300km of adventure cycling through the wildest part of Denmark.
Description
An iconic gravel cycling route tracking the wildest coast in Denmark: a 270km journey that unfolds through flat gravel tracks and hard-packed sandy beaches, with intermittent stretches of asphalt on quiet back roads.
The route follows much of EuroVelo 12, North Sea Cycle Route. It’s roughly the top half of Denmark’s West Coast Route and it’s also a short part of the European Divide Trail.
Highlights
The surfing villages of Cold Hawaii: Nørre Vorupør, Klitmøller, Hantstholm.
The food at Hantsholm and the bunkers of the Atlantic Wall.
Thorup Strand, for great seafood and seeing the fishing boats on the sand
The food and luxury accommodation at Svinkløv Badehotel
Cycling the beach at Løkken
The off-world atmosphere at Rubjerg Fyr
Picture perfect shelters at Østerklit Stokmølle.
The tourist and fishing town of Skagen along with Grenen, literally the tip of Denmark.
Stats
Distance: 270km, 5 days
Climb: 1150m.
Difficulty and type of bike
This is an easy route across perhaps the flattest part of Denmark (a country proud of being rather flat). We’ve done this on a gravel bike (40mm tires) and a mountain bike (70mm tires). Both are fine options. There’s no hike-a-bike or carrying. There’s less than 1km of mountain bike style trails and they’re easily worked around. The beaches are very hard packed, there’s no problems with 40mm tires, you could likely do it on even smaller tires. However there’s a few stretches of “big stone” gravel so road bikes / city bikes are probably not the best option but again there’s always short detours around these bits.
When to go
Cycle touring in Denmark is best done between May and September, but of course it will be windy at any time, even high summer. Expect temperatures around 18-20 during the day in summer and a good chance of rain at some point during the trip.
Route
Day by day guide to bikepacking Denmark’s North West Coast
Alternative suggestions
If you’ve got 7 days or just want to extend the route slightly, then start the route in Struer, cycling up to the lighthouse, Lodbjerg Fyr, where there are good shelters for the night and then catching up to the trail as described above just before Nørre Vorupør.
Getting there and back
The best way to get to the starting point (Bedsted in our case) is by train. All trains in Denmark take fully assembled bikes, though you need to reserve a bike space on the train which is easily done with the state railway (DSB) app and a debit/credit card. There are direct trains to Struer from the major cities in Denmark (takes about 4 hours from Copenhagen). From Struer there’s a branch line to Thisted, running parallel but about 10km inland from the coast. you can get off at any of the stations on the way, and head towards the coast, joining the route as described.
From Skagen, there’s a branch line to Aalborg (takes 2 hours) and from Aalborg there are direct connections to the rest of Denmark (4 hours). The branch line to/from Skagen does not need bike reservations but still requires a bike ticket.
A journey to the tip of Denmark via the eerie sand dunes of Råbjerg Mile