Hello, I’m back with another travelogue (previous travelogue can be found here)! This is the last instalment of the Denmark travelogue and it’s going to be about the places outside Copenhagen that we have visited. Out of the 8 days we spent in Denmark, 4 were spent outside Copenhagen – so without further ado, let’s start!

1) Legoland

Legoland Billund Resort, opened in 1968, is the first and original Legoland park, with millions flocking to this theme park annually. It is located next to the original Lego factory and near Denmark’s second busiest airport, Billund Airport. When we were researching on where to go in Denmark, I decided (and persuaded X) that we should go to Legoland as we’ve never been to one and well, Denmark is where Lego is invented! I remember my mom buying my brother and I a box of basic Lego set (at that time, I think Lego was still very basic and didn’t have those kind of elaborated sets they offer now) and I love putting them together – building houses, people and weird-and-random-and-unknown things.

The easiest and most economical way for travellers to get there is via a train then bus:

Train from Copenhagen to Vejle

Vejle is the nearest train station to Legoland and that was where we planned to stay the night (after coming back from Legoland).

Orange tickets are discounted train tickets sold by DSB (the railway company in Denmark). These tickets are available, in limited quantities, only online (means have to pay with a credit card) and you can start purchasing the tickets 2 months before the date of departure. We “stalked” the website and purchased the discounted train tickets from Coepnhagen to Vejle at 1/3 of the original price!

Bus from Vejle to Legoland

Bus 43 and Bus 143 will take you from Vejle to Legoland, a journey of about 45 minutes. The buses come only every 1 hour (weekdays) or 2 hours (weekends) – you can use this website to check the frequency of the bus timings (use Google Chrome to translate the website).

Bus tickets at priced at DKK 60 each (confirmed as at 16/8/2015) and they can be purchased from the ticketing machine or 7/11 cashier in the train station or directly on the bus from the bus driver. You can only pay cash on the bus while you can pay with either cash or credit card from the ticketing machine and 7/11. As the tickets are only valid up to a certain timing, only 1-way tickets can be purchased.

Legoland Prices

We purchased the Legoland admission tickets online (need to buy at least 7 days in advance), so we only paid DKK 279 per person instead of DKK 329 (for children, DKK 249 instead of DKK 299). We also brought our own food (a couple of sandwiches) and drinks into the park as it’s a lot cheaper than dining in the restaurants.

What’s in Legoland

The 45-acre park has a total of 9 themed areas – the park is definitely a lot more family-oriented as there are plenty of kid-friendly rides and even those supposedly exciting ones are not as thrilling as those in Tivoli Gardens or Bakken, but it’s always fun to see the Lego models – we haven’t been to any Legoland before, so it’s quite fun to see the Lego models, especially in Mini Land. Below is a gallery of some of the things we saw in Legoland (click on the images to read the description!)

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Time Spent

We reached the park around noon and initially wanted to leave around 5 p.m. but we missed the bus so we had to spend another hour waiting for the bus back – which was incredibly packed by then as the park was closing. So I’d suggest to reach earlier so that you can leave earlier with a smaller crowd.

Lastly…

Legoland opens only during certain season, so it’s best to check out their website for the opening hours (and also other essential information)!

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2) Odense

Odense is the third largest city in Denmark with a population of about 174,000, located 167 kilometres South-West of Copenhagen. Odense was our destination after Vejle, where we stayed there for 1 night.

We rented the bicycles from our AirBnB hosts and cycled our way through the whole of Odense, which is perhaps the best way to explore the city.

Another way to explore Odense is via a river cruise, which starts from Munke Mose (Mon’s Marsh), and stopped at Odense Zoo and Fruens Bøge (Lady’s Beech) – but the reviews on them is really 50/50, so we decided to give it a miss.

The Paper Boat, despite its name, is made of non-gloss stainless steel by Erik Heide and seen “sailing” in the lake of H.C. Andersen Garden, a beautiful place where we had our lunch (a sandwich that I made as food in Denmark is too expensive!)

One possible reason why Odense is popular among travellers is the fact that it is the birth-place of Hans Christian Andersen, author of many popular fairy tales – Little Mermaid, Ugly Duckling (my favourite!), The Emperor’s New Clothes, The Princess and the Pea, Thumbelina, The Little Match Girl… just to name a few!

In Odense, H.C. Andersen’s childhood home where he lived from 2 to 14 years old was converted into a museum in 1930.

