Weekend Itinerary: Travel to Aarhus, Denmark!

Where is Aarhus?

We’ve got another travel guide to a new city for you today – this time, we’re talking about Aarhus, Denmark! I (Sofie writing again) took a two-night trip to Aarhus and wanted to share some of the highlights in case you’re visiting anytime soon and need a few ideas of what to see, eat, and do when you’re travelling in Aarhus.

Travelling to Aarhus by Ferry

It might be time to take a quick look at a map of Denmark again to illustrate where Aarhus is in relation to Sjælland. Aarhus is located on Jylland (Jutland), which is connected to the mainland of Europe (Germany). There are bridges that connect Sjælland to Jylland, but there’s another way to get from island to mainland – and that’s taking the ferry! The ferry we took was from Odden to Aarhus, and it took about 90 minutes to cross the channel. It’s at least a 3- or 4-hour drive to get from the Odsherred area to Aarhus, so this cuts the time down significantly, and it’s a fun experience!

Where we stayed

During our trip to Aarhus, we ended up staying at the Radisson near the art museum. It was a good location for us, and it was easy to walk everywhere that we wanted to see downtown! The accommodations were fine (nothing special), and the breakfast was decent, so it checked the boxes for us. If you’re travelling to Aarhus, there are plenty of accommodation options around the city, so definitely check out other hotels and Airbnbs.

Walking through the city

On the first day, we walked quite a bit just to experience the new city. There’s a very cool public library that’s near the harbor with some awesome play structures around the outside. From there, you can walk up along the canal and pass by a lot of cafes and restaurants, and of course, shops. Aarhus felt much more like a city than Odense, although not quite as large and busy as Copenhagen.

If you’re as lucky as my husband (he might disagree with me on this point) to be up at 4 am with a baby who won’t sleep, you can go on a beautiful summer sunrise walk with practically no one else around, seeing the early sun come up around the buildings. He snapped some photos from this walk that are just beautiful!

Museums in Aarhus

I feel like I need to give a disclaimer here: we went into two museums in Aarhus but didn’t actually go to any of the exhibits. We simply ate at the cafes, looked through the stores, and used the restrooms. So if you have been inside and have opinions about the exhibits, I can’t necessarily speak to those 😂

ARoS Art Museum

We stayed super close to the ARoS Aarhus Art Museum, which has a very visible panoramic walkway on the top of the building. We ended up going into this museum because it was pouring down rain and we were hungry, so we went inside and grabbed some food at the cafe! They had pretty good pastries and a kids’ meal option. We then browsed the museum store, which had some great-looking prints and some beautiful ceramics as well!

Naturhistorisk Museum

On the second full day, after grabbing breakfast, we walked across the city up to Aarhus Universitet, which has a Natural History Museum on the campus. This was a fun museum that had kid-friendly spaces (as you’ll see that most places in Denmark do) and a decent collection of animals, along with a few other rotating exhibits. It was a great way to spend a few hours walking around!

Moesgaard

Moesgaard Museum is actually one of the coolest museum buildings I’ve seen in a while – it’s a little bit outside of the city, about a 15-minute drive, and you could definitely spend an afternoon or morning here! This is another one that we didn’t end up going into to see the exhibits, quite honestly, because we didn’t have enough time before having to catch our ferry back to Sjælland.

The building itself is built on a hill, and the roof is slanted at a similar angle; it also has grass growing on it. You can actually walk up the roof of the building! Our afternoon consisted of grabbing a bite to eat at the cafe, and then we walked around the grounds and along this prehistoric trail marked with several key buildings, landmarks, ruins, and more!

It was one of the most beautiful days to spend outside, so while we were sad that we didn’t get to enjoy the museum exhibits, the outside walk and admiring the building architecture were well worth it for us!

Food and drink in Aarhus

Besides our habit of eating in museum cafes, we did get some great food elsewhere in Aarhus, too!

Maries

Maries is a super cute coffee shop that we stopped at while walking to Aarhus Universitet. The interior is adorable, and quite honestly, the cappuccino was one of the best I’ve ever had. Would definitely recommend stopping in for a hot drink and the cozy vibes!

Cafe Folkeven

We stopped by Cafe Folkeven to refuel, and it did not disappoint! The sandwiches were great. We got one with chicken and one vegetarian with hummus, and they had the type of bread that was crusty but not tough at all, so it didn’t hurt to eat it (if you’ve ever eaten a baguette sandwich, you know exactly what I’m talking about). Our favorite was the hummus one! This cafe is basically down the street from Den Gamle By, so you can grab a bite and head to the city’s big tourist attraction after!

Aarhus Street Food

We mentioned in another guide that “street food” is somewhat of a popular concept in Denmark at the moment – think food truck/food stall style eating with lots of long tables and bench seating. Aarhus street food was one of our favorites because there was a lot of variety, and we are suckers for good Greek food. You can order the food online and then go and grab the food when it’s ready.

If you can’t guess, we tried the Greek food stall and it was great! We enjoyed it so much we got dinner here again the second night and tried a few more options, including “Mormors Køkken”, where we got tarteletter, a classic Danish dish. This style of dining is great if you have younger kids or a larger group where everyone may want something different!

Attractions

Den Gamle By

While this is listed as a history museum, Den Gamle By is more like an immersive recreation where you can experience architecture, exhibits, mini museums, food, and shops from different eras in time. “Den Gamle By” means “The Old City”, and you can see a lot of old-style architecture of houses built with wood beams and bricks. It’s also funny to see the more modern era city recreated with storefronts such as Blockbuster and 7/11!

You could spend a lot of time dipping into the stores, trying out the baked goods, and participating in the experiences that they have to offer. This is a must-see attraction for a reason; it’s so incredibly well done and worth the time to explore!

Botanisk Have

Right behind Den Gamle By is the botanical gardens, a free space to walk through and see different interesting plants and pollinators. There’s also an exterior garden to walk through! This is a nice little green space in the city where you can take a break and be in nature.

Hiking

Speaking of being in nature, on our last day, we drove a little bit outside of the city through Nationalpark Mols Bjerge. There are a few different hikes within the national park where you can get to experience some of Denmark’s natural beauty.

Kalø Slotsruin

We ended up taking a shorter hike out to a castle ruin called Kalø Slotsruin that’s located out on a peninsula along a medieval “paved” road. The trail takes you out to the peninsula where the castle was built, where you get the most beautiful ocean views. The hike is not too long, but if you need a pick-me-up after the walk, there’s a kiosk at the start where you can get a fransk hotdog (see our recipe here) or a massive ice cream.

Thanks for reading!

Phew – I think that’s all. Thanks for sticking with me if you’ve read this far! If there’s anything to take away, it’s that Aarhus has a lot to offer, and while a weekend in the city won’t cover everything, it will certainly keep you busy and make you excited to return to Aarhus again in the future!