About Helsingør

ABOUT Helsingør (Elsinore):

Population: 46 000 (61 000)
Country: Denmark
Tallest building: St Olaf's Church
Region: Zealand
Founded year (city rights): 17th century
Area: 121.61 km²
Year visited: 2014 (2005, 2007)

ABOUT Helsingør

Helsingør (Elsinore) is a small city on the Northeastern coast of Zealand (Sjaelland), about an hour North of Copenhagen, and just across the Ore Sound from the Swedish city Helsingborg. The frequent ferries, that take only 20 minutes from Sweden, makes Helsingør a very popular daytrip to go and stroll, shop and have a beer for Swedes. It is a very nice little city with a genuine Danish atmosphere. Elsinore has been mostly known as the seat for the famous Kronborg Castle, that is featured in Shakespeare's "Hamlet". In 1420, Elsinore was one of Denmark's largest market towns, founded in the shape of today by Eric of Pomerania. He established a toll for all ships who passed the area, and so he financed the Kronborg Castle, today an UNESCO site where "Hamlet" is played annually since 1937. In 1672 Helsingør was the 3rd largest town in Denmark.The world famous architect Jørn Utzon grew up in the city. In 2013 the Culture Harbour Kronborg opened, an ambitious project that were built to attract culturally interested tourists.

MY EXPERIENCE

I have visited Helsingør several times when I was little, but the last years I only visited 2005, 2007 and 2014 since Copenhagen is closer for us who live in Malmö, and it is also much smaller. It is a nice place to go for a daytrip and relax among the historic buildings, small pedestrian stores and castle of Hamlet.

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