12 PHOTOGRAPHY LOCATIONS IN AARHUS

| Where is Aarhus

Aarhus is Denmark’s second largest city after the capital, Copenhagen. Unlike, Copenhagen, Aarhus is on Denmark’s mainland, the Jutland Peninsula (the bit popping out of Germany).This coastal city has the youngest population in the country and is the cultural hub off the peninsula. If its art and culture you’re after, visit Aarhus. Known to locals as ‘The City of Smiles’.

1 | Rainbow Panorama

This whimsical art installation is a 150m long circular walkway encased in glass coloured with every spectrum of the rainbow. It provides a view of the city in any filter you desire. I don’t need to describe how incredible a sunset from seen from within this walkway would be! You can find it on the roof of the ARoS Art Museum. A 10

minute walk from the city centre train station.

TIP…Just a few minutes walk from here is another great modern art museum – Kunsthal Aarhus

2 | ARoS Museum

Don’t just go for the rainbow panorama! There are plenty of unusual sights to find in this museum. Not to mention, a 2 story statue of a scarily life-like crouching boy. The museum showcases the highlights of contemporary sculpture artists.

Push – Pull by AstridWestvang is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

3 | Gedulgt Bar

Aarhus is the youngest city in Denmark and has no end of quirky creations. One to relax at is Gedulgt Bar. Another wacky, kitsch creation that most would probably role their eyes at. Gedulgt serves all its drinks in miniature bathtubs or gold pineapples, accompanied by movie theatre popcorn. For those of you who know the bar Alchemist, this is a more sophisticated version of that.

Try to get a seat at the bar to watch the mixologists concoct these OTT drinks. This bar is not easy to find. Be patient and head down a side alley on Fredensgade Street, here you will find what looks like the door to a garden shed. Open it and follow the steps down into the cellar and you’re there.

4 | Møllestien (Mill Street)

Perhaps the prettiest street in the entire city. Møllestien is one of the oldest streets in the city and it still looks the part, with its half timbered cottages hidden behind hollyhocks and roses sprouting from between the cobbles. Best part of all… you can stay the night in two of the houses! Cottages 49 and 51 are available for stays, but be warned the steps are steep and each house has a total of 40 metres squared of space. These are the two smallest houses on the street.

TIP…Click here to book your stay

Møllestien by Vallø is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.

5 | Den Gamle

If this has started an urge within to see cobbled streets and timbered houses, you need to visit Den Gamle. This open-air museum has more than 70 buildings from different periods of Denmark’s history. All the way from the 1800s to the architecturally questionable 1970s. What makes this open-air museum different is you can go in to the houses, their not just facades. So go and explore, the creators really have spared no effort on the historical detail, including cobbled streets, a canal, traditional crafts and authentic historical costumes for their employees. It’s more like a never-ending film set than a museum. There is even a functioning bakery which sells delicious pastries.

Contrastingly, the 1970s apartment block illustrates how lives can be shaped by a building. The apartments showcase an elderly couple’s apartment, one belonging to a Turkish migrant family and a student commune.

Definitely one to add to the unusual bucket list. Entrance ranges from €10 to €20 depending on the season. You might not be in a capital city, but Scandinavia knows how to lighten your pockets!

TIP…Click here to book your tickets (valid for 7 days after purchase)

If you want to see this style of timber architecture and cobbled streets outside a museum, visit the best preserved medieval city in Europe, Tallinn.

6 | The Infinite Sea Walkway

There are free attractions in Scandinavia too, many of them nature based. One Aarhus makes the most of is its waterfront. The infinite bridge is another of the city’s circular walkways, this time suspended above the water. It was originally an art installation for a city-wide festival in 2015, but locals fell in love with it and made it a permanent promenade. With the forest behind you and the sea on the horizon, this is the perfect place to relax and enjoy a bit of nature in the city.

7 | Botanical Greenhouses

If you take your nature warm, head over to Aarhus’s tropical greenhouses. Did I mention it’s free.

For anyone who has heard of or been to the Eden Project in the UK, these greenhouses are based on the same concept. Though less grande in scale than its UK counterpart (biased), its a peaceful green space filled with colourful tropical plants and butterflies that often gather around the pathways.

8 | Godsbanen

A cultural centre, otherwise known as ‘Institute for (X). The art space hosts performances, exhibitions and offers courses in creative exploits all year round. If you are suffering a creative block, there is a good cafe on site to recharge. For those of you who enjoy artsy regeneration of industrial sites, explore the old freight yard and climb on the roof for a coffee. Return at night for live music or raves. For an extra shot of art check out the Sculpture on the Sea Festival which runs every year. The festival displays art installations in public places and by the city’s waterfront.

If you enjoy this kind of communal art space, read about LX Factory in my Lisbon guide

9 | Aarhus Cathedral Frescoes

Im not often drawn to churches, or at least not ones in western Europe, but this one is worth popping in too. The surviving frescoes on the interior walls are still vivid and look as if they have fallen from the pages of a fairytale encyclopaedia.

TIP…One of the most beautiful frescoes I’ve ever come across can be found in Elmelunde Church. Just a 1.5 hour drive south of Copenhagen.

Aarhus Cathedral by Dougtone is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.

10 | Ciderbadet

For a relaxed outdoor in the summer make your way to Ciderbadet, a.k.a ‘The Cider Beach Bath’ in Aarhus’s harbour. Here you can do anything from hanging out with new friends to fishing for the cider you put in the harbour to keep cool. So grab a cold one and while a way a few summer days or nights by the water.

11 | The Harbour Bath

In a Scandinavian country you will never be short of ways to get in touch with nature, but I never expected there to be more than one ‘beach bath’ in one city! In july and august the harbour comes alive with the opening of the Harbour Bath, a series of 5 outdoor seawater baths floating in the harbour. Join locals on the floating platforms and cool off in the 50m swimming pool, circular pool or sauna. Even if you don’t feel like a swim, come and watch the diving pool and enjoy the open-air architecture of the city’s temporary wooden island.

12 | Ebeltoft

Ok, so technically this last one isn’t in Aarhus, it’s a 45min drive through the Mols National Park. Ebeltoft is an old port town at the head of the Jutland Peninsula. The pocket sized town of 7,000 residents is known as a summer escape from the city. The entire town is an extension of Møllestien street back in Aarhus, hollyhocks and all.

Ebeltoft by Massimo Frasson is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.