Have you considered visiting Denmark? Denmark is a small country with around 6 million people. A question I get a lot, when I am out traveling is what Denmark is really known for?
I have been living in Denmark for my entire life! I feel entirely qualified to answer this question!
What is Denmark Famous For? Denmark is famous for being the happiest country in the world. Denmark is also known for having one of the longest uninterrupted monarchies, for having world renown architects, designers and inventors. Companies from Denmark include Lego, Pandora & Carlsberg
Okay Denmark is known for many things, but I have listed what I think you need to know, if you ever consider traveling to Denmark on a vacation.
Read about, what Denmark is about, from a real Dane.
Read Also: What To Pack For A Trip To Denmark? Packing List For Each Season!
19 Fast Famous Facts About Denmark
Here are some facts that you might not know about Denmark. This is what I think Denmark must be famous for, as a Danish person.
#1 The Kingdom Of Denmark
Denmark is a Nordic country and it’s located in Scandinavian with our neighboring countries to the north, Sweden, and Norway. Denmark is a sovereign country with its own languages, queen and prime minister.
The Kingdom Of Denmark also includes two autonomous territories in the North Atlantic Ocean: the Faroe Islands and Greenland (It is not for sale).
FUN FACT: Denmark has one of the longest un-interrupted Monarchies in the World.
#2 LEGO
The Lego Group is a danish International corporation, which we are very proud of in Denmark.
Image Credits: Private Photos from Vacations
If you don’t know LEGO, here is a short recap: Lego makes plastic toys for kids, and they are very innovative. The name is a contraction of two Danish words “leg” and “godt” which means play good if you translate it directly.
Everything is awesome.
#3 Christiania
A lot of tourists come to Copenhagen to visit Christiania. It is a little “free state” in the middle of Copenhagen, where the rules are not always the same as in the rest of the country. It is especially known as a friendly cannabis area.
#4 Hot Dogs
We have Special Hotdogs, served a thousand different ways, and not just with mustard
Image Credits: Pixabay.com
People in Denmark love hot dogs, and we have a lot of small places to buy hot dogs. We call them a “Pølsevogn”. Directly translated it means a sausage wagon. You can find one when you land in the biggest airport in Denmark.
BONUS INFO: When we put danish words in the middle of an English sentence, we called it Danglish.
#5 Handball
We invented one of the coolest sports in the world, handball. We also won the Olympics and the World Championship in handball. You should try to Youtube some highlights from Mikkel Hansen if you don’t know what handball is.
We also had the greatest player to ever play the game, Anja Andersen.
#6 Welfare & High Tax Rates
You pay how much? !!!
That is a question danish people get a lot when they travel. People often heard about our great welfare system. One of the reasons why we can take such good care of each other and have free healthcare is due to high tax rates.
But we also have free education, free hospitals and much more.
I can’t be too unhappy, because we repeatedly top the charts as one of the richest countries in the world.
#7 Lurpak & Bacon
Especially in Great Britain, Denmark are known for our butter and bacon.
It was an old tradition, where we shipped a lot to those countries back in the days. We still export a lot of pork and dairy products around most of the world.
Many statistics say that we have more than three times as many pigs in Denmark as we are people.
#8 Football (Soccer)
Even though we invented handball, football is still our national sport. We won the European Championship in 1992, and that is still one of the proudest moments in danish sports history.
We had great players like Michael Laudrup, Allan Simonsen, and the last one is debatable, Lord Bendtner.
#9 The Happiest Country In The World
We don’t mind that we won this title in some World Happiness Reports, but it is not something that we invented. A lot of people are pretty satisfied with living in Denmark though.
Image Credits: Private Photos from Vacations
The World Happiness Report is an annual publication of the United Nations sustainable development solutions network.
#10 Hans Christian Andersen
Hans Christian Andersen is the famous danish writer who wrote some of the best fairy tales ever and was known for creating the iconic beginning phrase of almost every fairytale thereafter; “Der var engang” which means “Once Upon A Time”.
H. C. Andersen wrote The Ugly Duckling and The Little Mermaid among many other famous stories.
He came up with one of my favorite quotes: To travel is to live.
Here is a Photo i snapped in New York, of H.C. Andersen
Image Credits: Private Photos from Vacations
#11 Beautiful Women
It is not only in Sweden that you find beautiful blondes.
Image Credits: Private Photos
We are very proud of our beautiful and sweet women in Denmark, and that is something we will continuously appreciate.
Enough said.
#12 Bicycle Culture
Watch out! There are a lot of bicycles in Denmark, and we have a lot of roads only made for bicycles. It is a proud tradition to bike in Denmark. Foreign people find it a bit difficult to drive a car in Copenhagen due to all the bikes on the roads.
In 1996 the danish cyclist Bjarne Riis won the biggest cycling race in the world, the Tour de France.
#13 Tivoli
Also known as Tivoli Gardens is the second-oldest operating amusement park in the world. It is one of the biggest tourist attractions in Copenhagen together with Christiania and the statue of The Little Mermaid.
It had approximately 4.6 million visitors in 2017.
#14 Beaches
We have a saying in Denmark, that there are no places where you can’t reach a beach within an hour if you drive by car. The country is small, and there are beautiful white sand beaches around the coastlines which we are very happy about.
