Denmark

Denmark is the smallest as well as the most southerly country of Europe. In more recent times, Denmark has developed a highly-competitive service-based economy with high employment levels and a generous social security system.

 Denmark has once again been ranked as the happiest nation in the world, this time by UN's World Happiness Report 2016 and measured in terms of human welfare than do income, poverty, education, health and good government measured separately.

The 400-year-old Rosenborg castle was built by Christian IV in the early 17th century and he loved being reside at Rosenborg and it quickly became his favourite castle and venue for many important events.

Rosenborg Palace

The main attractions in the palace is the Knights’ Hall with the coronation thrones and three life-size silver lions standing guard.

The interiors are well-preserved and invite you to relieve the historical time where you can see king's writing cabinet, wax portraits of royal inhabitants. You can see the crown of king and queen made of pearl, diamond, ruby set and emerald set.

Rosenborg castle Crowns

You also can visit king's royal garden to see numerous historical sculptures and beautiful rose garden.

The elegant Baroque castle was named by King Frederik IV, whose mind was occupied by peace at that time, and who wanted to commemorate the ending of the Great Northern War in 1722. The peace accord made between the hostile countries Sweden and Denmark and signed here.

The castle has frequently been used as the setting for important events in the life of the Danish Royal Family wedding receptions, silver wedding anniversaries and birthday parties. The Royal Couple use the palace for three months in the spring and three in the autumn. The royal private garden, the Orangey and herb garden are located adjacent to the castle. They are open for the public in July, as are parts of the castle and the chapel. The surrounding castle gardens are open to the public all year around and admission is free.

The Amalienborg Palace Complex consists of four rococo palaces from 1750-1758 - and is the prime residence of the Danish Royal family.

The king moved to Amalienborg, which is still the main residence after Christiansborg Palace burnt down. Originally built for four noble families the Royal Family bought the Palaces and moved in.

Amalienborg Palace

One main attractions is the changing of the guard happens daily at Amalienborg at noon. There are lots of tourists witnessing this, so if you want to be in the front row, be there early. The interior view of the Palace is amazing.

Amalienborg Palace Inside view

The present Christiansborg Castle is the third Christiansborg Palace on this particular site. The first two castles were burnt in 1794 and 1992. The new castle was rebuilt and inaugurated in 1997. Now it is the seat of the Danish Parliament, the Prime Minister’s department and the Supreme Court, the Palace houses the Royal Reception Rooms which are open for guided tours, as well as the ruins of Bishop Absalon’s Castle from the 12th century and Copenhagen Castle.  

Remaining from the first Christiansborg are the Royal Stables. The site now also features the ‘Royal Stables and Coach Museum’, the Theatre Museum in Christian VII’s old court theatre, and the peaceful oasis of the Royal Library Gardens.

The Kastellet is a shimmering throwback right on Copenhagen’s busy harbor.  Near the waterways that helped bring the city to prominence as a strategic port, the only thing it seems to guard now is the Little Mermaid statue that sits nearby.  

Kastellet

Kastellet Mermaid

You enter over one of two bridges over the moat which surrounds the pentagram shaped outer walls. Once inside, the most striking thing about it is just how attractive the multi coloured buildings are as they sit along the various traditional cobbled walkways. You’ll enjoy just walking around and looking at the different structures, but bear in mind that this is still a military operated facility. 

The fortress is laid out like a pentagram, made up of five bastions surrounding a church and windmill and other interior structures. It was constructed in a view of self-sufficient during war.

One of the most recognizable buildings in Copenhagen is the Old Stock Exchange or Borsen. This imposing Renaissance structure was built by King Christian IV between 1620 and 1640 with the aim of establishing Copenhagen as a commercial centre and metropolis. Actually it represents the twisted tails of three dragons topped by 3 globes and 3 crowns. The crowns represent the countries of Denmark, Sweden and Norway.

The Old Stock Exchange (Børsen) is built on the gravel filled embankment and dam to Christianshavn - where the foundations were laid on wood piles, which is still supporting the existing construction from that time.

The Stock building was designed in the Dutch Renaissance style with its prominent top of four dragons with their tails twisting towards the top. The tower and spire is almost 60 meters high and the entire building.

Old Stock Exchange - Børsen

The construction of the Charlottenborg Palace began in 1672, as the Dutch baroque residence for the Norwegian governor Ulrik Frederik Gyldenløve, the illegitimate son of the Danish King Frederik III. Today it also houses Kunsthal Charlottenborg, an institution for contemporary art, and Danmarks Kunstbibliotek, the Royal Art Library.

Charlottenborg is in full effect at Kongens Nytorv Italian ancestry, in his Lay it recalls the French castles, but in its material effect is the Dutch. Charlottenborg is a landmark in Copenhagen building history. It forms the beginning of a whole new neighborhood outside the medieval city ramparts, it marks the baroque entry in Copenhagen, and it represents the absolute monarchy first major construction work in the capital.

Charlottenborg

The Natural History Museum of Denmark contains botanical, zoological and geological objects collected over 400 years on journey to all corners of the world. You can see big meteorites weighing, rare fossils to carnivorous plants and beautiful orchids.

National History Museum zoological objects

The purpose of the museum is to promote research within the field of natural history and to make the public aware of the scientific results within this area.

Frederiksborg Palace is situated on three islets in the castle lake in Hillerød, north of Copenhagen. The palace, which is surrounded by the beautiful Frederiksborg Palace Garden, was built in the Dutch Renaissance style at the beginning of the 1600s by King Christian 4.

