121 Best Sights in Denmark

The baroque Cathedral Church of St. Botolph is dedicated to the Anglo-Saxon patron saint for seafarers. The stone church, which stands on the site of an older wooden church built in the year 1000, has been rebuilt several times in its 800-year history. The church is a fascinating juxtaposition of austerity and splendidly ornate woodwork, paintings, and gilded statuary, including a quadruple clock face installed in the church tower from which eight gilded cocks crow the hour. By turns Protestant and Catholic, this Reformation- era church bears the marks of the religious turmoil that plagued the region.

A large, ornate chimney makes this mid-19th-century brewery visible from a distance. J. C. Jacobsen, one of Denmark's most important historical figures, named the brewery after his son Carl; berg, or mountain, signifies the brewery's location on Valby Hill. The four giant granite elephants that guard the main entrance were inspired by Bernini's famous obelisk in Rome. In the visitor center, interactive displays, also in English, take you step by step through the brewing process. At the end of your visit, you can sample some of the company's beers for an additional fee. The Carlsberg Museum, also on the grounds, tells the story of the Jacobsen family, their beer empire, and Carlsberg's extensive philanthropy, which still greatly benefits Danish culture. Large-scale beer production has now moved outside of the city, and the old brewery complex is being developed for residential and cultural use. The visitor center has been closed for years due to major renovation work, but it reopened in 2023, and daily tours and beer tastings are once again offered in the afternoon.

Close to Sankt Olai Kirke stands Sankt Marie Kirke; the 15th-century Carmelite Convent is one of the best-preserved examples of medieval architecture in Scandinavia.

The Casino Copenhagen has American roulette, blackjack, poker, and slot machines. You must be 18 years old to enter, and there's a strictly enforced dress code: jackets are required, and no athletic clothing is allowed. Outerwear must be left at the coat check for a fee. Dealers and croupiers aren't shy about reminding winners that a tip of a certain percentage is customary. The casino is open daily 2 pm to 4 am, and admission is DKr 95.

Once isolated from central Copenhagen, the former navy base north of Christianshavn dating from the 17th century is now an attractive area for arts, culture, and chic living. The Royal Academy's schools of theater, film, music, and architecture are all housed in old barracks here on the island of Holmen. The most famous resident of the island, however, is the new opera house, designed by the famous Danish architect Henning Larsen and placed symmetrically opposite the Marble Church and Amalienborg. Operas are in their original language with Danish subtitles. The building opens three hours prior to performances and includes a café and restaurant, the latter only for ticket holders.

In a wing of Det Kongelige Bibliotek (Royal Library), this national center of Jewish culture, art, and history holds objects of both secular and religious interest, including paintings, prints, jewelry, scrapbooks, and films. The site was designed by the famed architect Daniel Libeskind. The museum also gives extensive coverage to the Danish resistance movement, whose work during World War II helped bring nearly all of Denmark's 7,000 Jews to safety in Sweden. The museum has information in English.

Don't miss the town's open-air museum, known as Den Gamle By. Its 75 historic buildings—including 70 half-timbered houses and a mill—and its millstream were carefully moved from locations throughout Denmark and meticulously re-created, inside and out. The entry fee varies and is cheapest from January through March; it's most expensive from March through October and during the Christmas holidays.

The old, pillared Royal Theater, dubbed Gamle Scene (the old stage) after the openings of the Opera and the Skuespilhuset (Royal Danish Playhouse), is almost as beautiful on the outside as on the inside. The main stage is located in what might just be the most stunning place in all of Denmark. The theater was established in 1748, although the facade dates from 1874. Since the division of the Royal Theater into separate venues, the original building is primarily devoted to ballets performed by the world-renowned Royal Danish Ballet. Statues of Danish poet Adam Oehlenschläger and author Ludvig Holberg—whose works remain the core of Danish theater—flank the facade.

Bornholm’s most famous beach is known for its blinding, fine-grained sand, which you reach after strolling through a beautiful pine forest. The sand is easily moved by the wind, and the beach is made up of an ever-changing landscape of shifting dunes as well as a wide, windswept area leading down to the coast. The beach stretches for 30 km (19 miles) without interruption, and it’s popular year-round with beachgoers, picnickers, and dog walkers. Amenities: lifeguards, parking (no fee). Best for: solitude, swimming, walking, sunrise, sunset.

At a former bottling plant, in the beachside town of Hellerup, more than 300 exhibitions are clustered in various islands, each exploring a different facet of science, technology, and natural phenomena. A dozen hands-on exhibits allow you to do things like blow giant soap bubbles, feel an earthquake, stir up magnetic goop, play ball on a jet stream, and gyrate to gyroscopes. The center also organizes interactive temporary exhibitions. Exhibit texts are in English, so this is a great destination for visitors with inquisitive kids.

In the 19th century, the tiny island of Fanø (30 km [19 miles] northwest of Ribe—plus a 12-minute ferry from Esbjerg) had an enormous shipbuilding industry and a fleet second only to Copenhagen's. The shipping industry deteriorated, but the maritime heritage remains. Today Fanø is a summer oasis for legions of Danes and other northern Europeans. Silky sand beaches unfold along the west coast, buffered by windswept dunes and green reeds. Cars are allowed on the beach, and it's well worth taking a ride along the flat sandy coast between the ferry port in Nordby, Fanø's capital, and the traditional town of Sønderho, 13 km (8 miles) to the south. Spinning along the white sandy expanse is like crossing a desert; only the dark blue sea off in the distance reminds you of your island whereabouts. The beach is so level and wide that the military used to train here. In the off-season, when summer visitors have returned home, the Fanø shore becomes a tranquil retreat, hauntingly silent save for the rustle of reeds and the far-off squawk of a bird.

Free tours of the Folketinget, the Danish Parliament, are given on weekends, holidays, and certain other days. A full list of the days the grand parliament building accepts visitors is on its website. You can sign up for a tour in advance or pick up a ticket when they are distributed at 10 am on tour days. You can also visit the tower and see the view for free most days.

Evocative, often moving displays commemorate the heroic Danish resistance movement, which saved 7,000 Jews from the Nazis by hiding and then smuggling them to Sweden. The homemade tank outside was used to spread the news of the Nazi surrender after World War II. The displays have information in English. The museum was recently renovated.

About 50 Danish farmhouses and cottages from the period 1650–1950 have been painstakingly dismantled, moved here, reconstructed, and filled with period furniture and tools. Trees, farm animals, and gardens surround the open-air museum; bring lunch and plan to spend the day. It's a very popular excursion for locals from around the capital region. For children, the farm animals and history-theme pantomime performances are the biggest draws.

Not far from the Little Mermaid, this fountain illustrates another dramatic myth. The goddess Gefion was promised as much of Sweden as she could plow in a night. The story goes that she changed her sons into oxen and used them to portion off what is now the island of Zealand.