Some say, that you are always close to a Beach, and that is in fact true. But the weather might not be with you..
Image Credits: Private Photos from Vacations
On some coastlines, you can find the Wadden Sea instead of beaches.
I Actually did a blog post about the best beaches in Denmark: The 3 Best Beaches in Denmark!
#15 Renewable Energy
Denmark is often referred to as one of the leading countries when it comes to renewable energy. We are especially good at manufacturing wind turbines, which we shipped around the whole world.
We have one of the biggest manufacturers of wind turbines in the world, Vestas Wind Systems A/S.
#16 Music & Movies
We love our danish musicians such a Kim Larsen, John Mogensen, and Rasmus Seebach. But there are also a lot of danish people who sing in English and are very famous internationally. For example Lucas Graham, Volbeat ,and Mø.
Oh, don’t forget about the danish drummer in Metallica, Lars Ulrich.
Movies; I could mention, Mads Mikkelsen, Lars von Trier, Nicolaj Coster-Waldau (Jamie Lannister)
#17 Drinking (Especially Beers!)
Image Credits: Private Photos from My Office
Many foreigners who are visiting Denmark quickly finds out that danish people are a bit introvert.
That is only until we start drinking, and Danish people are especially known for drinking a lot of beer.
The third largest beer brewery in the world is from Denmark, Carlsberg. Probably the best beer in the world.
#18 Free Education & Hospitals
No one in Denmark is poor!
At least not comparing to the rest of the world. Our politicians and people currently living of welfare would say that they are poor. But right now they are talking about if 19,000 kr a month ($3000) a month, is enought to ge by, if you are on welfare.
The system is overall great, we have free hospitals and free education – Actually! you get paid an allowance of approx $1000 to study in Denmark, as a native Dane. But the system breaks, when the working people sometimes, because of taxes, has less money after taxes are paid, than people living on wellfare.
I’ve been there, as an entrepreneur. But I Should not complain!
#19 Changing Weather
Okay, So I don’t really know, if this is something that Denmark is known and famous for. But! You should know, before visiting Denmark that the temperatures, and the weather is a tricky thing.
Just two weeks ago, it was 32 degrees celcius (90 Fahrenheit), and now it is only 13 Celcius (55 Fahrenheit). In winter times, February / January you can get as low as -15 Celcius or close to 0 Degrees Fahrenheit. So make sure to pack for changing weathers!
TIP: Layers are great for you, when visiting Denmark.
Read this article about packing up for Denmark to learn more about this.
Fitness Trends In Denmark
When people visit Denmark, they often get surprised about how much we like fitness. In general, danish people care a lot about health and well being, and besides staying active in the outdoors or when they go to their local sports club, they also have a fitness membership.
Some of the fitness-trends are:
- Crossfit
- Zumba
- Swimming
- Rowing
- Running
- Pole Dancing
- Jogging
- Boxing
It has always been very popular to go to a local sports club in Denmark, but the fitness-wave has definitely stolen some of the members from these sports clubs.
Many people own their own training gear and buy dietary supplements to support their training. I have been in contact with a fitness equipment provider called Billig Fitness. This is a danish webshop who sells cheap training equipment to both private people, firms and institutions. They also expanded their business, so they now sell products in Norway and Sweden as well.
It is nice to see, when an associate is doing well, and are expanding their business to our Scandinavian friends.
This section was made with financial support from http://billigfitness.se and http://billigfitness.no
Vikings & Denmark? A Quick Note
So first of all! No, I do not know any Vikings. And no Vikings did not wear hornet helmets as depicted in cartoons.
- Viking was the term used for residents of the old Scandinavia which is now knowns as Denmark, Sweden and Norway. Other names for vikings were Norsemen or simply the Norse.
- They were notorious for their savage raiding of neighbouring countries, and became known as pirates of the medieval times.
- They developed unique ships which could easily traverse the waters to England, as well as the canals throughout Europe.
- Due to the fact that most villages and towns in the medieval times were located near water, it made it extremely accessible for the Vikings to raid and plunder.
- The Vikings were traditionally pagan and believed in norse mythology, but later on converted to christianity.
Famous Viking Names / Danish Names
Due to the fact that the Vikings and thereby the danes became christian, old traditional viking names became more and more forgotten.
However, largely due to the rise of popularity of vikings in modern times due to tv series such as HBO’s “Vikings” these names are seeing a rise in popularity once again.
My Top 9 Danish Viking Names
Here is My own list of top 9 viking names used today along with the meaning of each name.
- Erik – A common name used for boys in Denmark – Means “Absolute Ruler” in old norse
- Bjørn – Another popular boys name in Denmark – This name means “Bear”
- Astrid – A common girls name which means beautiful or loved
- Svend – Both a boys name and also the term used for people learning various crafts in denmark, jobs such as carpenters and electricians refer to their workers as “Svend”. Traditionally it means “a freeman who is in the service of another”
- Frida – A very popular name nowadays for girls which means “Peace” (My Daughters Name is Frida)
- Åse – A girl’s name which means “Goddess”
- Troels – A popular boys name which means “Thor’s arrow” or “The arrow of Thor”
- Signe – Popular girls name which means “The one who is victorious”
- Toke – A name for boys which means “Thor and helmet” or “Thor’s Helmet”
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