Holiday apartment in Kalundborg: Medieval history, coast and Røsnæs

Kalundborg’s medieval town layout is still clearly recognisable in the centre today. Højbyen is a 90-hectare medieval urban environment and is considered Denmark’s best-preserved medieval urban environment. Our Lady’s Church is Northern Europe’s only five-towered church. Exploring Kalundborg therefore begins with an exceptionally distinctive townscape in which history remains visible not only in individual buildings but also in the basic structure of the centre.

Culture and history

The Kalundborg Museum is housed in Lindegården, one of Denmark’s best-preserved Renaissance town courtyards. The Carmen-Curlers exhibition reconstructs a much more recent chapter of the town’s history: it tells the story of Kalundborg’s factories in the 1960s and 1970s through scenography, original accounts and staged experiential spaces. At Reersø Museum, the listed half-timbered building Andræjs Hus provides insights into the everyday life of poor fishing farmers at the beginning of the 19th century.

Museums and exhibitions provide insights into different historical periods. The exhibition at Fugledegård explores cult, culture and archaeology at Tissø and displays finds from the Viking Age as well as audio and visual material. Reerslev Landsbysmedje is a working blacksmith museum in a heritage-worthy building dating from the end of the 18th century. At Reersø Harbour Museum, the local history of fishing is presented through photographs, equipment and depictions of life in the harbour.

Nature and coast

Røsnæs was formed during the last Ice Age by the Storebælt glacier as a terminal moraine. The peninsula is bordered by Sejerø Bay to the north and Kalundborg Fjord to the south; from several points, both coasts are visible at the same time. The tip of Røsnæs is part of Natura 2000 site no. 166, “Røsnæs, Røsnæs Rev and Kalundborg Fjord”.

Røsnæs Fyr has an interactive visitor exhibition about the nature and wartime history of Røsnæs, as well as the role of the landscape in military planning and battles. Røsnæs can be reached by bus 553 from Kalundborg Station to Bjørnstrup; from there, it is approximately four kilometres on foot to the tip and the lighthouse. The Municipality of Kalundborg also has 160 kilometres of coastline with numerous bathing beaches and seasonal and year-round bathing jetties.

Hiking and cycling

The landscape can be explored along trails of varying lengths. The Planet Trail in Høng Skov is a 450-metre-long walking trail that depicts the solar system to scale. Værslevstien is an approximately 26-kilometre-long trail between Kalundborg and Gørlev and partly follows an old railway line that was built in 1896 and operated until 1970.

In Eskebjerg Vesterlyng, there is an 8.8-kilometre hiking loop through a protected area with beach meadows, dunes, heathland and coastal sections. Eskebjerg Vesterlyng also has a five-kilometre-long, shallow beach that is particularly suitable for families. For cycling tours, the 17-kilometre Røsnæs Route runs from Kalundborg Station to Røsnæs Fyr. The section of the Ice Age Route that runs through Kalundborg passes through moraine hills and forests shaped by the Ice Age and offers views of Tissø.

Røsnæs, wine and islands

There are five wineries on the Røsnæs peninsula. Visitors can taste local wines, visit vineyards and learn more about wine production in Denmark. Ferries run from Havnsø to Nekselø and Sejerø; the islands offer unique natural experiences and cultural landscapes.

More places to discover: Jerslev Sj, Høng, Bjerge, Drøsselbjerg, Eskebjerg, Gørlev, Kaldred, Kalundborg, Reersø, Store Fuglede, Havnsø, Bildsø, Nostrup, Saltbæk, Ornum, Svallerup, Kongstrup, Vollerup, Melby, Nyrup, Sejerø.

To the higher-level travel overview: Zealand.