Category Archives: Things To Do and Sights

If you are coming to Sønderborg and looking for things to do you have come to the right place. We are working on a list of 99 Things To Do around Sønderborg. We like museums, we like having fun, we hope these can bring you some inspiration for what you can do here.

Car skid training

Practice your skidding at Sønderborg Køreteknisk Anlæg

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I learnt to drive on the nice, warm, dry island of Malta. Where the sun shines 300 days a year, and the water never freezes. Driving lessons do not focus on how to avoid skidding on ice. However, I am now in lovely Denmark, where it rains on around 50% of the days and the average temperature in February is 0 degrees Celsius. Needless to say, such skills have gained significant importance! So I took a ‘glatbanekursus’, or skid training course on a wet track to get some practice and gains some confidence.

Car skid training by Iben Jacob-Nielsen

Such courses in Denmark are art of every new driver’s course prior to passing the driving test. However, you can also repeat the course once you have a driving licence, to refresh your memory, as well as to challenge your abilities a bit more. In Sonderborg, such courses are offered at Sønderborg Køreteknisk Anlæg. Having seen the course offered through IDA, the engineering society, I decided to have a go.

The 4 hour course consisted of, first, a brief run through what we would be doing. Then we quickly jumped into our cars to start the actual driving: braking, slaloming, swerving and other manoeuvres. For the first half we drove on dry tarmac, getting comfortable with our own cars, before we got to the water-soaked part of the track.

If you have never done such training I would definitely recommend it before your first winter. It will probably not stop you from skidding, but will give you the peace of mind that you have been there before and managed to get out of it OK. The instructor, Kaj, was also very friendly and OK with having Michael along in my car for translation. And if you have already done it? I am sure you can get something out of learning how far you can push yourself and your car!

The course is offered in Danish so you either need to be proficient in that or have someone Danish drive with you.

Photo by Iben Jacob-Nielsen from Din Køreskole.

Enjoy the Atmosphere at Krusmoelle

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Once upon a time, farmers in the area were forced to make use of the services offered at Krusmoelle by the law of the land. Nowadays there is no such law, but judging by the amount of people there on a Sunday morning in mid-November, it wouldn’t have made much of a difference!

Krusmoelle, now owned by Nina and Henrik Loff, was once in the ownership of dukes in the region, and also the King! The mill, unfortunately, lost its function between the two world wars as farmers started to mill their own products. This lead to the situation we have today where the buildings are used by the owners for a variety of purposes.

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Every year over 30,000 guests visit the mill, either to browse through the lifestyle shop, eat in the cafe, or try their hands in the creative and craft workshops based in the buildings. A highlight in the event calendar since the very beginning 26 years ago has been the Christmas market in November and December. Loving Christmas and all that goes with it as I do, this was a perfect introduction to the mill!

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The Christmas market offers visitors an opportunity to buy a very wide selection of Christmas decorations and winter/related items. As expected, there are numerous angels, stars, nisser (elves) and (this being Denmark) candle-related items, as well as items such as house shoes and soft furnishings. A new highlight from this year is the ‘Culinary Christmas’ section of the exhibit where you can feast your eyes on as much Christmas related food as possible (as well as get a taste of a few selections).

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This was the perfect introduction to Christmas for me. I can see myself returning year after year even if only to take in the atmosphere and gaze on all the items I wish I could buy but know I could not feasibly fit into our apartment! You can visit every day from 10am to 6pm during the Christmas season.

Read more on their website.

Hardeshoj Ballebro ferry

Chug along from North Als to Jutland

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Every 15 minutes the ferry MV Bitten crosses between Hardeshoj in North Als and Ballebro, on mainland Jutland. We took the ferry after work one day when we had to go north for the weekend.

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The ferry ride offers a scenic alternative to driving down south to Sonderborg to the 2 bridges that connect Als to the mainland. With the building of the new motorway, the ferry does not really save you that much time. However, it saves on the driving distance and would be especially handy if your destination is north Als or the Aabenraa area.

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On the day we took the ferry we were blessed with sunshine and great views for the 8 minutes or so that the ride took. It made it a pleasant way of starting a long trip (or at the end of one) as you get to relax and stretch your legs. I also liked the lack of stress and hassle involved with the trip: drive onto the boat, get out of car, enjoy the views, get back in and drive off. You pay on the boat to one of the employees, so no need to worry about buying tickets either.

