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tour of city Sonderborg

Take a Tour of the City

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It is often difficult to learn all there is to know about a city , or even tiny village, just by walking around on your own. You will undoubtedly miss some corner with its intriguing story that you would have loved to learn about. A good way of taking a stab at getting to know about these corners and stories is by going on a tour.

tour of city Sonderborg

Typically, most tourist offices offer city walks on a number of themes, sometimes by professional guides, and others by highly interested volunteers from the city itself. Sonderborg is, of course, no less.

Sonderborg tourist office organises a series of guided walks in the municipality, mainly in the summer holiday period. Among the tours offered there is an 1864 town walk in Sonderborg, a walk around Grasten castle and gardens, as well as town walks in Sonderborg, Nordborg and Augustenborg. Unfortunately for me only the 1864 town walk is advertised as offered in English, with all the others only offered in Danish or German, so I decided to check it out.

1864 Town Walk

This walk around the streets of Sonderborg takes you from Radhustorvet, in front of the main Sonderborg tourist office, down to the castle, along the pier and up towards Sct Marie Kirke. During the walk you see locations connected to the 1864 war, learn about what went on, as well as hear stories about the people living in Sonderborg at the time.

The walk appeared interesting. However, there was one downside: the languages! The walk was intended to be given in Danish, German and English and on the day I attended all 3 languages were required. Unfortunately, the guide didn’t appear equally comfortable in all of them. This resulted in the walk being around 90% Danish, 6% German and 4% English! If it wasn’t that some of the Danish people took pity on me and translated the main points it would have been very difficult to understand much of anything (thank you family from Blans!).

Therefore, if you understand Danish, I urge you to try it out (and come back and tell us how it really is), if you understand German and are interested in it, do check it out (after all my German/Danish recognition is not the best in the world. However, if you only understand English I can only recommend that you not bother with it…unless you get another guide, that is!

Egeskov Slot

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Denmark is one of the oldest monarchies in the world. This long legacy of royalty and nobility has resulted in many fine castles and manor houses dotted around the country, often in the most scenic of places.

Amongst the best preserved of the castles is Egeskov Slot. Egeskov slot as we know it today was completed by Frands Brickenhuus in 1554. As a defence system the castle was built on a foundation of oak pilings in the middle of a lake. Today, the castle is owend by the Ahlefeldt-Laurvig-Bille family, who have opened up the park to the public for several generations.

Today, the castle is a family-friendly attraction on the island of Fyn. On the site you can, of course, visit the castle. However, you can also spend time at a number of museums dotted around the lands, gardens showcasing different periods or plants, as well as a lot of space and activity spaces for kids (and the not so young) to use up their energy.

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I would say that visiting the castle is a must if you haven’t been there before. It costs 30-45DKK more to have access to the castle, but it is worth it if you have the time (plan at least 4hrs if you would like to see everything). A special gem there is Titania’s palace, an exquisite doll’s house built for the daughter of Sir Nevile Wilkinson by a team of outstanding craftsmen.

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If you are into cars and motor vehicles most of the museums would probably be of interest. Not being that much into this (a car is a car right?), I was really enjoyed the Grocer’s Museum. This museum showcases a visual representation of grocer’s shops from the 1930s to the 1950s. Even though there were another 40 years or so till I was born, a lot of the items looked very familiar!

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If the day is nice as it was when we visited, it is a shame to waste the good weather by staying indoors. Luckily, the vast park gives you ample space to roam around in. Being big kids ourselves we also enjoyed the playgrounds, particularly the Great-Grandfathers playground (where you can try walking on stilts), the tree-top walk, and the mazes. Unfortunately we were there a bit too early for all the flowers to be in bloom (early May), but from the little we saw the gardens must be magnificent later on in the year.

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The wide variety of activities also ensures that pretyt much everyone would find something they are interested in. We found the park and gardens a really enjoyable way of spending a day. It is an attraction for both young and old that is worth the time and money. No wonder it is ranked #1 of 54 attractions on Fyn on TripAdvisor!

A Cold Winter Day at Grasten Castle #8/99

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At the moment we have visitors from China at work. On Sunday my manager was taking them to Graasten castle and I joined in for the visit. 

Gråsten Castle has been the summer palace of the royals of Denmark since 1935. They usually reside in it for some time around July each year, during which time the palace and the gardens are closed to the public. However, there is free access throughout the rest of the year to the gardens and in summer the palace’s chapel is open for restricted hours.

When you arrive at the castle you enter a quite small road, and it is only when you turn the corner that you see the white splendour of the castle. Similar to Sonderborg Castle the castle is built on 4 sides of a big courtyard. Entry to the gardens is on your right and the chapel at the far right hand side corner.

Although the chapel is normally closed in winter, on the day we visited there was a baptism planned. We were allowed a sneak peek inside. The chapel is quite lavishly decorated, with a plaster ceiling painted in blues and golds and high bays around the church decorated in gold leaf. This is not the norm in most Church of Denmark places of worship.

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The gardens are well-known for their flowers, particularly the roses. Since this was winter the flowers were mainly missing in action. However they still offer the possibility of a pleasant walk around green meadows and small lakes.

The gardens are also linked to the forest surrounding the castle through a gate. The forest covers around 700 hectares. If like most Danes you like a long walk in the countryside this offers you a good possibility on a Sunday afternoon!

Of course, visiting Grasten gardens in the winter time meant that I missed out on a lot of what the gardens are famous for. We will definitely be back in the spring/summer to cover this item on our 99 things to do in Sondeborg list properly!