Take 1 – November 18, 2025

I’d initially planned to group the Baltics together, but after finding a <€20 flight from Kaunas to Copenhagen, the logistics worked out better to combine Lithuania (see previous blog post here!) and Denmark. I’d be back for Latvia and Estonia…and, apparently, Denmark also. More on that later.

I landed in Copenhagen late on a Monday evening and checked into my CityHub “pod”. If you plan to take public transport from the airport, it helps to download the DSB app in advance, and rejsekort for buses! This hotel was a highlight of the trip, as it was clean, very affordable for Copenhagen, and had everything needed for a short stay. There were free saunas, and they even had flip flops in the vending machines! It was 45 euros a night, comparable to hostel dorm rooms, but with more privacy. There are 2 stacked pods per unit, so walls are only shared with 1 other guest. This was the most restful night of sleep I’d ever had for <50 euros!

The next morning, I journeyed back to the airport to grab a rental car for the 3.5-hour drive (across this very flat country) to Møllehøj. Note that there are two possible driving routes. The one I didn’t take (and don’t recommend) involves driving to Odden (1.5 hours), crossing to Aarhus by ferry (1.5 hours), and continuing the drive to the high point (30 minutes). Realistically, there’s the waiting time for the ferry, making it longer than 3.5 hours, and the price to cross is well over 200 euros with a vehicle. The route I took involves driving the length of the Storebæltbroens, or Great Belt Bridge. When it was built, it was the world’s second-largest expansion bridge. The longest, the Akashi Kaikyō Bridge, was opened just a few months before this one. It’s still in the top 10 globally and second in Europe, behind one in Turkey! Fun fact: Stage 2 of the 2022 Tour de France crossed this bridge.

Unfortunately, the toll is 30 euros each way, and fuel was 70 euros in total. There are bus and train options, but those aren’t the cheapest, either. They’re also a bit complicated, as none go directly to Møllehoj itself. Flights from Copenhagen to Aarhus can be over 100 euros, even in the off-season. This is why I recommend 1) going with a group to split costs and/or 2) saving Copenhagen for a different trip. There are direct flights to Aarhus from London (Stansted), Oslo, and Málaga. It might seem counterintuitive, but you can consider linking up Mulhacén with this one (as Málaga is nearby). Aarhus is just an hour from Møllehøj. Spoiler: there’s more info on this cheaper (depending on where you’re based), non-Copenhagen way to do this high point in the next section of this post (“Take 2”). (:

Back to Take 1…I arrived at (what I thought was) Møllehøj at 11:45am. In late Scandinavian autumn, the sun doesn’t fully rise, just sails across the horizon for the 8 daylight hours. Sunrise was at 8am, with sunset at 4pm.

I had followed signs for Møllehøj into the parking area, and given that I’d planned this trip pretty last-minute during a busy time, I’d done minimal research. I was pretty blown away by the Stonehenge-like view as I pulled up, so I spent a good 45 minutes just taking it in and snapping photos. My fingers were getting destroyed by Raynaud’s…back in the car, everything took 10 times as long to type on my phone. I knew Denmark had a few high points close together, so after warming up a bit, I headed to another down the road: Yding Skovhøj (please read on and don’t navigate to this pin).

I followed Google Maps, which inaccurately sends you down an unpaved farm road. I can confidently say, after getting trapped behind a smelly truck emptying remote farm homes’ septic tanks, that the pin is not accurate. The correct small parking area is right at that turnoff, and the trail (ON FOOT) goes in a slightly different direction through the woods. I’d find this out on the next trip, as with the septic truck delay, I only had time to pop out and snap a few photos near the lot before high-tailing it back to Copenhagen to return the car.

The 7 hours of driving took their toll (pun intended), and I decided to save my Copenhagen exploring for the next morning. There was only enough time to check out a few spots before heading to the airport.

I started with (what I thought was) the Little Mermaid statue, which was very nice but slightly underwhelming and uncrowded for something so famous. Unfortunately, my lack of research had once again caught up with me. I thought simply typing “mermaid statue” into Google Maps would lead me to the correct one. Why would Copenhagen have two similarly named statues…? Anyway, what I actually saw was Mermaid by Anne Marie Carl-Nielsen. The actual one (that I sadly didn’t see) is interesting to read about, with a history of (largely political) vandalism.

I then took a meandering, hour-long walk, ending at the train station. Along the way, I passed through the Garden of the Royal Library, a public garden between Christiansborg Palace and the Royal Library. It is home to a statue of Peder Griffenfeld, a 17th-century chancellor of Denmark and primary author of the Kongelov (King’s Law), Europe’s only written autocratic constitution. It wasn’t replaced by a democratic one until 1849!

I then walked through the Christiansborg Slot and along the pedestrian street Strøget. Christmas decorations were already up, with the nearby market at Højbro Plads already open since November 4. Sadly, the opening hours were from 11am, so I was too early to explore it.

The short walk from there to the train passes a cluster of historic landmarks like City Hall. Tivoli Gardens, the world’s second-largest operating amusement park, is directly beside the station. No time to pop in this time!