The trip costs 20DKK for an adult, 50DKK for a car+driver, and 70DKK for a car+ 5 adults. The ferry leaves from Hardeshoj at .00 and .30 and from Ballebro at .15 and .45. I guess with the motorway the ferry may soon see its end, but I dearly hope not!

Sculpture Garden by Augustenborg Palace

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If you walk in front of the baroque palace in Augustenborg you might stumble on a charming garden where you can enjoy art for free.

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Officially it goes by the name of Augustiana Skulpturpark og Kunstcenter Augustenborg but the day I was there the art centre was closed so that is for a future post. But the sculpture garden is worth a visit in it’s own right.

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The sculpture garden is the second largest of it’s kind in Denmark and is home to about 100 sculptures. It moved here from Fyn together with the gallery owners Mette Buhl and Uffe Larsen.

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The park sits in gorgeous setting at the edge of a forest right on the water by Augustenborg Fjord and with the palace in the background. A beautiful setting and a great place for a walk any time of the year.

Walking on Alsstien

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There are many interesting paths for hiking around Als. One of them is “Alsstien” which runs along the east coast of the island. The path is close to the coast most of the way with some beautiful seascapes, going along pebble stone beaches, through beech forests and past ancient megaliths.

The whole path is around 73 km long and is in the official maps divided into three sections going from

All of Alsstien 73km hiking route from OSM

The path is in very varied terrain as the video further down will show. It is marked with blue signs with a white man. In places the route is not well marked and having the maps above at hand can be well worth it.

Together with two friends I decided to try and walk a section of the path. More precisely the section from Sarup in south to one of the shelters in Nørreskoven. We were not completely sure of how long this trip would be but expected it to be about 20-25km that we could cover in 4 hours.


View Hiking Alsstien (Nørreskoven) in a larger map

It turned out to be 18 km to the first shelter in Nørreskoven where we decided to stay for the night. The good thing about these shelters is that you do not need to bring a tent as you have a roof over your head. In our region the shelters offered by the kommune are mapped here.

Shelter in Nørreskoven

There is a small area were it is allowed to camp, a fireplace with a handy grill that can be raised and lowered according to the fire. When we arrived there was a family of about 10 people who had camped in tents on the grass area.

In the shelter a local drunk had already set up but there was still room so we decided to stay next to her which turned out to be a bad idea as she kept us awake most of the night.
All in all it was part of the experience and this was the view that greeted us as we woke up.

View from the shelter

We had thought of continuing the hike the next day but we were in for some heavy rain so rather than keep going we decided to backtrack a bit to a place were we could get picked up.

I shot some video from our hike. It’s in Danish and quite long but could be useful if you want to get an overview of the different landscapes along the route:

For more information about the path have a look at Britta from Blitzschuh’s account.

Blommeskobbel Long Barrows – Neolitic Remains

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If you find yourself hiking the Als Trail (Alsstien) then you will at some point stumble across an opening in the middle of the forest called Blommeskobbel where you see two huge circles of stone. These stones mark the remains of two burial mounds – or long barrows, as they are called.

This is a great place for a break on the walk and you can try to imagine what this place must have been like when it was built many centuries ago.

The trees gave some shelter but it was as damp and muddy and joyless as you could ever want. Blommeskobbel cheered me though. How could it not? The site consists of two langdyssers and two round barrows, with good kerbing, nicely exposed chambers and lots of character.

– The Modern Antiquarian

The barrows are a massive 34 and 53 meters long and since the top has been removed ages ago you can see the 20-ton heavy cover stone that makes the roof of the actual burial chamber.

The barrows are thought to be constructed in the neolithic period, which in Denmark was around 3600 – 3200 B.C., as burial mounds for powerful people in the community at the time. I’ve heard people mention that Als should have some of Denmark’s oldest long barrows but have not found any sources for that online.

In 1935 the barrows were excavated but grave robbers had already been there so the excavations did not bring much new to light. They found a clay jug and a flint knife from a later age. In May the archeological museum in Haderslev did a special talk about the barrows where they presented some pictures from the excavation and restoration.

