I strongly suspect the vast majority of visitors to Denmark never leave Copenhagen which is a shame. The quaint coastal town Helsingor, Denmark moves at a slower pace than the capital city but it is very itinerary worthy, even for first time visitors.
Capital cities are great but they tend to be very cosmopolitan and English-speaking friendly. If you want a true cultural experience, be sure to spend some time in the smaller towns where not everyone speaks your language and especially unlikely to find a menu in English.
When researching places to visit, Helsingor immediately stood out as its a beautiful harbor town with over 600 years of seafaring history. The name is derived from the word hals meaning neck, referring to the narrow sound between Helsingor and Sweden. Also known as Elsinore, it was initially used as a fortified landing site in the 1200s but founded as the town you see today in the early 1400s by Eric of Pomerania. He immediately imposed a toll on all ships passing through the sound. This lead to a great boon of wealth and the establishment of Kronborg Castle. By the late 1600s it was the third largest city in Denmark.
Table of Contents
Getting There
Getting to Helsingor by train is very easy. The train station is under terminal 3 and signs are posted and easy to follow. We headed straight there after we landed and boarded a train less than 10 minutes after buying our ticket at a kiosk. The cost for a one way ticket was approximately $15pp and the ride took right at an hour. The train station in Helsingor is small but centrally located and actually quite beautiful. It was built in 1891.
There is a 7-11 here which seems silly to mention. However we learned quickly lunch is the most popular meal here and many restaurants close early. The 7-11 has an array of hot and cold ready to serve items. We ate here several times. I particularly loved the chia pudding topped with granola, peanut butter, yogurt, and fruit preserves. I had one every day for breakfast.
A Place to Stay
When we travel we prefer to maximize our touring time by being as central as possible. Bonus points if we can walk everywhere. There are only 2 hotels in the immediate downtown area: Hotel Skandia and Hotel Hamlet. Both appear nice and have decent reviews. However, generally speaking, we find Airbnb to be really cost effective in Europe. The place we really wanted to stay was not available our first night so we went with our second choice. It was a cute garden guesthouse a few short blocks from downtown. It was actually a little bigger than we needed as it had 2 loft bedrooms and could sleep 6. Our 3 night stay came to $356.
The beds were comfortable and after nearly 24 hours of travel thanks to layovers and canceled flights, we slept a solid 9-10 hours the first night. We chose the loft with the window over the front entrance. The window was right next to the bed and we left it open at night. The cool fresh air and sound of birds quietly chirping as the sun came up was a great reset. We had very little jet lag.
Where to Eat & Drink
Finding a good place to eat in Helsingor, Denmark is a bit….complicated. As stated before, the most popular meal of the day is lunch and many places close early in the evening. If you are a true foodie I will unlikely answer this question to your satisfaction. There are a few well rated places here that were way out of our budget and as we were here for only a short time, we wanted to stick to quick, easy, and not overly expensive.
On arrival we headed directly to Kobenhavnern. It was listed online as a biergarten but we found it to be more of a pub. We had hoped to eat dinner here but were informed on arrival they only serve lunch. The food looked really good from what I’d seen online so I was disappointed we never actually ate here. This is when we were told our food options late at night were bad kebabs or bad pizza. We opted for 7-11.
We did however enjoy a few beers and some very entertaining conversation with curious locals. Perhaps my favorite question asked was, “There were some Canadians in here earlier, do you know them?” along with various questions about gun laws in America. The windows are full of steins and there are knick knacks everywhere. But in spite of this, there isn’t a drop of dust anywhere. The bar is immaculate and the bartender explained the owners take great pride in the bar and cleanliness in general. It definitely shows.
One day we had lunch at Vaerftets Madmarked. It’s a food court with multiple international food options as well as a craft beer bar. There is in an interesting array of antique mismatched furniture to use while you enjoy your meal. The Fish Project is easily the most popular food booth and serves a variety of fresh fried seafood baskets.
Easily one of my favorite meals we had during our stay was the ready to go meal purchased at a local grocery store. It had seasoned bacon wrapped steaks with veggies ready to be popped in the oven for the low price of only $10! Our whole meal to include wine and goat cheese salad was only $33. Half the adventure is getting to explore the supermarket. Denmark is known for being expensive but there is no way I’d find something similar and at this price in the states.