Address:	H.C. Andersen’s Childhood Home Munkemøllestræde 3-5, 5000 Odense C
Opening hours:	1 Sep – 28 Jun: Tue – Sun 1100 – 1600 (Opened on certain Mondays, check the website) 29 Jun – 31 Aug: Mon – Sun 1000 – 1700 Closed on 24/24/25 Dec and 1 Jan.
Admission:	DKK 30 Free for those under 18

H.C. Andersen Festivals is a one-week event held in Odense once a year in August – and we were really lucky that we visited Odense during the festival (albeit only for a day). We managed to catch a play just outside H.C. Andersen Museum – it’s mainly in Danish with bits of English translation from the narrator – where we saw the characters in H.C. Andersen’s tales come to life. More information on the festival can be found here.

Address:	Hans Christian Andersen Museum Bangs Boder 29, 5000 Odense C
Opening hours:	1 Sep – 28 Jun: Tue – Sun 1000 – 1600 (Opened on certain Mondays, check the website) 29 Jun – 31 Aug: Mon – Sun 1000 – 1700 Closed on 24/24/25 Dec and 1 Jan.
Admission:	DKK 95 Free for those under 18

As Odense is the birth place of H.C. Andersen (and as he’s so popular), it’s only natural that there are plenty of sculptures related to him erected all over Odense – have fun finding them!

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3) Funen Village

If you are in Odense and have some time to spare, you might be interested in visiting Funen Village, an open-air museum that serves to present to visitors the lives of the people living in Funen during the 19th century.

As we visited there on a weekday, the village was a lot quieter (except for the school kids who were visiting the village that day) and there weren’t many activities being held. Funen Village is also a great place to have a picnic as they have plenty of benches all around the village.

Here are some photos of the place:

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Getting There

I don’t know why we did it but we actually cycled to Funen Village from Odense city – which took us about 20 to 30 minutes (Goggle Maps actually said 15 minutes but I’m a slow and terrible cyclist oops). The path is mostly flat with a bit of upslope along Læssøegade Road.

You can also take bus 110 or 111 towards Nr. Broby and alight at Den Fynske Landsby stop then walk less than 3 minutes to the place (timetable for the buses here). Or a train to Fruens Bøge Station but you will still have to walk about 15 minutes to reach the village.

If you happened to be on the river cruise, you can also alight at Fruens Bøge (Lady’s Beech) and walk from there, about 10 minutes.

Address:	The Funen Village / Den Fynske Landsby Sejerskovvej 20, DK-5260 Odense S
Opening hours:	28 Mar – 29 Jun & 17 Aug – 18 Oct: Tue – Sun 1000 – 1700 (Opened on certain Mondays, check the website) 30 Jun – 16 Aug: Mon – Sun 1000 – 180019 Oct – 27 Mar: Closed (Do check with the website again on opening hours before going)
Admission:	28 Mar – 29 Jun & 17 Aug – 18 Oct: DKK 60 30 Jun – 16 Aug: DKK 85 Free for those under 18

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4) Egeskov Castle

During our trip we also stopped by Egeskov Castle, Europe’s best preserved Renaissance water castle located south of Funen. The castle, commissioned by Frands Brockenhuus and completed in 1554, was built for defence purposes and in the past, it could only be accessed via a drawbridge – but now, a new bridge has been built for visitors to access to the castle (I think the drawbridge is no longer opened for visitors to walk through).

I think what makes Egeskov Castle such a beautiful place to visit is that it’s not just about the castle. There are many parks and gardens around the castle and all of them are simply stunning, perfect to take a break, have a picnic or feed some ducks. Next to the castle are plenty of exhibitions – such as the classic car exhibition (featuring restored vintage cars from 19th century to the beginning of 1980s), bicycles exhibition (featuring the evolution of bicycles), motorcycle exhibition, fashion exhibition etc. There is also a play area where you can get lost in mazes (even adults like us can play), walk the tree top walk, play with old-fashioned play equipment such as stilts, soapbox car etc.

Below are some photos from the exhibitions:

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One creepy thing we have noted in the castle is “The Wooden Man”, which lies beneath the spire of the tower. Apparently if The Wooden Man is ever moved from its position, it will bring about the destruction of Egeskov Castle. The lighting on The Wooden Man makes it even more creepier in my opinion.

The oldest maze in Egeskov is nearly 300 years old but I think it was closed for restoration when we were there. There are other mazes around the castle for both kids and adults to enjoy.

Getting There

To get to Egeskov Castle, take the train to Kværndrup Station and either take bus 920 then walk about 500 metres to the castle. However the bus timings don’t come frequently, so if you think you are up to it, you can walk about 3 kilometres, about 30 minutes, from the train station to reach the castle. We actually managed to hitch a ride on our way back from the castle to Kværndrup Station, so if you are brave enough, stick your thumb out!

