Going on a two week road trip with a one year old, ticking off three countries and staying at a new place more or less every nigh, was never going to be a relaxing holiday. Ahem. But what it lacked in chilled out me-time (surely every holiday with a child is just childcare in a different location?!) it made up for in adventure, jaw-dropping scenery and wonderful memories.
Knowing we would do a lot of driving we wanted a short and simple flight to start the trip, thankfully Aalborg airport more than delivered. We had a whole row on the Ryanair plane to ourselves, Everleigh slept though most of her first ever flight and from landing to driving off in our hire car it took no longer than 30 minutes. Small airports for the win!
It was a scenic short drive to Skiveren Camping, a campsite we would call home for three nights. I’d heard that Scaninaviens are big on family time and this place was no exception. Located a few minutes walk from a sandy beach, the large site is made up of mobile homes, tents and cabins. There’s a well stocked shop with bakery that sold the most incredible Danish pastries. Seriously, I would go back just for these bad boys. There’s an outside swimming pool, a pitch and putt, kids play park and a colourful soft place centre which Everleigh fell in love with.
The local area is a popular tourist spot for people coming to experience a bizarre phenomenon. In Grenen, Skagen you can stand with each foot in a different sea. The northerly tip of Denmark is where you can actually see the exact spot where two different seas meet. The waves crash into the other forming a zig zag line of froth, very cool and very unusual! The white sandy beach itself is also pretty gorgeous … just a little on the windy side.
Another local attraction that was fun for us, as well as our toddler, was Farm Fun. A large and well looked after petting zoo, tractor rides, picnic spots and tree top climbs kept us busy for a good few hours. However, I almost spent the rest of my holiday trapped behind a tall wooden fence as I got completely lost in a maze and then tested my nerve carrying a wriggling child over a high rickety bridge. Like I said, fun times!
Skagen is the nearest and largest town to where we were staying. It was full of wide streets, hot dog stands (they LOVE a sausage over here), Lego shops and a buzzing port area serving fresh fish at packed picnic tables. Apparently the sun shines for longer here than any other place in Denmark. I love a pub quiz fact!
Another fun day trip was to The North Sea Oceanarium, Northern Europe’s largest aquarium in Hirtshals. As you would expect this was a huge, clean and well cared for space that was full of interactive displays. We got to watch friendly staff feed the seals, learnt about their work with endangered species and played in enormous sand pits.
It is also in the same town where we caught the overnight ferry that would take us to our next country on our trip - Norway. We boarded the impressive boat at dinner time and quickly headed for our cabin. With just a slight helping hand from a member of staff we had transformed the sofa seats into two single beds with a cot in the middle. We took it in turns to go for a wander and have a mooch around duty free so as not to disturb Everleigh’s sleep. Once you get these babies into a routine you do not want to be messing with it! We all slept so well, I think the ever so gentle rocking motion helped us to all doze off and only wake up when we arrived in Stavanger, Norway.
Three days in Northern Denmark passed by way too quickly. It was the perfect spot for an adventurous family break especially just to stock up on those Danish pastries again. *Wipes drool off keyboard*
— If you want to watch what we got up to on our road trip then head over to my Instagram @notwedordead and look for my saved stories! —
Thanks to FjordLine and Skiveren Camping for hosting us. All views are 100% my own.