That marked the end of Denmark Take 1. Unfortunately, well after returning the rental car, I realized (and was told by 2 fellow Crown of Europe-ers) that I’d technically missed the highest point. It was on a farm behind the Stonehenge-like spot, which was actually called Ejer Bavnehøj. Møllehoj shares the parking area, but it’s necessary to walk along a grass and gravel path for just a few minutes to reach it. Check out the highlights on Instagram for the full jog from Ejer Bavnehøj to Møllehoj! (:

Take 2 – December 18, 2025

As I was on the train home from Gatwick Airport, I was chatting with Brendan (@brendanbarrett126) about the ‘failed summit’ ordeal. It turned out that he hadn’t yet done Møllehoj, and I wondered what the easiest (and cheapest) way would be to redo it. I half-jokingly searched for same-day flights between London and Aarhus, which would avoid the very long drive from Copenhagen and associated costs with that and lodging. There were two options in the entire Google Flight calendar: December 18 and January 1. We could both make December 18 work, and plans came together quickly!

Our flight out of Stansted was at 6am, arriving in Aarhus at 8:45am. We’d need to get back by around 8pm for our return flight, leaving us with around 11 hours to check out Møllehoj and Aarhus. After a seamless rental car collection from the small Aarhus Airport, we drove an hour to Ejer Bavnehøj, which was now topped with a Christmas tree.

This time, we left the car behind and proceeded on the 5-minute walk to (the real) Møllehoj, following the quite clear signage I’d missed. High point #25 was officially complete!

After taking the official flag photos, I had the drone follow me on a little jog from the failed-attempt spot to the correct spot. This is in the Instagram highlights! We then headed to Yding Skovhøj to redo that spot as well. Møllehoj has been measured at 170.86m, Yding Skovhøj at 170.77m, and Ejer Bavnehøj at 170.35. These are all so close in measurement and location that it’s worth visiting all three.

This time, I didn’t make the wrong turn down the dirt path, and we believe we found the correct location in the woods.

From there, it was just a 30-minute drive to central Aarhus. The first stop was a food court called Street Food to fuel up. It has options for everyone, and I recommend it if you’re passing through and need something quick!

Along the 15-minute walk from there to the art museum, we got distracted by signs for the Aarhus Kunst & Julemarked (Aarhus Art & Christmas Market) and wandered inside. It’s free to enter and has over 85 stalls of crafts and foods. I thought this might be another knickknacks-rebranded-as-handmade-goods market, but this one really did have some truly unique items! I found a hand-knit sweater that happened to fit perfectly (as they’re not mass-produced, there was really just one size available per color, so I lucked out that my favorite one was in my size!).

From there, we continued to the art museum, with its signature 360-degree rainbow walkway.

This 2011 permanent installation by Olafur Eliasson is titled Your rainbow panorama, a fitting name for a 150-meter-long, 3-meter-wide, full-spectrum walkway.

It exceeded expectations! As cool as the photos turned out, the in-person experience was even better. We took a few laps around, one of which we recorded to show the 360 degrees of changing colors (in the Instagram highlights).

While that walkway is what initially caught our attention, there were a lot of other interesting exhibits throughout the 10-story building. It’s the oldest (1859) public art museum in Denmark outside of Copenhagen, although it was largely rebuilt in 2004.

We managed to walk through most of the museum, and there were still several hours left before we would need to head to the airport. Just a 10-minute walk away is Den Gamle By, the world’s first (1914) open-air museum of urban history and culture.

To create this town replica, 75 buildings were relocated from 20 Danish towns. The oldest dates back to 1550 and the newest 1909. There’s a lot happening, from museums-within-the-museum (toys, posters, silverware/porcelain) to live actors.

Since the museum showcases how Danish town life has changed over centuries, it doesn’t stop with these older buildings. There are sections displaying pasts as recent as 2014, when the last Blockbuster store in Denmark went out of business, marking the end of physical video rentals.

It was almost 4pm at this point, and the sun was already setting. Aarhus sits at around the same latitude as Edinburgh, Scotland, so winter days are quite short! Our flight wasn’t until 10pm, so there was still plenty of time left. We explored a bit more of the Christmas-decorated downtown area and grabbed some food.

With legs more tired than post-some of the proper hiking peaks, it was time for the short drive back to the airport. It felt deserted, from security to the gate. This was probably the smallest airport I’d ever been to!

Brendan’s flight back to Ireland was the following afternoon, so we spent the morning in central London for a bit of tourism. Then, it was time for a few months of rest from high points until the 2026 season resumed. (:

THANK YOU ❤

Thanks for reading my twenty-fifth Crown of Cureope blog post! At the time I stood on Møllehoj, we had raised $2,525 for the American Association for Cancer Research to fund lifesaving discoveries. This meant we reached the 2025 target, and as of publishing this post, we are at $2,975 raised. With some of the bigger peaks still remaining in 2026+, I’m hoping we can hit 5 figures!! Thank you so much to everyone who’s donated and spread the word to help hit the fundraising goal, and to fellow hikers for tips and company along the way to these summits. Onward to 2026!!