Do(n´t) travel: From Aalborg to Skagen

“What shall we do in Aalborg?” was my wife’s reaction as I explained the travel route I chose for our trip to the north of Denmark. For a while we are living in Copenhagen and so we try not only to discover the main spots in the whole world but also take our time to discover the beautiful sides beside the main paths within our host country Denmark. So my wife had the plan to visit the northernmost city of Denmark Skagen. Skagens distict Grenen is the northernmost part of Denmark. Here you can find a beach where the North Sea and the Baltic Sea meet each other. This should be the final destination of our trip. But I start at the beginning.
So my wife was not happy with my decision to start the trip in Aalborg but I thought it will be worth to see the fourth biggest city of Denmark if we are around. And we were not disappointed. Actually far from it and so the mood of my wife were getting better and better and as we had to leave she wanted to come back. But I start at the beginning.

Jens Bang´s House: The most beautiful house of Denmark

Aalborg is a really pretty city at the Limfjord with a really charming inner city. We felt really welcome here. One of the first things we recognized was the many pubs in the city. Especially in the Jomfru Ane Gade you can find lots of restaurants and cafes in the daytime which turns to nightclubs and discotheques at night. That is the reason why the Danes call it "The longest Bar in Denmark". No surprise: You can find the biggest Danish distillery in Aalborg which produces the famous Aalborger Aquavit and the Gammeldansk. Of cause it is possible to visit the distillery. But not only in the field of leisure, Aalborg inspired us. There is so much different to see and everything is fitting together so well. Especially I like the composing around the Østerågade. First you can see the nice cityhall beside the Jens Bang's House, which is voted as the most beautiful house in whole Denmark. A few steps further you pass the beautiful Jørgen Olufsens House before you are arriving the impressing waterfront at the Limfjord. I have rarely seen a waterfront where the change from a former industrial use to the new public use is done so well. Because of this the city is really turning its face to the Limfjord. Here you will find nice restaurants and bars in old but renovated buildings, a really nice promenade and lots of spare time activities for example a well designed open air pool in the fjord in the summer. A few meters down the promenade you reach the next highlight.

Aalborghus Castle from 1550

The Utzon Centre, an art, architecture and design centre. It is a tribute from the city to its famous son Jørn Utzon who was the architect of the opera in Sydney and of cause also of the Utzon Centre. You just have to cross the street and you reach the old Aalborghus Castle which was built in 1550 by King Christian III. and is now used by the government. As you might have noticed we have been stoked by Aalborg and we will definitely come back, maybe to visit the famous Aalborg Carnival. It takes place each year in the week 21 in the end of May and it is the biggest Carnival in Scandinavia.
But as I told you before we are on our way to Skagen and we had some kilometres to drive. But of cause didn´t I take the fastest but the most interesting way and so after a short drive we reached the beautiful town of Hals where the Limfjord is meeting the Baltic Sea. The town is more or less important because there is a ferry over the fjord and some use it as a short cut on their way north or south bound. And so the harbour is also the most interesting spot in the town where you will find some restaurants and a marina. I decided to visit Hals because it is the southern end of a very wanted coastline to spend holidays in Denmark. And the beach of Bisnap a few kilometres north of Hals was voted as the best beach in Denmark. We followed the road to the north further on in direction of our destination Skagen.

Nice sandy dunes and beaches in Sæby

The lovely church of Sæby

On our way to our next stage finish Sæby we are passing beautiful seaside villages like Voerså with lovely red and white painted fisher houses at the harbour and the possibility to rent canoes or pedal boats for a ride on the small river through the village. But we are now heading Sæby with the white sculpture Fruen fra Havet at the entry of the harbour. A really good view on the harbour and the Fruen fra Havet do you have from the nice restaurant Frank´s. We enjoyed here the really good fish and seafood buffet, the good bread and a really good service. After this rest we had new power to discover the harbour and the rest of this little town. The harbour with the marina is very nice and is just a few steps away from the nice sandy beach. I the area of the streets Algade and Strandgade the houses in are nearly all traditionally yellow painted. Some of them are nearly 500 years old. This makes a really nice Scandinavian street view. Just beside you will find the white painted church near the harbour. We enjoyed it here pretty much.

The silted church: Today only the tower is visible

North Sea beach at Gammel Skagen

Afterwards we drove to the city of Frederikshavn. The city is a traditional base of the Danish navy and an important harbour for the traffic to Sweden and Norway. We were not able to find any attractions which seem to be interesting to us and so we got after a short break back on road to our destination Skagen. So if you don’t need to: Don’t stop here!
But just before we reached Skagen we turned right to see one of the main attractions of Skagen, the silted church. The church was built in the second half of the 14th century. In the early 17th century there started a large sand drift in the region. The citizens were fighting against the sand for years but finally they were not able to safe the church. So in 1795 the church was closed by the Danish king. Today is only the tower of the former church which was later used as a seamark visible.
Afterwards we visited Gammel Skagen, which means old Skagen. But this place does not seem anyway old to us. It seems to be a typical weekend house area for the more upper class but very nice. Here at the North Sea side of Denmark the beach and the sea were very impressive for us. The waves are much higher and the sea seems to be wilder. We liked the place pretty much but we had to go on to Skagen. Here we first went to the harbour. He you will see the centre of the Danish fish industry. It is really impressive how big the modern fishing boats or should I say swimming fish plants are. Really amazing! This made me really a bit scared. So I was glad as we found some smaller fishing boats. Those who are hungry will find lots of fish restaurants in the old pack houses at the harbour. We were not and so we first went into the city centre, which does not flashed us anyway. But the architecture and the atmosphere in the small residential areas around did. We found really nice little houses, made of wood and with lots of stories to tell. Here can you breeze old sailor adventures in the air. We enjoyed it a lot. And so the disappointment about the city centre was gone and we made the last few kilometres to Skagen Grenen where the Baltic Sea and the North Sea have their rendezvous. And this place is really amazing with its large dunes, nice beaches and a terrific view on both seas. Fantastic! Really strange is, that the water of the North and the Baltic seas have different colours and you can see where it mixes up.

Look over the dunes of Grenen to the Lighthouse

We sit down in the sand, opened a bottle of wine and watched the sunset at a really perfect destination! Forget about New York, the Maldives, Thailand and all the other dream destinations. In this moment this most northern tip of Denmark was the perfect place to be!