There are lockers outside the castle for rent at DKK 20 each. However, they are too small for our backpacks, so we asked if we could deposit our backpacks at the ticket office and lucky the staff allowed us to do so, and at no charge too! (Of course they would not be responsible for any loss of luggage but we are thankful the backpacks were still there when we returned to collect them.)

Time Spent

We spent about 4 hours at the place (exclusive of travelling time), but do budget extra time if you are planning to have a long picnic there.

Address:	Egeskov Castle Egeskov Gade 18, 5772 Kværndrup
Opening hours and admission fees:	As there are different opening hours and prices for different times of the year, it’s best to check the website.

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5) Ærø

There are many, many islands around Denmark (okay to be specific, 443 named islands, of which 70 are inhabited) and those ending with the letter “ø” signifies an island. This website actually listed a few popular islands that I initially thought would be interesting to visit, such as Læsø, where the roofs of the houses are made with dried and twisted seaweed and wild flowers grow all over them; or Fanø, an island located in the Wadden Sea National Park, where we could catch a glimpse of seals and other wildlife. But travelling to all of these islands would have been too time-consuming and too expensive, so we decided to visit only Ærø (or Aero), located in the Southern part of Denmark.

Getting There

As there are no bridges connecting Ærø to any other mainland, the easiest way to get to the island is via ferry. (Apparently there’s a small airport on Ærø as well but I’m not sure whether there are domestic flights there.) There are 3 towns in Ærø – Marstal, Ærøskøbing and Søby, of which ferry services are provided to Ærøskøbing and Søby from Svendborg (to Ærøskøbing – this was what we did), Fynshav (to Søby) and Faaborg (to Søby). Ferry tickets are priced at DKK 199 for return trip and they are collected on board the ferry (via credit card or cash) – no need to purchase the ferry tickets before hand! If you are driving in Denmark or have a bicycle or other motor vehicles, you can bring them on board the ferry too (of course at additional charges).

Check the website here for timetables and prices.

Getting Around

You can get around Ærø via bus or bicycle. Bus rides are provided for free all around Ærø and available everyday – the bus timings can be found here. Bicycles can also be brought up the bus as well. We managed to borrow 2 bicycles from the hostel (not in extremely good condition but good enough) and we totally over-estimated our ability to cycle the whole island – so I’d suggest taking a bus ride (with your bicycle) to one of the towns, cycle all around it, then board the bus again to another town (and repeat).

One thing that strikes us the most while travelling in Ærø is how honest the people there are and that they have a high level of trust in people. While cycling throughout Ærø, we noticed there are small stands outside many homes with things on sale – such as jams, honey, vegetables, or clothes – yet there is no one there to make sure you don’t take anything without paying. Instead, a small box is usually placed there and you just have to put the money in there and the item’s yours. Or like the above, just pay via bank transfer. Also, while we were on our way to Ærø on the ferry, the credit card system was down and we couldn’t pay for the ferry tickets as we didn’t have enough cash on hand as well. We thought we’d have to go to the ticket office at Ærø later on to pay for the tickets but guess what? The staff simply told us to just pay for them on our way back (i.e. when we are on the ferry back to Svendborg). These 2 incidents left an extremely deep impression on me – you know the hashtag #faithinhumanityrestored? (;

And to make our trip in Ærø even better, we actually met a Singaporean, Tania, who is running a café in Marstal – how small can the world get! There is this instant connection and even though we are thousands of miles away from Singapore, the cozy little place immediately feels like home. We had so much fun chatting with Tania and her mother, who travelled to Ærø from Singapore to help out, while enjoying the delicious food.

X’s beer to cool down and my preferred way of cooling down – ice cream (DKK 30)!

Address:	Café Vaffelhuset Kirkestræde 19, Marstal
Opening hours:	Opened during certain seasons only, check their Facebook page here

And here are some of the photos we have taken while in Ærø!

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Ærø is a popular holiday destination during the summer – receiving about 300,000 tourists every year, and apparently many Danish purchase summer houses here too. I would love to have a summer home here too – I love the peacefulness and the beauty of the surrounding nature, it’s so clean, serene and rejuvenating! But that could only be a dream as it would be too costly for me to travel here every year haha. A part of me wish that more travellers will stray off the beaten track and visit this beautiful island, but a part of me also wish that it will continue to stay hidden so that it will never become too touristy… what a dilemma!

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And… that’s all! I’ve also published a page on our 8-day itinerary and our total expenditure / budget for the trip, so do check it out if you are planning a trip there! The next travelogue is going to be really long and extremely photo-intensive – yes it’s Iceland! Though we are still in the midst of editing the photos, I think it’s best that I start blogging about it – because I have 22 days worth of photos to blog about! And here’s a sneak peak… in a umm… literal sense haha!

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