Charlottenlund: Beach, Forest and Cultural History

Charlottenlund offers a variety of ways to shape your trip: a beach park, forest trails, architecture, art and harness racing. If you are looking for a hotel in Charlottenlund, these themes can help you decide which interests to focus on during your stay.

Beach Park and Bathing Water

Charlottenlund Beach Park has been a public park since 1932. It covers about 13 hectares and stretches for approximately 650 metres. The park includes a fine sandy beach and parkland consisting mainly of lawns and large trees. The beach and green spaces give the area two distinct focal points, without requiring you to plan a long list of different attractions.

There is public transport and marked parking along Strandvejen by Charlottenlund Beach Park. Additional parking is located at the southern and northern ends of the park. The beach park received an “excellent” bathing water quality rating in 2024, based on data from 2021 to 2024.

Charlottenlund Forest: Trails and Navigation

Charlottenlund Forest consists mainly of old-growth oak woodland, with about 300 old oak trees. The forest has 30 orienteering markers and 11 maps showing routes of varying difficulty and length. This provides a range of route options to choose from. The trails in Charlottenlund Forest are also suitable for people with limited mobility, including wheelchair users.

An official walking route runs through Charlottenlund Forest and the palace gardens; it is about 5 kilometres long. If you are looking for an approximate distance, you can use this route as a guide. The maps in the forest, by contrast, offer routes of varying lengths and difficulty. The fixed approximate distance of the walking route and the varied route options shown on the maps therefore offer different approaches to planning.

Palace, Fort and Forest Botanical Garden

Charlottenlund Palace was originally built as a Baroque palace and later remodelled into the French Renaissance château seen today. Charlottenlund Fort tells a different part of the story: it was built between 1883 and 1887 as part of the defensive fortifications for Greater Copenhagen and decommissioned in 1932.

The Forest Botanical Garden is another historical highlight. It was established in 1799 as a small arboretum to support forestry botany teaching at the University of Copenhagen. The palace, fort and garden thus represent different subjects: palace architecture, military history and the history of forest botany. If you are interested in historical development, you will find more than just a single era here.

Art and Design

In the Art Park at Ordrupgaard Museum, visitors can touch, climb on, crawl through, play in and dance among contemporary artworks. Admission to the Art Park is free; some works are closed seasonally. The activities described range from looking at the works to engaging with them directly. This gives the park a different focus from the historic sites.

Finn Juhl’s House is an integrated part of Ordrupgaard Museum. There, visitors can experience Danish design history and an outstanding collection of modernist art in a domestic setting. The Art Park and Finn Juhl’s House therefore offer different ways to engage with art and design: contemporary works in the park on the one hand, and design history and modern art in a domestic setting on the other.

Harness Racing and Water Sports

Charlottenlund Trotting Track, also known as Lunden, is considered the oldest trotting track in the Nordic region. The Danish Trotting Derby takes place at the track on the last weekend of August. In addition to the major races, there are regular race days featuring trotting and Monté races. The Derby’s special date and the regular racing programme therefore differ in their timing.

At Charlottenlund Fort, kayaks and SUP boards can be rented through KAYAKOMAT’s unattended self-service system. Bookings are made online; a code is sent by email and SMS for collection. As operator details may change, it is advisable to check the latest information before booking.

Discover more destinations: Hellerup, Klampenborg, Gentofte.

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