There is a stretch of Denmark where the road seems to caress the sea rather than follow it. From Copenhagen to Helsingør, where Denmark almost touches Sweden across the Øresund Strait, a short journey of around 50 kilometres becomes a slow, hypnotic voyage through design, literature, architecture and landscape. Here, the coast slips in and out of beech forests, brushes past fishing villages with steep roofs and pastel façades, and opens suddenly onto beaches where the sea stretches toward a barely visible horizon. It is an itinerary best enjoyed without haste: stop often, wander freely, and let discovery do the rest.
Zealand: light, water and cultural icons
North of Copenhagen lies Zealand, Denmark’s largest island. A land of wind, water and immaculate order, it offers an extraordinary concentration of cultural landmarks set against a calm yet moody sea. The undisputed star of the coast is the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, founded in 1958 by patron Knud W. Jensen. Perched directly above the Øresund, Louisiana is not simply a museum but a total experience: art, architecture and landscape melt into one. With around ten major exhibitions each year and a permanent collection of more than 3,500 works—including pieces by Giacometti, Asger Jorn and Picasso—it easily deserves an entire day. Sculpture gardens slope gently toward the sea, while glass corridors frame the water like living paintings.
Klampenborg: seaside modernism
The first stop after leaving Copenhagen is Klampenborg, a seaside resort with a refined, slightly nostalgic charm. Its beaches are lined with 1930s lifeguard towers and leisure structures designed by Arne Jacobsen, the great master of Danish modernism. Jacobsen’s unmistakable white forms—rational, playful, and optimistic—are still in use today, from the iconic open-roof theatre to the circular petrol station that looks like a futuristic sculpture. Klampenborg is not only about architecture: it is also a place to slow down, breathe in the salty air, and enjoy the understated elegance of Danish seaside life.
Ordrupgaard: art among trees and glass
Just inland, surrounded by lawns and old trees, lies Ordrupgaard Museum, home to one of Northern Europe’s most important collections of French and Danish art from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Inside the former country house, pastel-coloured rooms host masterpieces by Manet, Degas, Renoir, Gauguin, alongside Nordic painters such as Vilhelm Hammershøi and L.A. Ring. Art continues outdoors, where sculptures punctuate the park and bold contemporary architecture expands the experience. The striking black lava-concrete and glass extension designed by Zaha Hadid adds a dramatic, sculptural counterpoint, while newer underground galleries transform the museum’s roof into what looks like a monumental artwork itself.
Finn Juhl House: a manifesto of Nordic creativity
A short walk through the woods leads to one of the most intimate highlights of the journey: the Finn Juhl House. Designed in the 1940s by architect and designer Finn Juhl as his private home, the house remains exactly as he conceived it. White rooms warmed by wooden floors host legendary furniture pieces—the Chieftain Chair, the Pelican armchair—alongside everyday objects designed by Juhl himself. Here, Nordic design reveals its deepest essence: human scale, craftsmanship, harmony between form and life. Even cutlery, plates and colour palettes were personally designed, turning the house into a complete, lived-in work of art.
Rungstedlund: in Karen Blixen’s footsteps
Continuing north, the coast invites another pause at Rungsted, home to Karen Blixen Museum. This is where the celebrated author of Out of Africa and Babette’s Feast spent most of her life when not in Kenya. The rooms are filled with light, flowers and deeply personal objects: her travel gramophone, drawings, books, fountain pen, and the chair from her African farm once used by her great love, Denys Finch Hatton. It is a quiet, moving place—part literary shrine, part lived home—best visited without rushing. Afterwards, stroll down to the marina, where colourful houses host nautical boutiques and relaxed restaurants serving smørrebrød on rye bread, smoked herring and other classics of Nordic cuisine.
Helsingør: Hamlet, harbours and maritime dreams
As the Øresund narrows to less than four kilometres, Helsingør appears, crowned by one of Denmark’s most famous landmarks: Kronborg Castle, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This Renaissance fortress is the setting of Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Ironically, the playwright never saw it in person—he imagined its splendour through stories of royal banquets held in the vast ballroom, once the largest in Europe and still breathtaking today. At the castle’s feet, a former dry dock has been transformed into one of Denmark’s most striking museums: the M/S Maritime Museum of Denmark, designed by BIG – Bjarke Ingels Group. Descending below sea level, visitors move through suspended walkways, projections and ship models embedded in raw concrete walls. The sensation is uncanny and poetic—as if standing inside a vessel ready to sail.
Practical information
How to get there
From Copenhagen rent a car or take regional trains departing from Østerport Station.
Where to stay
Skovshoved Hotel (Charlottenlund): family-run boutique hotel in a 17th-century building, many rooms with sea views.
Hotel Hamlet (Helsingør): simple, Nordic-style rooms in the historic centre, soft colours and classic boiserie.
Where to eat
Den Gule Cottage (Klampenborg): intimate restaurant in a yellow thatched cottage by the beach, excellent fish dishes.
Kadetten (Helsingør): a social economy enterprise café and lunch restaurant offering homemade food made with local ingredients.
Why this journey matters
This coastal route is not just a succession of stops, but a portrait of Denmark itself: restrained yet imaginative, deeply rooted in nature, and quietly radical in its approach to art, design and daily life. A journey where the landscape sets the rhythm—and culture follows, effortlessly.
