Where must I visit in Aarhus?

I will never tire of saying that Aarhus is one of the cities with the most charm that I have ever visited. It is not the prettiest, nor does it have the most monuments, nor will you read that anybody travels to Denmark exclusively to visit it, but I love it, and I loved living there even more. And although at first you might think that Aarhus doesn’t have much to offer and that you could see it all quickly, there are thousands of gorgeous places to visit, to spend the day at, and to bring your relatives and friends to when they come to visit you.

The centre of Aashus is quite small and you could see it easily in two hours. In the Store Torv square you’ll find the most characteristic monument, the cathedral of St. Clements Church, the oldest and tallest church in all of Denmark. You can enter for free. Another important building in Aarhus is the town hall. I personally find it incredibly ugly, but the Danish are very proud of it for being one of the biggest representations of modern art. You can go inside, but it’s nothing otherworldly.

The Aarhus Theatre is situated in front of the Aarhus Cathedral. Curiously, the dragon that you’ll see at the top of the theatre was made to look towards the church as a taunt to those who were against theatrical spectacles during that period of time. This they tell you in the free tours that the city sometimes offer (principally when there is good weather), so I would recommend keeping an eye out for when they organise them, because you always learn something new about the place you’re living in and you can also take advantage of them in order to sightsee around the and through the city in which you are going to live for the next few months, or even the next year.

On the other hand, in the street Skolegade you’ll find the most striking and characteristic houses in the country, and in the small street of Mollestien you’ll find the prettiest houses in the city, the colourful houses. It’s worth visiting this street whenever you can, but especially in summer and winter. In the summer you can better appreciate the colours of the houses mixed with those of the flowers, and in the winter it’s very welcoming, because they put up Christmas lights and it looks just like a city from a fairytale.

One of the nicest neighbourhoods is the Latino neighbourhood, which is where you’ll find the majority of the cafeterias and the oldest houses, and it will always remind me a bit of the Malasaña neighbourhood in Madrid. You could also pass through the Mollenparken park to sit by the river or on the grass, or watch people walk through the ring of the Aros Museum. Furthermore, they have numerous spectacles in this park during the Aarhus Festival, they put up stalls, food and drink stands and you can spend the whole day there.

Towards the end of August in Aarhus they celebrate the Aarhus Festival, a festival for urban music and art where they put up stalls throughout the city, food stands, and there are some interactive sections in the middle of the city. The park I previously mentioned is once of the main meeting points, as the main universities in Aarhus set up food and drink huts and provide student discounts those who bring their university card.

You can also go to the Botanisk Have, the botanical garden of Aarhus, next to the Den Gamle By museum. It is free, and alongside their own botanical garden are plants from different continents in what looks like an igloo, and it has a very extensive green area where, if the weather is good, you can see people having picnics or sunbathing. And you can also have a coffee or an ice-cream in the cafeteria that is inside the dome.

If the weather permits, I would recommend taking a bus that takes you directly to Tangkrogen, one of the largest beaches of Aarhus and also where they celebrate a food festival in the first week of September every year and thousands of people attend. If you’re very lucky, you can go along the seashore until you reach the docks, where you might see a whale (the most I ever saw from the docks was a lot of Danish people bathing completely naked in the middle of December).

From there you can head – by foot or by bus – towards the natural park of Mindeparken, Marselisborg Palace (the royal residence) and the Deer Park, a free, enclosed park where you can walk among the deer whenever, as long as you bring them carrots, and see wild boards if you have good eyesight, and find your own secret place. I wouldn’t recommend here if it rains, because the deer will probably be hidden, protecting themselves from the rain, and the ground will have lots of puddles, so you wouldn’t enjoy yourself so much.

You could also visit Aarhus Street Food next to the Aarhus bus station. It’s a kind of industrial estate full of food stalls from different countries. It’s not incredibly cheap, but it is cheaper than a restaurant, so it’s nothing bad if you go there on a whim. There are hamburgers, crêpes, nachos, whatever fast food item you crave you can find in this type of place.

Another important thing about Aarhus is its museums, but as this entry would be incredibly long-winded if I also start talking about this, I will save them for the next post.

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