means on water. People travelling in “by motorpower” are not allowed.
The book ”Overnatning i det fri”, which means Overnight in the Open, describes these sites and can be bought at local tourist offices and bookstores.
Island-Camps or
"Ø-Lejr" are also popular with Danish families. The camps are mostly situated on small islands, some of which have no roads and traffic. Groups often get together and stay in tents and cook meals around an open fire. There are several activities at each camp and usually with pre-arranged themes from canoeing in kayaks to music and dance.
Alternatively, 95 hostels in Denmark are affiliated with the
Danhostel chain and this is where backpackers of all ages meet and sleep in dormitories or in family rooms...
Eating there… Free Oysters (and splash out on the champagne). When the tides go out on the Wadden Sea in West Jutland each day in autumn, join a group of Oyster hunters and bag a FREE supper. Guided trips to the best places are organised at the
Vadehavscentret and cost £24 per person but what ever you find you can keep to take home.
Alternatively, pick your own fruit from local farms and in certain areas of the country join the Danes as they gather in late summer to go
mushroom hunting. The best harvest is from July until the end of October and whilst some sites remain a closely guarded secret, the Danish Forest and Nature Agency, the Danish Society for Nature Conservation or the local tourist offices can all arrange guided mushroom tours.
Food festivals... All across the country food festivals offer a flavour of the local delicacies and a chance to bag some FREE samples. From 21-30 August 2009 the 5th
Copenhagen Cooking Festival takes place in the city.
It’s also possible to mussel in on the action at the
Løgstør Mussel Festival from 2-4 July 2009. An easy 50 minute bus ride from
Aalborg and aptly named Denmark's 'Town of Mussels',
Løgstør is a charming market town with a lively harbour on the picturesque Limfjorden strait. It is well known for its annual mussel harvest celebrations and mussel festival, where locals and visitors alike get to taste different types of
mussels and oysters.
Picnics in the Park... Where ever Danes can find a spot to set out a blanket they feel FREE to have a picnic and BBQ in the summer. So to really live like a Dane pack a picnic or go to a deli near a park and buy a ready made picnic basket filled with food and wine.
The newly renovated Nørrebro park in Copenhagen is a very popular spot with special BBQ tables in the middle of the park. In Aarhus they tend to go to the Botanical Garden or Mindeparken.
All over Denmark there are FREE ACTIVITIES for everyone to enjoy. Here’s just a sample of what’s on offer this summer.....
Treffpunkt means ‘meeting place’ and is a national scheme run by local tourist offices for children to meet other children on holiday. Most of the activities take place during July and August and it cost £4 per person to join but this then gives FREE access to a whole range of activities.
City Cards are a great way to enjoy a whole range of attractions FREE of charge and get discounts on activities and restaurants, plus FREE travel within certain parts of the cities and on regional buses.
City Cards are available in the major cities of Copenhagen, Aarhus, Aalborg and Odense. A 24-Hour Aalborg Card, for example, costs approx. 179 Danish Kroner (£22) and 89 Danish Kroner (£10.50) for children aged 3-11years.
Free Open air cinema... During July and August the Danish TV Channel
Zulu presents FREE movies throughout the major cities in Denmark. The movies are shown in their original version with Danish subtitles.
Free Concerts every Wednesday... In both spring and autumn hear students from the Royal Conservatory of Music perform (primarily classical) works in some of the most beautiful churches in Copenhagen and other extraordinary venues every
Wednesday. The concerts are FREE of charge.
Jazz Festivals... Denmark is also swinging into summer with an exciting calendar of
Jazz festivals and performances across the country that will have visitors tapping their toes in delight.
Free art gallery preview shows... Take a tour of Copenhagen's many art galleries, completely FREE. Or, if you want to feel even more exclusive, get along to an exhibition preview. See the art before everyone else and enjoy a glass of wine and a little snack. Most galleries in the inner city have previews on Fridays from 5 pm. The new, hip gallery,
Larm Galleri, in the Copenhagen district Valby, has no less than five galleries in one. The gallery, which is located in an old cardboard box factory, has previews on Thursdays.
The Aarhus Festival... This annual festival is of major importance to all of Scandinavia, involving almost all the inhabitants in the city of Aarhus and takes place from 28 August - 6 September. With 100s of shows, theatre performances, concerts, opera, ballet, music and sports with several free performances. This year's theme is:
Dance! Free admission to many museums... In Copenhagen,
Statens Museum for Kunst and the
National Museum are both FREE all day, whilst the
Glyptotek (Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek) is FREE on Sundays and the
Danish Design Centre is FREE on Wednesday from 5 o/c to 9 o/c.
Hans Christian Andersen’s birthday in
Odense Each year on 2 April it has become is a tradition in Odense to celebrate the birthday of Hans Christian Andersen at his house, in the town, with FREE admission all day. In addition a ceremony takes places in which a local schoolboy is awarded a scholarship. The scholarship was first instituted by the poet himself and has been awarded on this day ever since 1878.
Icons for Now in
Aarhus is a new, permanent exhibition in the city of Aarhus, on the East Jutland coast, that has been put together by the
Aarhus Art Building. With colourful paintings by ten renowned Danish and international street artists decorating the gables, streets and facades in the area around the Aarhus Art Building, this unique exhibition is a first of its kind in Scandinavia.
Vikingemuseet in Aarhus Following a major refurbishment last year, see into a window on the Viking world of ‘Aros’ at the city’s Viking museum where some 1200 years ago the Vikings founded Aarhus on the very same spot. The museum is FREE and presents a range of artefacts which have not seen the light of day for a thousand years.