UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Denmark

Photo: Daniel Rasmussen - Copenhagen Media Center

Ankor Wat, the Great Wall or the pyramids are impressive, no question. But they are also far away and often overcrowded. Denmark has seven UNESCO World Heritage sites and the great thing is that you can go on a true UNESCO hunt because in Denmark everything is always close by.

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UNESCO world culture heritage site Christiansfeld in Denmark
Photo: Thomas Høyrup Christensen
01

Christiansfeld

The town planning ensemble from the year 1773 of the Moravian Brethren in Christiansfeld in southern Jutland is one of the best-preserved examples of the craft tradition and the principles of urban planning and architecture of the Moravian Brethren in Europe. It is also worth a visit if you are not so interested in culture: In the bakeries in Christiansfeld honey cakes are offered according to the old recipe.

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Photo: Daniel Rasmussen - Copenhagen Media Center
02

Par force hunting landscape in North Zealand

Just north of Copenhagen, you'll find the former royal hunting grounds where King Christian V and his court could practice hunting par force during the late 17th century. Unesco notes the forest areas of Store Dyrehave, Gribskov, and Jægersborg serve as a unique example of "a designed landscape", including well-preserved hunting lanes laid out in a grid pattern, as well as numbered stone posts and hunting lodges such as the Hermitage.

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Hunting for oysters in the Wadden Sea National Park, Denmark
Photo: Mads Tolstrup
03

Wadden Sea National Park

The Wadden Sea is one of the worlds top ten tidal flats, and has been granted status as a national park/naturereserve. Huge and stimulating - a place of experience and knowledge for everybody - a unique nature reserve, one of a kind in Denmark, and with a global significance.

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Photo: Bang Clemme Film & Openhouse - Kongernes Jelling
04

The Viking rune stones at Jelling

A quaint little town visited by more than 150,000 tourists annually, and not without reason. Jelling boasts some of Europe’s most prominent Viking Age monuments, which in 1994 were included in the UNESCO World Heritage list.

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05

Roskilde Cathedral - Resting place of the Danish royal family

Roskilde Cathedral is a uniquely beautiful medieval cathedral. The Viking king Harold Bluetooth (d. 985) and his son, Sweyn Forkbeard (d. 1014), conqueror of England, are buried here. This is the last resting place of almost 40 Danish kings and queens.

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06

Stevns Klint - 65 million years of natural history

The dramatic white cliffs at Stevns Klint are 65 million years old and an outstanding visible record of the mass extinction at the end of the Cretaceous period. Visit Old Højerup Church, perched at the top of the cliffs. It was was built by a sailor who'd been lost at sea and promised to build it if he was ever rescued.

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Hamlet's castle, Kronborg, in Helsingør
Photo: Daniel Overbeck - VisitNordsjælland
07

Kronborg Castle – Home of Shakespeare’s Hamlet

Put Hamlet’s Castle, Kronborg, on your list of things to see whilst in Denmark! Whether you’re looking for things to do near Copenhagen or have more time to explore, there's time enough to visit Denmark’s most famous castle, immortalised by Shakespeare back in the 1600s.

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Viking Fortress Trelleborg, Denmark
Photo: Daniel Villadsen
08

Viking-Age Ring Fortresses

The newest Danish entry on the UNESCO list are our five ring fortresses. They were built under the Viking King Harald Bluetooth and are among the most important archaeological remains of the Viking Age in Denmark. And your chances of visiting one of them are high, as they can be found all over the country: Aggersborg near Løgstør, Fyrkat near Hobro, Nonnebakken in Odense, Borgring near Køge and one of the largest fortresses, Trelleborg near Slagelse, close to Copenhagen.