Things to Do in Helsingør Around Hamlet Castle

The Ballroom and the royal apartments

The Ballroom measures 62 by 12 metres and was the largest hall in Northern Europe when it was completed in 1582. The royal apartments sit on the first floor of the north wing, so the two are seen together.

The tapestries and the chapel

The Little Hall holds seven tapestries from a series of forty showing one hundred Danish kings, commissioned by Frederick II around 1580. The chapel, inaugurated in 1582, is the only room that survived the fire of 1629 intact.

The casemates and Holger Danske

Below the castle are the casemates, where the statue of the sleeping Holger Danske waits. Legend says the giant wakes if Denmark is ever in danger. A cannon tower gives a view across the Øresund to Sweden, which is only 4 km (2.5 mi) away.

The castle also runs a 45-minute English tour called In Hamlet's Footsteps, a 45-minute tour called The Secrets of Kronborg by special registration, and free 15-minute introductions several times a day. If you want a guide from Copenhagen instead, the Easy-Pace Kronborg Castle and Frederiksborg Palace Tour spends about 2 hours at Kronborg.

The Danish Maritime Museum

The M/S Maritime Museum of Denmark sits inside the old dry dock next to the castle, in a building by Bjarke Ingels Group that moved to the site in 2013. Admission is not covered here, so check the museum's own site before you go.

The Culture Yard

The Culture Yard is a cultural centre and public library opened in 2010 inside the old dockyard buildings on the harbour front. It pairs naturally with the museum next door.

Han in the harbour and the street food market

In the harbour basin stands Han, a polished steel sculpture by Elmgreen and Dragset inaugurated in 2012, seen as a counterpart to The Little Mermaid in Copenhagen. A street food market runs at the old shipyard, an easy lunch stop between the castle and the old town.

Behind the harbour, the old town is a compact grid of cobbled streets. Brostræde is a lane of well-preserved old houses with an ice cream shop that has baked its own cones for over 100 years.

St Mary's Church and the Carmelite Priory

St Mary's Church was built in 1430 and the Carmelite Priory stands beside it in the old town. They sit a short walk from the harbour end of town.

St Olaf's Cathedral and Buxtehude

St Olaf's Church was first built around 1200 and is today the cathedral of the Diocese of Helsingør, its oldest parts from the 13th century. The composer Dieterich Buxtehude was the town's organist from 1660 to 1668, before his famous post in Lübeck.

Helsingør marks 600 years as a market town in 2026. Eric of Pomerania founded the town in the 1420s and introduced the Sound Dues in 1429, the toll that paid for Kronborg. By 1672 it was the third-largest town in Denmark.

In October 1943 Helsingør was one of the main crossing points in the rescue of Denmark's Jews. Over three nights, more than 7,200 Jews and 680 non-Jews were rowed and sailed across the Øresund to Sweden in fishing boats and other small craft. The shortest crossing was barely 4 km (2.5 mi).

Standing on the harbour at Kronborg, you see exactly how narrow the escape route was.

The HH Ferry route between Helsingør and Helsingborg is the busiest car ferry line in the world, with more than 70 departures in each direction every day. The terminal is connected to the main railway station, so you can walk off the platform and onto a boat. Fares are on the ferry operator's own site.

On the Swedish side, Helsingborg sits directly opposite. Travellers who prefer the crossing handled for them can take the Hamlet Castle and Sweden Day Tour, which crosses by ferry, visits Lund Cathedral from 1145 and finishes in Malmö before returning over the Øresund Bridge. Bring a valid passport, since Swedish passport control may ask for it.

From the castle the coast runs north to Marienlyst and on to Hornbæk, the classic summer stretch of the Danish Riviera. Cyclists can ride the Strandvejen coast road, the traditional route between Copenhagen and Helsingør, which reaches the town along this shoreline.

If riding appeals, the E-Bike Tour to Kronborg Castle along the Øresund Coast trains to Humlebæk and cycles north past harbours and villages to finish at the castle. The ride takes 3.5 hours, riders must be 14 or over, at least 158 cm (5 ft 2 in) tall and no more than 90 kg (198 lbs).

