Traveling in Denmark
by bicycle
Exploring new roads in new countries can give you the feeling of freedom. It’s what most people are looking for, but there are three countries I choose where you’ll experience the best road bike experience. I compared beauty, weather conditions, kind of roads, etc.
Denmark
This is a small country in contrary to the cycle giants as Italy and France. It distinguishes itself from those by having many and long cycle routes. Denmark is also a bicycle friendly country and it innovates more and more into road cycling. In Copenhagen the Green Wave System ensures that the traffic lights are in favour of cyclists. Besides the bicycle opportunity there are ways to enjoy your tour because of the beauty of Denmarks nature. It has cliffs at the sea, but evenmore very nice wooded areas.
Common routes
Pilgrims Route. It’s a beautiful cycling tour during your trip to Scandinavia. Your trip to the North will start when you drive past Hamburg in Germany into Denmark. You’ll pass through the beautiful inland after which you even could deside to continue your journey to Sweden and Norway. The whole route through Europe is 5.500 kilometres long and passes through 7 countries. It’s incredible!
The North Sea Cycle route is also a trail that passes through a part of Europe. As its name suggests it comes along the sea. What makes this so special in Denmark is that you’ll cycle the whole track along the sea. The seaside has white sand, clear water, high dunes and a vast nature. You’ll find one of the highlights in Hvide Sande. You could surf out there, attend a whiskey tasting or learn about this fisherman’s village. In spite of the fact that the wind won’t always be in your favour, this 779 kilometres long track will be worth it.
The cycleroute through the ‘Jylland’ is also recommended. It looks like the Pilgrimroute, but also has his own places of beauty. You’ll mostly cycle through little towns with colorful residences. Besides those little towns in Denmark there are very many farms for sale. You’ll notice them a lot of times. They practically belong to the whole picture. After a peaceful ride you could also continue your trip to Sweden or Norway.
The wind that blows over Denmark generally comes out of the South. That’s why I recommend to cycle from South to North, instead of heading to South (a.k.a the headwind). Especially along the coastline. Although, it would be quite a challenge to ride it the opposite way. I hope to cross paths with one of you on the ways of, as Danes call it, the ‘Jylland’.
Green Wave System
Do you also need to stop everytime you come across a red traffic light? It’s very annoying for us cyclists, but in Denmark they came up with a solution for that problem. In this day and age 9 out of 10 Danes own a bike and 4 out of 10 own a car. Since 2016 there are even more bikes than cars in Denmarks capital. Despite this record, there are still thoughts to make cycling in the cyties even more save.
Greenwave is one of the innovations that’s made for this problem. LED lights in the asphalt or on other spots light up a ‘green wave’. It will let the cyclists notice if he or she could pass through the green lights when cycling with this particular speed. Sometimes there will be used a countdown. If the cyclist continues to bike at the same speed he will make it to the next green light, and the next, and the one after that. The system consists out of crossroads and traffic lights. Because of that connection there’s a good coordination between the road users and it ensures a flow in traffic. In the city it’s very convenient, given that we cyclists won’t have to wait in front of a red traffic light as usual.
The government created this system to occur an advantage for the cyclists. It used to be in favor of car drivers. We hope because of that change the population will choose for a bike ride, instead of a ‘gassy’ car ride. And hopefully people will choose the road bike. Confidently the society will grow to more healthy and sportive. Personally, I think the Danish government is making a good choice. Currently you only can find Greenwave in Copenhagen, but what is expected is that it will only expand. And in my opinion they could begin to use this method all around the world.
Besides the Greenwave System there will be invested more and more in blind spot warning devices. Maybe you’ve already heard about it. Again LED lights will be installed into asphalt or onto traffic signs. The lights turn on when there’s a cyclist in your blindspot. This innovation ensures that the drivers attention will be focused ont the car’s blindspot in a more convenient way. With this Denmark hopes to guarantee the cyclists safety. Another good reason to road bike in Denmark.
Nature
Denmark consists of the peninsula Jutland and more than 400 other islands. Denmarks climate is very similar tot he Dutch and German weather conditions. Nevertheless, the sun shines a bit more in summer. Besides the magnificent coast with vast beaches Denmark has lots of rolling hills, heathland, rivers and beech and pine forests. The last one looks a lot like the typical Scandinavian mother nature. Despite that, the Danish nature has a great number of beautiful lakes that are worth visiting and you probably can throw in your rod. An advantage for us cyclists is the fact that most of Denmarks cycling tracks are flat.
But if you are looking for a really fine coast, I would choose to go to the island Bornholm, located in the Baltic Sea. It has the most sunhours and everything Denmarks mother nature has to offer on one island.
Jutland is a peninsula that extends itself starting at Europes mainland. So it’s an enormous area with beautiful natural parks like the Thy National Park, that primarily consists out of dunes and shrubs. Denmarks wildest nature is in Northern Denmark. Rough enimals, roug beaches, a.k.a, a calm before the storm. Eastern Jutland mainly consist out of picturesque fisherman’s villages and ancient farms. It’s a great area to cycle, walk and enjoy Danish culture.
You can combine a citytrip to Denmarks capital Copenhagen and a cyclingtrip perfectly at the island Seeland. It consists of a green, calm nature and obviously sandy beaches. If you finished the in-and-outs of Copenhagen there are three musea I would recommend to take a quick look at: House of Amber, the Botanic Museum and the Museum of Natural History.
All in all I’m convinced as I am cycling I’m enjoying nature so much more. You could say you’re starring in a 5-D, 6-D, 7-D or maybe even an 8-D movie. It’s worth it to find out Denmarks true nature for yourself by cycling through several nature areas.
Bike shops
The hourly rate you would pay for fixing your bike in Denmark is around €27. To get your bicycle a tune-up you would pay around 100 Danish Crowns, calculated €13,44. That would be the rate without taking any extra’s. Most towns contain a bike shop and city’s contain quite a lot, because Copenhagen counted 265.700 bikes in 2016. In the meantime that number has increased.
Traveling by boat
This summer I travelled from Gothenburg in Sweden to Frederikshavn in Denmark on board of the Stena Lines ferry. Everything was well cared for and the view out of your window was magnificent. It is very affordable to travel by ferry, especially if you book in time. With a road bike it’s perfect, because of that you are able to cycle in Sweden and after that continue your trip to Denmark. In several aspects the two countries looked similar, even though they are different in their own way. Besides Sweden, you can also travel from Norway and Lithuania to Northern Denmark. So there’s plenty of choice for a road bike holiday.