Aarhus, Denmark

Aarhus Highlights

ARoS Art Museum
Town Hall
Aarhus River and Street Food

Why visit Aarhus?

For Denmark’s second largest city, full of history and with a vibrant cultural offering.

Getting there and around

We visited Aarhus as a stop on our London to Iceland trip in August 2022. We took a 3 hour train from Hamburg to Kolding in Denmark. We then changed trains and travelled for a further 90 minutes to reach Aarhus. Trains in Denmark are reliable, efficient and relatively cheap. Our hotel was a 10 minute walk from the train station.

We used Undiscovered Destinations to arrange transport and accommodation for us. They selected more expensive accommodation than we’d usually opt for, but it also gave us ATOL protection should anything go wrong.

We purchased an e-sim data package from Airalo which enabled us to access maps and use the internet without paying roaming chargers to our usual mobile provider. It cost £10 for for 3GB data for a 30 day e-sim and we could use it in all the European countries we visited, including Denmark.

Aarhus is small, safe and incredibly walkable. We walked from the train station to our hotel and we were on foot throughout the city centre. We didn’t have need of taxis or buses during our stay.

Accommodation

We stayed at the Scandic Hotel Aarhus City in a family room with breakfast. Our room was basic and compact, with a double bed and small double sofa bed. At £400 a night (!) this room was well over budget and certainly not good value for money when compared with what’s available in Germany or the U.K., for example.
The hotel was 5 minutes walk from Aarhus station and very central, in a convenient location for shops and the main attractions. Breakfast was excellent and the restaurant served very good food for dinner. The staff were kind and welcoming.
Our star rating: 4
Our cost rating: 2

Scandic Aarhus

ARoS

ARoS is a modern art gallery that opened in 2004. The building itself is part of the attraction, it’s 10 storeys are topped by a 150-metre long circular walkway that sits 50 metres above the roof of the main building, offering spectacular views of the city.

Inside, the rainbow walkway messed with your perception as light is filtered through the different coloured glass. It’s also the perfect race track for energetic children who like to run!

We like modern art and we thought the ARoS collection was inspiring and unique.

Opening with a Grayson Perry tapestry about the British class system and ending with computer generated videos of an underwater alien world by Jakob Kudsk Steensen, we thoroughly enjoyed it.

Our favourite exhibits were the dissected tree and the giant ‘Boy’ sculpture.

Aarhus Town Hall

We had a hunch that this building would house some stunning mid-century architectural features and we were right. A quick drop-in to take some photos rewarded us with parquet wooden flooring, opulent golden staircases and lush wood panelling. A fabulous example of quality municipal design.

Aarhus River & Street Food

We ate a yummy lunch of summer rolls and bowls of noodle soup at Pho C&P which was relatively cheap by Danish standards (but still cost us £50!).

Aarhus River leads into the North Sea and along the waterway are lots of restaurants and bars.

We ate dinner at Aarhus Street Food which has lots of stalls. We all had different things - spaghetti bolognese, chicken curry, tzatziki with flatbreads, and fish and chips (£40 in total). There was also a variety of South East Asian food and more traditional Danish food too. The place was vibrant and buzzing with tourists and locals alike.

Final Thoughts

Denmark is one of our favourite countries to visit. Its safe, efficient, clean and green. There is lots that we admire about Danish society including their approach to children learning through play, their social welfare policies and their strides towards gender equality.

We have visited Copenhagen and Billund but this was our first visit to Aarhus, and we loved it! Aarhus is an old city, dating from the 8th century and despite being the second largest city in Denmark, it is compact and walkable. It had a pleasant vibe, with smart shops and trendy restaurants. It was an easy place to visit with children, and we’d highly recommend for a weekend break with kids.