Visit Aalborg

About Aalborg

Aalborg is northern Jutland's quietly impressive coastal capital — a former industrial port on the Limfjord that has reinvented itself spectacularly over the past two decades, anchored by the dramatic glass-fronted Utzon Center on the waterfront (designed by Jørn Utzon, the Aalborg-born architect of the Sydney Opera House) and the Musikkens Hus concert hall next door. The compact medieval core revolves around Jens Bangs Stenhus, a 1624 Renaissance merchant townhouse — the largest of its kind in northern Europe — and the half-timbered Budolfi Cathedral. The atmospheric Jomfru Ane Gade is reputedly the longest stretch of bars and clubs in Scandinavia. Out of town, the Lindholm Høje Viking burial site preserves around 700 graves arranged in haunting ship-shapes on a hillside above the fjord, and the Aalborg Akvavit distillery (the spirit was first produced here in 1846) runs tours from a beautiful old building. The Limfjord cuts the country in two here — take the small boat to Egholm Island for sandy beaches, sea kayaking, and one of the best summer barbecue scenes in Denmark.