Read more details on Megalithic

If you arrive by car you need to follow the gravel road to the parking lot at the edge of the forest and then walk according to the signs from there.

The picture is taken from Dansk Naturfredningsforening.

ice cream Denmark

Try Bondegard ice-cream at Frydendal Farm House

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Frydendal Farm House is now in the hands of the fourth generation of Philipsens. However, it is not just Philipsens living on the farm! There are also the co-stars for this treat: 125 dairy cows, each of which provide around 33 litres of milk each day.

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One of the products that is produced from all this milk is ‘Bondegaard is‘. Reader Irene Lorenzen had suggested that we should try it out around a month ago, so when we got some good weather we thought it could be a good alternative to the normal ‘Frisko‘ ice-cream you find in town.

And boy wasn’t Irene right! We had a wide variety of flavours to choose from. I took some Hazelnut and elderflower (hyldeblomst) ice-cream, Michael opted for lemon and tiramisu, while my mother (who was visiting) decided on vanilla and peppermint.They were all superbly good! I was especially surprised with the hazelnut flavour. This is my all-time favourite flavour, but I am often disappointed when outside of Malta/Italy. This one, however, was up there with the best of them!

If there could be any suggestion for improvement for this place, it has to be its advertising. The ice-cream deserves more attention and advertising. There is a sign saying Bondegårds Is but there are no big ice cream cone to tell the non-Danish that this is the place you get the best ice cream in the area. On the other hand if more people know about it, there would be queues next time we go (there were none when we did, even if it was a real scorcher)… and that wouldn’t be good now would it?

Gendarm Path: Around ‘Broager Land’

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The Gendarm Path (Gendarmstien) is an 74km long route that follows the coastal border between Denmark and Germany. We plan on walking, running and cycling the path in chunks. This blog post covers the length from Sønderborg via Vemmingbund around the peninsula of Broager Land and back to Sønderborg.

My parents had rented a summer cottage in Vemmingbund 8km from Sonderborg so early on the Sunday me and a friend jumped on our mountainbikes and cycled towards Vemmingbund to meet my dad at the cottage. The path from Sonderborg to Vemmingbund is easy to cover on a mountainbike without being too difficult. It took us about half an hour to cycle that leg.

Setting off on Gendarm Path

From Vemmingbund the first section is tarmac road as there is a section of The Gendarm Path not right on the water here. Then you turn left towards the water going through Gammelmark Strand camp ground before you make it to the water. This is the first difficult section as you have a bit of beach, a narrow path and a steep set of stairs to climb.

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Once you’ve carried up the bike the hill continues so onwards and upwards!

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As you go along here getting up on the hill you get magnificent views of the area. However I was lagging behind at this point so there is no photos to show you the great view.
We continued up and down steep hills until at the top of the last hill before we made it to Broager Strand camp ground.

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Here Jan got a flat tire so while him and my dad changed inner tube I could take some photos. I attempted to do a 360 Photsynth image from here but unfortunately it turned out a bit dark:

With a new inner tube in place we could continue down the slope and onto tarmac again. Again we had a short detour inland before going back down to the water and through the forrest called Kobbelskov. After Kobbelskov we got all the way down to the water with a section of the path on the beach with fairly big stones. Not an easy place to cycle but interesting challenge as long as it was not for too long.

We continued until we reached a parking lot and took bearings of the situation. The path we just came from can be seen behind Jan. He looks concerned about the beach section coming up.

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From here on around the bend of the peninsula the Gendarm Path follows the beach with soft sand, medium and big stones and sections where you have to climb over big rocks. Not easy with a bike so we opted for the easier route inland again until we were past the wind mills. Here’s the beach path we did not follow.

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At Skeldemark we went back down to the water again and now we got a short section riding right on the beach with fairly even sized stones so it was doable to stay on the bike and keep moving forward.

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At a point on the beach the Gendarm Path took a turn to the right across a field. The inhabitants of the field didn’t seem too fussed about three guys in bright lycra outfits so we opened the gate, got our bikes in, and closed the gate again. We gave the cows a wave but they were not really interested in us as we rode across their field.

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We followed the Gendarm path inland to Gammelgab (Literally translates to ‘Old Yawn’) which looked more cozy than the name implies.

