Podcasts Culture How to Live in Denmark On the Road in Denmark: Esbjerg, Ribe, and Fan

On the Road in Denmark: Esbjerg, Ribe, and Fan

Published: May 19, 2021, 1:36 p.m.

When I mentioned going to Esbjerg for a few days off this spring, many of my friends in Copenhagen said - why? Esbjerg doesn\u2019t have a reputation as a vacation spot, even though its fifth-largest city in Denmark and the youngest big city.\xa0

For Copenhagen snobs, Esbjerg is a fishing town, which it was 50 years ago but isn\u2019t really anymore. It\u2019s an oil and wind energy town, industrial but very modern.

I like Esbjerg, perhaps because it is a very masculine town. If you\u2019re a woman who likes men, if you\u2019re a guy who likes men, really rough and ready type men, Esbjerg is your town, because it is the home base for the oil workers and windmill mechanics who work on the North Sea coast of Denmark.\xa0

In addition, all that oil makes for great museums, and Esbjerg is also a great base for visiting the Viking town of Ribe and Fan\xf8, a picturesque fishing island turned tourist attraction.\xa0