10 Best Road Trips near Copenhagen

The Viking Ship Museum (Vikingeskibsmuseet) in the beautiful Roskilde Fjord offers a broad selection of indoor and outdoor activities for the whole family. Among other things, you can visit exhibits of five world-famous Viking ships in the Viking Ship Hall, or you can learn about life on the sea in the Viking Age. Go on a tour where you can meet the boat builders at the boatyard and learn how they built the big boats with the materials and techniques of the Viking Age.

You can easily get to Roskilde from Copenhagen’s centre, either by car or train, in about 40 minutes.

Camp Adventure’s The Forest Tower (Skovtårnet) is located close to Zealand’s highest point, Kobanke, and offers a memorable view of the South Zealand nature in Gisselfeld Kloster’s forests. This architectural work of art provides a unique nature experience that lets you get close to the trees as you climb the 150-foot cylinder tower. The Forest Tower is part of a cultural-historic development, and the landscape is home to fields, forest areas, small villages and farms. The trip totals 2 miles and lasts about 2 hours.

It is open year-round, in both rain or shine, but weather-appropriate clothing is recommended.

Carlsberg Brewery (Carlsberg Bryggeri) offers beer tasting as well as historic tours. Explore a world of beer at J.C. Jacobsen’s original brewery, which is home to a wealth of stories, experiences, good food and drink. Join a tour of Carlsberg’s history, from its foundation in 1847 to today, and experience the exciting architecture, such as the Elephant and Diplyon Gates (Elefant- og Dipylonporten), and explore Old Carlsberg (Gamle Carlsberg) or learn more about J.C. Jacobsen with a tour of the Brewer Garden.

The prices for beer tasting and guided tours are based on groups and depend on the number of people.

Old Denmark – Open Air Museum (Frilandsmuseet) is in Kongens Lyngby, around 20 minutes’ drive from Copenhagen centre. This exciting open-air museum lets you experience life in old Denmark, from 1650 to 1950. Experience the atmosphere of the 100+ original buildings as well as workshops, mills, shops, gardens and landscapes, with gravel roads weaving their way between them.

Old Denmark – Open Air Museum is home to buildings from all over Denmark, Scania and the Faroe Islands. Get a fascinating look at how peasants slept, ate and toiled every day, or be a peasant for a day – where children can try working and playing like peasant kids.

The Garderhøjfort in Gentofte is the largest fort in Copenhagen’s Land Fortifications (Københavns Landbefæstning) and is just a stone’s throw from Jægersborg Station, so you can take the S-train from Copenhagen centre. Experience this historic building, which offers interactive exhibitions made by Experimentarium. Get intimately acquainted with the life of a 1915 soldier; try firing a canon, sending messages in morse code or training in the gym. The fort also provides fascinating insight into the history and politics of the time.

It is possible to go on a tour, where you can discover the fort’s powerful canons in the armoured turrets or the forgotten infantry barracks.

Møllebækkens Købmandsgård is located about a half hour drive from Copenhagen, and it is a living museum and store where you can shop like in the old days. The grocery store specialises in a wide selection of coffee, tea and beer, as well as gift items such as cut-out sheets, old fashioned toys, children’s books, hand-made soap, sweets and chocolate. The key words here are quality and gourmet.

At the old grocery store, it is Christmas year-round, so drop by the Christmas exhibition and get in the Christmas spirit, even if it’s the wrong season. The exhibition is home to everything from elf landscapes and electric trains to old horse-drawn carriages and sleighs. If you are into motorcycles and vintage cars, this is also a popular attraction.

Rudersdal’s Museums (Rudersdal Museer), north of Copenhagen, are home to three different departments, all of which tell the local history from ancient to modern times. Experience cultural history at Mothsgården, get an exciting look at archaeological finds at the exhibition at the Vedbæk Discoveries (Vedbækfundene) or delve into the Historical Archives (Historisk Arkiv) for the Municipality of Rudersdal. Travel 500 years back in time and experience the Rudersdal District from a historic perspective in Mothsgården’s permanent exhibition. Travel another 6,500 year back in time to experience the hunter-gatherer Stone Age. This is an exhibition for the whole family, where children have the possibility to touch reconstructed tools that the hunters used or to meet Jacob, the bog skeleton from the Iron Age.

Tickets can be purchased for Mothsgården and Vedbækfundene, but there is free entrance to Historisk Arkiv.

Greve Museum offers 250 years of cultural history from Hedeboegnen (an area of moor dwellers), where you can get up close and see how your ancestors lived and worked. The museum is located a half hour’s drive from Copenhagen and offers different permanent and current exhibitions.

Experience Grevegård and take a trip through time, from the typical moor-dweller room in the first half of the 19th century and the old rustic kitchen of the 1800s to a family room at the beginning of the 20th century. Here you can also enjoy a trip to the farmers’ garden from 1870, which is home to fruit trees, rose beds and herbaceous borders.

Kronborg Castle (Kronborg Slot) has been named by UNESCO as a world heritage site, and it is world-famous as Hamlet’s castle. Travel back in time to the Renaissance and explore the castle, situated on the narrowest cape between Sweden and Denmark. Explore the numerous spires, towers, luxurious ballrooms and the dark underworld of weaving passages, which protected the castle soldiers against external attacks. You can go on a tour and hear the song about Holger Danske, who slept in these halls for centuries. Try out the numerous activities, go on tours and check out the exhibitions. For instance, try the treasure hunt for adults and crack the mysterious codes and riddles to uncover Kronborg’s Secret.

The enchanting Kronborg Castle is in a class of its own, and you will certainly leave with an unforgettable experience.