We went back down to the water for another patch of beach and gravel road riding through the courtyard of a farm and then across another cow field before we made it to Brunsnæs.

From here it was an easy drive to Broager with a single hill that was too steep for any of us to drive up.

In Broager we left the Gendarm Path and turned eastwards towards my parents rented cottage in Vemmingbund. Here we left my dad and Jan and I continued home to Sønderborg.

Route stats

  • 3 and a half hours excluding breaks
  • From Sønderborg and back was 50km
  • 370 elevation meters
  • See and download the route from Gpises or Endomondo.

The route is really great. I was amazed at the scenery and bike challenges I have on the door step here. As a mountainbike route it is really challenging with the various surfaces and hills.
This section is great for doing on foot without too big a load or on mountain bike. Other types of bikes will probably have problems.

Gendarme path sonderborg

Hike or Bike the Gendarm Path

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The Gendarm path, known as Gendarmstien in Danish, is the former border guard patrol path between Denmark and Germany. It was in use from 1920 until 1958, where each gendarm (or border guard) had a specific section of the coastline to patrol. They would walk along the water as best they could and thereby created a small walking path.

By Bent Rasmussen
Picture by Bent Rasmussen – used with permission

The Gendarm path is one of Denmark’s best know and popular walking routes and follows a very scenic landscape along the coast of Flensborg Fjord. The full length of the path is 74km from Padborg in west to Høruphav on South Als.

Gendarm Path Sonderborg

Trekking the 74km s not something we planned to do at one go, especially in our unfit state! However, walking the path is a good way of enjoying and experiencing the natural beauty of the area. So our aim is to get through all the path in smaller chunks.

This is our progress so far. We will add more as we cover more of the path:

  • Sonderborg – Horuphav: Hiked on 23rd September 2012. Easy path through open fields and forest, with views over Flensburg fjord. You can walk closer to water, but if you follow the marked path this does not happen much. Buses running from Sonderborg to Fynshav or Kegnaes and back stop close to the start of the Gendarmstien in Horuphav, making it a pleasant Sunday trek on a nice day without having to backtrack.
  • Sonderborg – Vemmingbund: Biked on 23rd July 2012. Beautiful views along the water’s edge. If you are not much into hills, the path along the water is easily manageable (from someone who abhors cycling up hills with a passion) and you can walk up the hills if you prefer. However, if hills are your thing you can knock yourself out on the various side paths. Perfect on a warm summer day as the sea breeze keeps you cool
  • Looping Broager Land peninsula: A mountain bike ride with lots of different vistas and road conditions, through forests, over beaches and fields.

If you are interested in following the trail yourself, the tourist centres in the area have developed a leaflet with maps of the path divided into 10 manageable chunks. The leaflet is only in Danish or German, but a map is a map so you should be able to find your way around. The path is also well marked on the ground with small wooden poles with a blue border guard on them.

Gendarme path sonderborg

Visit to Dybbol Historic Centre

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Dybbol Historic Centre tells the story of the 1864 war. During this war the Danish border was pushed northwards as the land around Dybbol was won by the Prussians. It was only during a referendum in 1920 as part of the reparations of WWI that the land came back under Danish rule. This war had a significant effect on the area that is still felt to this day.

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The 1864 story is told in a number of ways. First of all you get to watch a video about the war. I was surprised that the first part of the video focussed on the war movements and where the trenches where, before we got to why the war was being fought. I guess that most of the visitors are Danes and Germans from the area who already have very solid knowledge of this war, which is why this explanation is not critical. On the plus side, getting the commentary in English on my headphones was not a problem at all.

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Following the video you are directed to a diorama of the Danish trenches. I liked that the background on the 4 people in the diorama were given a background, explaining how they got to be there. In this background you also got information that one of the guys was 35 and was there as a ‘paid replacement’ for someone’s son. This information made it that much better in providing the emotion of the war.

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However, you don’t only get to hear and see what the war was like, you can also experience the story in the outside area. With events organised throughout the day, such as shooting of guns and a telling of the story of a soldier. You can also make pancakes on an open fire and make bullets, as was done during the winter special opening.

A visit to this site is a pleasant way of spending a morning. From the 1st of April to the end of October it is open daily from 10-17. During winter there are special winter events on specific weekends.