North Zealand is the area of coast, forest and lakes between Copenhagen and the northern tip of Zealand, Denmark’s largest island. Within a day’s ride of the capital are three royal castles and palaces, one of Europe’s best-known museums of modern art and the castle at Helsingør that Shakespeare used as the setting for Hamlet.
The distances are short and the riding is easy. Helsingør, Hillerød and Fredensborg all lie within about 50 kilometres of the city, signed cycle routes link them, and trains run back to Copenhagen from Helsingør, Hillerød and many smaller towns.
The Coast Road Along the Øresund
The classic ride north from Copenhagen follows Strandvejen, the coast road along the Øresund, the strait between Denmark and Sweden. National cycle route 9 takes this line to Helsingør, a ride of about 70 kilometres with a few loops inland, and the Swedish coast stays in view across the water for most of the way. The stretch is often called the Danish Riviera for its beaches, small harbours and large seaside villas.
Just north of the city, at Klampenborg, the Jægersborg Dyrehave deer park has wide gravel paths, old oaks and herds of deer, and is home to Bakken, said to be the oldest amusement park still operating in the world. Further on, at Rungsted, the house where Karen Blixen wrote Out of Africa is now a museum. Weekend traffic on Strandvejen can be heavy, and the road is popular with fast club riders, so a weekday ride is calmer.
Louisiana and Kronborg
At Humlebæk, the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art opened in 1958 in a nineteenth-century villa and its gardens above the shore. Its collection of modern and contemporary art is spread through low galleries linked by glass corridors, and the sculpture park runs down towards the water, with views across to Sweden. The museum takes its name from the first owner of the villa, who was married three times, each time to a woman called Louise.
Helsingør, about 10 kilometres further north, stands at the narrowest point of the Øresund, only around 4 kilometres from the Swedish town of Helsingborg. Kronborg Castle guards the strait from a headland beside the harbour, and in the casemates below it sits a statue of Holger Danske, the legendary figure said to wake if Denmark is ever in danger. For centuries ships passing here paid the Sound Dues to the Danish crown, and Kronborg has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2000.
Ferries cross from Helsingør to Helsingborg in about 20 minutes and take bikes on board. With sailings several times an hour for most of the day, a short visit to Sweden is easy to add to the trip.
Fredensborg, Hillerød and Esrum Sø
Inland from Helsingør, the landscape changes to beech forest, lakes and gently rolling farmland. Esrum Sø is the second-largest lake in Denmark by area and the largest by volume, with the forest of Gribskov along its western shore and the remains of the medieval Esrum Abbey at its northern end. Much of this area lies within the Kongernes Nordsjælland National Park, created in 2018.
Fredensborg Palace stands close to the south-east shore of the lake and is still used by the Danish royal family, mainly in spring and autumn, while its large palace gardens are open to the public. A short ride to the south-west, Frederiksborg Castle in Hillerød rises from three small islands in a lake. It was built for Christian IV in the early seventeenth century and now houses the Museum of National History. Its baroque garden, restored in the 1990s, runs down from the castle to the lake.
The forests around the lake, together with the deer park at Klampenborg, form the par force hunting landscape laid out for royal hunts on horseback in the late seventeenth century. It became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2015, and its long, straight forest roads are now used by walkers and cyclists.
Getting Around and Planning the Ride
North Zealand is not completely flat, but its hills are short, and the main effort comes from the wind off the sea along the coast. Bikes travel free on Copenhagen’s S-trains, which reach Klampenborg and Hillerød, and the Coastal Line from Copenhagen to Helsingør carries bikes with a separate ticket. The north coast, from Helsingør through Hornbæk and Gilleleje, is followed by cycle route 47 and adds sandy beaches and fishing harbours to a longer trip. The best months are May to September, when the beech woods are in full leaf and the long northern evenings leave plenty of light for riding.
An organised trip makes it easier to fit the castles, the museum and the forests into a few relaxed days. The operator books hotels or inns, supplies a well-maintained bike, moves luggage between overnight stops and provides route notes or GPS tracks for the quieter paths. With bike tours in Denmark, a ride from Copenhagen to the north coast can be planned around opening times and train connections, with the logistics arranged before you set off.
