll let you know nearer the time once we know which day(s) we will be in Aarhus.

Thanks again,

Martin.

 

i did this last year, we drove from Copenhgagen to Struer, back and then to Malmo and Ystad - had a great time but should have listened to beoworlders as it was a lot of driving, didnt use the car in Copenhagen and do not hire a small car, you need a big one to cover the distances comfortably.

It is a great trip though and thoroughly enjoyable - have a fab time

Less than two weeks to go before we travel to Denmark, and getting excited now

We've booked accommodation in Give, Ribe, Struer, Skagen, Aarhus, Odense, Helsingborg, and Copenhagen, mostly alternating between two nights in one place and one night in the next (the idea being to give us at least 24 hours in each location even after taking the travelling time between locations into account).

I've planned an approximate route in google maps which hopefully strikes a reasonable balance between journey times versus scenery and avoids simply travelling on motorways all of the time:-

https://goo.gl/maps/H41xG

We're just working through all of your suggestions again now to figure out where we would like to visit whilst in each location (or more to the point, what we can fit in time wise as that is likely to be the limiting factor!)

Søren Hammer:

I'd love to have a cup of coffee with another Beoworlder if you fancy visiting Aarhus - have already been visited by Elephant, Valve1, Søren Mexico and Geoff Martin himself who came to collect his own birthday present

Søren, we'll be in Aarhus from the afternoon of Friday 14th to the morning of Sunday 16th August and would love to meet for a coffee if you are around that weekend.

Thanks again to everyone who responded with suggestions.

Kind Regards,

Martin.

 

Looks fantastic -- shows great planning

My only new suggestion seeing as how are you have wandered into Sweden is the motor down from Malmo to Ystad the home of Wallander

That is if you are a fan of detective mysteries

And then of course Fjallbacka as well

@Martin

May I suggest that you - coming from Ålborg heading south towards Århus - go by a more eastern route, than the motorway.

You could head for hitting the motorway by Randers - maybe stopping in Mariager for a coffee.

This way you would see more of how the east-side of Jylland is - now that you have been driving north along the west-side from Struer.

That is, if your schedule allows for it.

Have a nice trip.

MM

elephant:

My only new suggestion seeing as how are you have wandered into Sweden is the motor down from Malmo to Ystad the home of Wallander

That is if you are a fan of detective mysteries

That's a good idea, thanks. Ystad looks well worth visiting. It will reduce the time we can spend in Malmo but since neither of us are overly keen on shopping that shouldn't be an issue.

elephant:

And then of course Fjallbacka as well

That one will definitely have to wait until some future tour of Sweden, although by that time there may be nobody left in Fjallbacka given it's (fictional) murder rate per head of population would seem to give Honduras a run for it's money

Millemissen:

May I suggest that you - coming from Ålborg heading south towards Århus - go by a more eastern route, than the motorway.

You could head for hitting the motorway by Randers - maybe stopping in Mariager for a coffee.

This way you would see more of how the east-side of Jylland is - now that you have been driving north along the west-side from Struer.

That is, if your schedule allows for it.

Thank you MM, we have plenty of time on the day we travel between Skagen and Aarhus, and I'd already dragged the route somewhat to the east because the google route planner was keen to take us back to the west from Skagen, through Hjørring, effectively repeating part of our route up from Struer, before heading South on the motorway .

I see there is a ferry between Hals and Egense so it looks like we could actually travel down the coastline most of the way, making our way back to the motorway at Randers, via Mariager, as you have suggested. It would mean bypassing Aalborg altogether but we hadn't any specific plans to stop there and the coastal route looks much more scenic.

I wonder if I can get hold of one of those HD car cameras that stick on the windscreen before we go - it could be interesting to make a time-lapse video of our journey...

Thanks again,

Martin.

 

riverstyx:

I wonder if I can get hold of one of those HD car cameras that stick on the windscreen before we go - it could be interesting to make a time-lapse video of our journey...

If you mean a GoPro then they are amazing and good fun. However there is a learning curve so don't leave the decision until the Duty Free shop.

Before I took then plunge into the GoOro world I bought the Dummies Guide and read it cover to cover -- a great investment leading to a good decision

riverstyx:

It will reduce the time we can spend in Malmo but since neither of us are overly keen on shopping that shouldn't be an issue.

--

...we have plenty of time on the day we travel between Skagen and Aarhus, and I'd already dragged the route somewhat to the east because the google route planner was keen to take us back to the west from Skagen, through Hjørring, effectively repeating part of our route up from Struer, before heading South on the motorway .

I see there is a ferry between Hals and Egense so it looks like we could actually travel down the coastline most of the way, making our way back to the motorway at Randers, via Mariager, as you have suggested. It would mean bypassing Aalborg altogether but we hadn't any specific plans to stop there and the coastal route looks much more scenic.

If you want to go to Malmö, go see the Emporia.

Not because of the shopping, but because of the architechture/the design of the building:

http://www.dezeen.com/2013/11/10/movie-interview-joakim-lyth-of-wingardhs-arkitektkontor-on-emporia-shopping-centre/

--

Good planning. You won't regret it - especially not if the weather is good.

 

MM

I just wanted to say thank you again to all who responded with information and suggestions, we had a absolutely fantastic time in Denmark (and Sweden) and the weather was extremely kind to us (clear blue skies and sunshine for almost the entire trip, save for a day of heavy rain and thunderstorms whilst in Aarhus).

We've actually been back home for over a week but unfortunately we had an issue with our boiler the day before we left which flooded our kitchen and the room below, so I've been dealing with the insurance claim and organising repairs since returning and have not had a chance to post until now.

We were however fortunate that it happened before we left rather than whilst we were away as the damage could have been so much worse...

I'll post some more details of our trip (and more importantly some photos!) as soon as I have a moment.

Kind Regards,

Martin.

 

Oh - sorry to hear about your 'boiler problems'.

Looking forward to see the pictures, you made.

MM

Take your time Martin, we will be waiting, I always enjoy pics and stories from the old country, BTW it always rains in Aarhus.