Tag Archives: night

Sankt Hans (St. Johns Eve) 2014

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Monday the 23rd of June 2014 the summer solstice is celebrated in Denmark with an event called Sankt Hans Aften – or St. Johns Eve. It is the day where the medieval wise men and women would gather special herbs that they needed for the rest of the year to cure people. The Danes often meet at outdoor bonfire venues. Here the bonfire with the witch on top is lit around 10 pm. Beforehand, a bonfire speech is often made.

Getting warm on the bonfire

Here is a list of the events we would recommend around Sonderborg 2014. The tourist office has compiled a complete list. Please leave a comment if there is any you think we are missing.

Idrætshøjskolen – Swinging bonfire

There is a swing jazz band playing inside the school. Starts at 20 bonfire at 21.

By the Marina – Family event

It is from 19-21 and labelled as a Family Event.
Rad more

Mølleparken – Local talents

Danish TV celebrity Bubber is the host. Local bands will play on stage. Music starts at 19 – main acts at 19.30 bonfire around 21.45. Read more

In front of Alsion – bonfire on the water

The symphony orchestra is playing a soldout midsummer concert inside. Afterwards entertainment should start outside Alsion. Bonfire on the water at 22.10 Read more

Universe – out of town

The theme park by Nordborg will stay open longer than usual. Reduced entrance cost from 16 onwards. Workshop for the first 100 kids. Bonfire speech at 20.45 – bonfire at 21. Park closes at 22. Read more

Light by Night, spring 2012

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The first late night opening in Sønderborg’s shops is tomorrow Friday the 29th. Most of the shops in central Sønderborg will be open till 10pm (unlike normal closing at 5pm).

The streets will be lit by oil lamps and two live bands will be walking around in the streets. The jazz bands Blæserbanden and the local Bosse4Brass will roam the streets playing groovy vibes. Michael Vogensen will play at Rådhustorvet from 6.30pm to 9.30pm.

Several of the shops will have special offers, events or competitions during the evening.

Sleep the way to your destination

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We have already written about travelling to and from Sonderborg, either within Denmark or abroad previously in this blog. However, one way of travelling that we hadn’t mentioned was travelling with sleeper trains.

We ‘discovered’ the night trains by accident while looking for saver tickets on the Deutsche Bahn website. The service, known as City Night Line, connects a number of European cities during the night: you go to sleep in one country, and arrive refreshed the next morning ready to discover your destination.

From Padborg or Flensburg you can get on a train straight to Prague, Basel or Amsterdam (with stops in other places including Berlin, Frankfurt, or Cologne). Having discovered this possibility we couldn’t pass it by, so we hopped on the train to Prague for an Easter break, leaving Padborg at around 22:00, and arriving in Prague the next day at around 9:30.

On the train there are a couple of sleeping options, from 4-6 person couchette compartments, to deluxe 2-person cabins. On this trip we tried the 4-person couchette compartment going there and an economy double cabin coming back. As would be expected, the double cabin was more comfortable than the shared couchette. However, since the other two people in the couchette compartment got off in Berlin, we had the cabin to ourselves for most of the trip.

So how was the experience?

This was my first time in a sleeper train. I wasn’t sure how much sleep I would actually get. However, although there is quite a lot of bumping around at certain stations as the trains are reconfigured (the train leaves Copenhagen with cars meant for Prague, Amsterdam and Basel), having around 11 hours on the train means that you can get ample sleep. Both of us are pretty heavy sleepers and both got decent sleep but people who sleep lighter might have trouble falling asleep. We would consider these trains another time if we are heading in one of the directions of City Night Line. Waking up to the views of the train running along the river Elbe was worth it just on its own!