Like an Antony Gormley set up on an epic scale, on the northern tip of Denmark folks collect of their a whole lot to stroll out into the ocean. Not any previous little bit of sea although, for that is Grenen, the place the waves of the Skagerrak strait and Kattegat sea collide throughout a sand spit tapering far out into the darkish waters. Swimming in these wild currents is strictly forbidden.
Grenen, which means “the department”, is the ultimate outstretched finger of Skagen Odde, The Skaw in English, a 25km-long peninsula of shifting sands, lighthouses, half-buried church buildings, huge skies and herrings. In an period of world warming, might its white sands quickly be giving the Med a run for its cash?
Skagen Odde has lengthy been beloved of artists — drawn by the “blue hour” when sea and sky type an opalescent continuum — and well-heeled folks from Copenhagen, turning up in Vary Rovers to go to their summer season houses. “It’s our Cape Cod,” says a Danish pal. However many different Europeans wouldn’t have the foggiest.
Its remoteness is its attraction. It took my spouse Gabrielle and me about two-and-a-half hours to drive from the closest vital airport, at Aarhus, crossing a pancake-flat panorama of fields and forests, as we sought a detox quick break from British politics.
You’ll assume that going as soon as can be sufficient. However vacationers are drawn again to Skagen Odde time and again to expertise one thing elemental, simply as each evening they collect to look at the sundown, applauding because the purple disc slides beneath the horizon, colouring the sky scarlet.
The panorama right here is on the transfer. Migrating sand dunes continually redraw the map in these components, even obliterating settlements. Residents used to must dig out the doorway to the 14th-century St Laurence’s church earlier than each service. Round 1795 they gave up and deserted it — right this moment solely the tower stays, its base buried within the sand. It makes a well-liked vacation spot for stroll or bike trip from Skagen, the peninsula’s most important city.
With its yellow-painted gingerbread homes and picket fences, Skagen is Denmark’s most northerly city and is embedded within the nationwide psyche. It turn out to be well-known from the top of the nineteenth century after it was adopted by a colony of artists, drawn by the easy life-style and the area’s astonishing mild.
At present, their work could be seen on the Skagens Museum, which additionally offers a glimpse of the lives of fishermen and farmers right here on the flip of the century. Guests can keep just a few steps away on the Brondums Resort, the place artists equivalent to Michael and Anna Ancher and PS Krøyer slept, ate and drank, donating works to assist cowl their payments.
There are apparent parallels right here with different fishing villages adopted by artists at across the identical time — assume St Ives or Collioure — however Skagen has a twin identification, which can or might not add to its attraction, relying in your tastes. As a result of alongside the half-timbered cottages is a severe fishing port.
The city’s charming lanes and fin de siècle accommodations don’t supply views of boats bobbing in a small harbour; the entire seafront is dominated by an enormous port and odoriferous fish processing plant, with huge trawlers bringing in catches from a number of the world’s most harmful waters.
However the fish is definitely recent. Skagen Fiskerestaurant, down on the port, serves up lobster rolls, oysters and native craft beer, whereas up the coast at Skagen’s gray lighthouse is the atmospheric Blink, serving nice fish, a exceptional vary of greens and broad vistas.
To get to the seashores and the spit at Grenen it’s good to head barely out of city both on foot or — more likely — by bicycle. Skagen is designed for biking: flat and clearly marked bike routes take you out to the migrating dunes or to Gammel Skagen (Outdated Skagen), a former fishing group that now provides some upmarket accommodations, summerhouses and noteworthy sunsets.
There’s a lot to occupy you in Skagen, from galleries and boutiques to quaint tea outlets and bakeries with spectacular pastries. And one also can witness the Danish apply, which by no means ceases to amaze folks visiting from elsewhere: parking a sleeping baby in a pram outdoors a café (typically out of sight) whereas the dad and mom tuck right into a meal inside.
In your solution to Skagen, be certain that to cease off at Aalborg, the largest metropolis in northern Jutland and now firmly established as a number one cultural centre with a glowing waterfront. Residents of the commercial city declare in surveys to be among the many happiest in Europe.
The one query is when to go. The vacationer authorities market the area as the right place for some Danish winter hygge, when snow lies on the seashores and the sands of Grenen really feel like the top of the world.
The summer season is the apparent reply, though Skagen will get busy in July, particularly across the infamous “Week 29”, which is spoken about in reverential tones because the week when Denmark descends upon the city to occasion.
We went in September because the nights began to attract in, with the Copenhagen elite again at their desks. However the thought of vacation crowds is relative on this a part of the world. The seashores of Skagen are by no means prone to be confused with the Costa del Sol — a minimum of not but.
George Parker is the FT’s political editor
For extra info on visiting the world, see enjoynordjylland.dk. Brondums Resort (broendums-hotel.dk) has doubles from about DKK1,230 (£140)
Methods to hire your individual Danish summerhouse
Retreating to a country summerhouse has lengthy been a part of the Scandinavian custom, an annual celebration of friluftsliv (outside residing). Cabins are handed down between generations and infrequently utilized by prolonged households, however most have historically remained past the attain of international guests. That’s now altering, partially due to a younger firm primarily based in Aarhus and based by seven former Airbnb staff, which has managed to encourage personal house owners to hire out their summerhouses for the primary time.
“On common these summerhouses have been standing empty for 300 days of the 12 months, so there was this large untapped useful resource,” says Cathrine Reimann, one of many founders of Landfolk.
The corporate was created in early 2021, and by June that 12 months it had 100 homes on its books. With new funding it grew quickly, increasing to Norway, Sweden and Germany. At present it provides about 2,500 properties, 1,500 of them in Denmark; 70 per cent of the homes had not beforehand been let. In contrast to Airbnb, house owners should apply to have their property assessed for potential inclusion; Reimann says about half of candidates are rejected.
On Skagen Odde, about 30 summerhouses are presently obtainable by way of Landfolk. They embody Hamilton Home (pictured above), a black-and-white-painted wood cottage with thatched roof and flagpole, set among the many dunes to the north-west of Skagen. Constructed by a Swedish rely in 1929, it sleeps eight and has a big terrace from which to look at the sundown (from about €3,300 for 5 nights, together with cleansing and heating). Alternatively, there’s a newly constructed architect-designed cabin (pictured beneath) in Kandestederne, with blonde-wood partitions, a sedum roof, wood-burning range and outside scorching tub and bathe (sleeps as much as 10, from €2,058 for 5 nights). landfolk.com
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