Trip of the week: a cycling tour of ‘pristine’ Zealand
Promoted by the tourist board as ‘the Danish Riviera’, it is rich in cultural sites
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
You are now subscribed
Your newsletter sign-up was successful
With its “quaint” fishing villages and peaceful sandy coves, the north coast of the Danish island of Zealand is “pristine perfection”, says Sudi Pigott in The Daily Telegraph.
Promoted by the tourist board as “the Danish Riviera”, it is rich in cultural sites – from medieval castles to modern art galleries – as well as excellent restaurants where young chefs feel free to experiment, away from the “frenzied competition” of the capital, which is only an hour away. Yet it remains “blissfully quiet”, unspoilt and understated – and a delight to explore by bicycle or e-bike on a self-guided tour with an operator such as Inntravel.
The “charming” town of Helsingør is full of half-timbered shops and cafés serving Flødeboller, the chocolate-and-marshmallow cakes that are a “childhood favourite” for most Danes. But it is better known for its huge medieval castle – the Elsinore of Shakespeare’s Hamlet – which towers over the narrowest point of the Øresund, the sea channel between Denmark and Sweden.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Six miles south, the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art occupies an equally “magical” coastal spot. Sculpture gardens tumble down to the shore, and the galleries house a collection that includes work by Picasso and Bacon. Not far beyond, in Rungsted, the “elegant” former home of Karen Blixen (the author of Out of Africa) is also worth a visit. It is now a museum, with a “resplendent” garden.
The region’s most important fishing port is Gilleleje. The town has an “unmistakable buzz”, with lots of “alluring” independent shops and good restaurants including Gilleleje Havn, which serves a local variety of lobster that is quite “heavenly”. But equally appealing are villages such as Sletten, Tisvilde and Snekkersten – and nothing can beat the cycling itself, past thatched cottages fringed with hollyhocks, through quiet woodlands and along seashore paths where wild roses bloom in profusion.
Inntravel (inntravel.co.uk) has a four-night trip from £1,066pp, excluding flights
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
The environmental cost of GLP-1sThe explainer Producing the drugs is a dirty process
-
Greenland’s capital becomes ground zero for the country’s diplomatic straitsIN THE SPOTLIGHT A flurry of new consular activity in Nuuk shows how important Greenland has become to Europeans’ anxiety about American imperialism
-
‘This is something that happens all too often’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Arcadia: Tom Stoppard’s ‘masterpiece’ makes a ‘triumphant’ returnThe Week Recommends Carrie Cracknell’s revival at the Old Vic ‘grips like a thriller’
-
My Father’s Shadow: a ‘magically nimble’ love letter to LagosThe Week Recommends Akinola Davies Jr’s touching and ‘tender’ tale of two brothers in 1990s Nigeria
-
Send Help: Sam Raimi’s ‘compelling’ plane-crash survival thrillerThe Week Recommends Rachel McAdams stars as an office worker who gets stranded on a desert island with her boss
-
Book reviews: ‘Hated by All the Right People: Tucker Carlson and the Unraveling of the Conservative Mind’ and ‘Football’Feature A right-wing pundit’s transformations and a closer look at one of America’s favorite sports
-
Catherine O'Hara: The madcap actress who sparkled on ‘SCTV’ and ‘Schitt’s Creek’Feature O'Hara cracked up audiences for more than 50 years
-
6 gorgeous homes in warm climesFeature Featuring a Spanish Revival in Tucson and Richard Neutra-designed modernist home in Los Angeles
-
Touring the vineyards of southern BoliviaThe Week Recommends Strongly reminiscent of Andalusia, these vineyards cut deep into the country’s southwest
-
Nan Goldin: The Ballad of Sexual Dependency – an ‘engrossing’ exhibitionThe Week Recommends All 126 images from the American photographer’s ‘influential’ photobook have come to the UK for the first time