Beautiful baroque garden-The Palace Garden was laid out as a romantic landscaped garden. In the garden you will find King Frederik 2's small Bath House Palace (Badstueslot) which is occasionally used by the Royal Family for hunt lunches.

Beautiful baroque garden Frederiksborg Palace 

The collection of the Coat of Arms- At the present there are more than 3,500 shields spread all over the Order gallery - staircases and in the attic due to limited space and status.

Tivoli Gardens amusement park in Copenhagen is a must for all visitors to the city, young and old. Tivoli is located just a few minutes walk from City Hall, and with the Copenhagen Central Station as its nearest neighbour it is very easy to get to.

The entrance to Tivoli Gardens, in Copenhagen. Created in 1843

A romantic urban pleasure ground in the centre of Copenhagen, opened in 1843. Like most of the city's parks, it was made within the old fortifications. It's the second-oldest theme park in the world and one of the world’s most popular seasonal theme park. Tivoli Gardens uses only renewal energy through wind mill installed here makes it world’s first amusement park to use green energy.

Tivoli Gardens has a lake, demon modern roller coaster, one wooden roller coaster, a concert hall along with some hotel and restaurants like the pan-Asian restaurant, Nimb Hotel, an open open stage for music band.

Nimb Hotel

Star flyer at Tivoli gardens

The ride is structured as featuring Tycho Brahe's universe with planets, quadrants, zodiacal armillary, telescopes and astronomical symbols. In the evenings the illuminated Star Flyer forms a visual attraction together with the rest of the illuminations in the Gardens.

It was made out of timber and painted canvas and after a series of rebuilding and major repairs, it was finally decided to replace it with a more up-to-date building in 1873. The pantomime theatre is an open-air theatre in Chinese style was inaugurated in 1874. Its hand-operated metal curtain unfolds as a peacock’s tail. The venue is also used for concerts and ballet dance performances. 

Most people are more familiar with Kronborg Castle as Elsinore, the name William Shakespeare given upon it in Hamlet. Kronborg has long been considered an important example of a Renaissance castle. Construction had begun in 1574 on a strategic land on the body of water that forms a border between Denmark and Sweden. For centuries it protected the Danish people and carried state dignitaries. Now it is one of the most renowned tourist attractions in Denmark. People may choose from a variety of activities onsite. One of the most popular is a guided tour called In Halmlet’s Footsteps.

Kronborg Castle

Klampenborg is a northern suburb to Copenhagen, Denmark. It is located in Gentofte Municipality, situated on Øresund, between Taarbæk and Skovshoved. Like other neighbourhoods along the Øresund coast, Klampenborg is an affluent area with many large houses. Klampenborg is known for a cluster of building projects by the Functionalist Danish architect Arne Jacobsen. These include Bellevue Beach.

Bellevue beach Life guard tower

Dyrehavsbakken (Deer Park Hill)

Dyrehavsbakken (Deer Park Hill) is an amusement park in the town of Klampenborg on the island of Sjaelland (Zealand) about 12 km north of Copenhagen (København). The park is generally referred to simply as ‘Bakken’ (The Hill). The history of the park dates back to the late 16th century, and it is the oldest amusement park in the world. 

There are 5 roller coasters in the park. The roller coaster named ‘Rutschebanen’ which opened in 1932 is a park favourite. This is old wooden roller has stood the test of time as is still thrilling park visitors every year. The ‘American Coaster Enthusiasts’ association give recognition to this roller coaster as being classic roller coaster.

The Round Tower (Rundetårn) is one of the oldest astronomical observatories in Europe, and it is the oldest one still in use today. The tower stands 34.8 meter high and it is attached to the Trinitatis Chuch (Trinitatis Kirke). The Round Tower has a unique architectural feature to Europe.  The tower has an enormous spiral walkway to the top of the tower. The walkway is 210 meters long and it is wide enough to accommodate a car. In fact there have been quite a few cars to drive to the top of the tower. The first car to drive to the top was a German Beaufort in 1902. The Round Tower was actually designed to allow horse drawn carriages to ride to the top of the tower. 

The most impressive feature of the Round Tower is that in the evenings from mid-October until mid-March the public is welcome to come and view the stars and planets through the observatory’s powerful telescope.  Also during the summer months the public is welcome to come and have a look at the sun the observatory’s telescope.  It was originally built for astronomers and scientists and very few places in the world the public can have the opportunity to view the wonders of space through a professional astronomer grade telescope.

Legoland is a city of toys are made from small pieces of plastic are becoming more sophisticated every day. Lego games were born here and in recognition of a miniature city built in honor of its creator. Legoland is located approximately 3 km away from Billund Airport (Billund Lufthavn). The park obviously has the toy LEGO as the theme. Originally the park started out as an exhibition of houses and landmarks from around the world built out of LEGO bricks.

Legoland consists of countless Lego blocks built with creativity and craftsmanship alike. You'll walk past entire countries built in small scale, entirely out of lego pieces. You're allowed to bring your own food into the park but there are countless food stands and cafes.

Legoland

Egeskov has stood in its beautiful location in the landscape of Southern Funen. The name Egeskov originally stems from an estate of the same name and, today, Egeskov is famous for being the best preserved moat castle in Europe.

Take a closer look at the interior of Egeskov in the castle guide which provides an overview of both the ground floor and first floor of the building. See also the timeline of all Egeskov's owners and the facts page which offers fascinating details such as the fact that the castle has some 2,000 window panes.

Egeskov Castle interior