Over several weekends in December, a Christmas market fills the courtyard and halls of Kronborg. December is cold, with average highs of 4.5°C (40°F) and about 7.1 hours of daylight, so plan the market for the middle of the day and the old town for the dark hours. The castle is closed on December 24, 25 and 31.

Both plans start from Helsingør Station, a 10-minute harbour walk from the castle. The half day suits travellers on a day trip who combine it with Hamlet Castle day tours from Copenhagen, the full day for anyone arriving early by train.

In winter, note that Kronborg closes on Mondays and shuts at 16:00, so run the castle first and the town after. From late March to late October the castle opens every day 10:00 to 17:00.

The Coastal Railway runs from Copenhagen Central Station to Helsingør about every 20 minutes and takes about 46 minutes. By car, the E47 takes about 45 to 50 minutes, and the public car park at Nordhavnsvej fills around midday in summer, so arrive before 10:30 or after 14:00.

Some listings hand you the town rather than guide every room. The Royal Castles and Helsingør City Tour is a 5-hour coach trip with free time in Helsingør for the castle, the old streets, the harbour or the M/S Maritime Museum, plus a photo stop at Fredensborg Palace. It is a new listing with no rating yet, costs $218 per person and is not suitable for people over 70.

The trips compared here mostly schedule Kronborg tightly. The small-group Kronborg, Frederiksborg and Roskilde Small-Group Day Trip from Copenhagen, $169.39 per person and rated 4.9 from 2,418 reviews, fits three sites into 9 hours, so Kronborg is the first stop of three, not the whole day. If town time matters more than site count, the city tour above or a self-guided train day is the better fit.

Helsingør is a walking town, and almost everything on this page sits within a short stroll of the station. The ferry terminal for Helsingborg is connected to the main railway station, so the harbour front starts the moment you step off the train. Head north along the water and you pass the Culture Yard and the Maritime Museum in the old dry dock before you reach the moats of Kronborg, about 10 minutes in all.

The old town, with Brostræde, St Mary's Church and the Carmelite Priory, lies just behind the harbour on the inland side.

The same station sends trains back to Copenhagen every 20 minutes and also on to Hillerød, for Frederiksborg Castle, and along the north coast to Gilleleje, so you can turn a castle morning into a longer day without a car. Plan the castle first if you visit between November and March, when it closes at 16:00 and on Mondays, and keep the old town and the harbour for the afternoon. If you would rather have the transport handled, the Royal Castles and Helsingør City Tour drops you in town with free time and collects you again.

Late May through September is the sweet spell for the town as well as the castle. July and August average highs of 21.3°C (70°F) and 20.8°C (69°F), with 15 or more hours of daylight and long evenings on the harbour. May and September are milder at 16.0°C (61°F) and 17.5°C (64°F).

• July and August: warmest months, 16.9 and 15.0 daylight hours
• May and September: mild weather, long days
• April and October: 11.4°C (53°F) and 12.3°C (54°F) highs, good walking weather
• November to March: shortest days and single-digit highs, but the Christmas market and winter light have their own appeal

Rain peaks in July and August at 83 and 88 mm per month, so pack a light shell even in high summer. Our full Kronborg Castle tickets page lists seasonal opening hours alongside prices.

Kronborg was built as Krogen in the 1420s to collect the Sound Dues, rebuilt by Frederick II as a Renaissance castle from 1574 to 1585 and named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2000. It is the castle everyone photographs, and the nickname Hamlet Castle comes from the play Shakespeare set here around 1600, though he probably never visited. Today it is part of the National Museum of Denmark.

But the town is more than the castle's car park. It has a maritime museum built into a dock, a harbour sculpture that answers The Little Mermaid, two medieval churches, a story of rescue across the water in 1943 and a boat to Sweden more than 70 times a day. Give the castle its two hours, then give the town the rest of the day.

If you are weighing the castle against other royal houses, Kronborg or Frederiksborg compares them in detail.