Follow me around Denmark's most east island Bornholm. No matter if you are looking for fun watersports activities, hiking trails, or sandy white beaches to relax, Bornholm offers the right kind of activity on only 533 km².
You can reach Bornholm in 1 hour and 20 min from Ystad in Sweden, 3 hours from Sassnitz in Germany, or 5 hours from Køge in Denmark, which makes it the perfect weekend trip destination!
I will take you around Bornholm's main city, Rønne, as well as Gudhjem, and Dueodde.
Pssst: My tip is to take an evening departure and enjoy a beautiful sunset over the sea from the ship's rear!
From Rønne to Gudhjem
Even though Bornholm offers various action-packed activities, you will be deeply relaxed upon arriving at Bornholm - given the sea was calm and you enjoy ferry rides. We took our bikes, and our first rather short bike trip gave us a first impression of what we would experience in the following days: hills. I must confess our research may not have been the most thorough before we came to the island, and I simply assumed that it would be just as flat as the rest of Denmark. Far wrong. Opposite to the rest of the country, Bornholm consists mainly of hard granite stone, which at some spots of the island rises up to 40 meters above the sea and gives the island generally a comparably hilly surface.
We spent our first night on Bornholm, just a little outside Rønne, at the “Green Solution House”, one of Europe's top 10 most sustainable hotels. The hotel belongs to the “Bornholm Hotels” group, which also owns one of the two spas on the island. The GSH also offers a great restaurant, which we, unfortunately, did not get to know the true promise of, as we had our dinner on the ferry and used the remaining evening to enjoy the warm summer breeze on our very own hotel room balcony.
The next day, after a rich buffet-style breakfast, we checked out and started daz one of our three-day bike trip. We biked crossways from Rønne in the southwest to Gudhjem in the north, and on the way, we stopped at Ekkodalen, Døndalen, and Helligdomsklipperne.
Although Bornholm offers more than 150 km of coastline, we have seen almost nothing of it during this bike ride. Instead, we enjoyed the forest's silence on our almost 40 km long first bike trip. Only ca. 40.000 people live on the island all year round, and even though we visited the island during the tourist peak time of the year, we came across almost no one. It is the ideal opportunity to disconnect and experience the calm. Along the way, nature invites you to take a short stop and enjoy its beauty - or become friends with a cute kitty, as I did.
Pssssst: Bornholms bike routes are suitable for all experience levels. Bring a bike with a little treat pattern, as not all paths are cast. A regular city bike should do the job.
Our first destination of the day, Ekkodalen, is almost halfway through our day route and echoed us at the center of Bornholm - word pun intended. Ekkodalen, the echo dale, got its name from what it does - it echoes your words back to you. To find the best spot for experiencing the echo, you simply follow the signs until you reach a little pedestal. Standing on that pedestal is supposed to give you a clear echo that will echo back to you multiple times - at least in theory. Unfortunately, the effect also depends on the weather, and you really have to make sure to scream very loudly. While other visitors at the location received a clear echo back, my voice didn't seem loud enough, and I didn’t get any echo.
My slight disappointment about the missing echo was cured very quickly during a short walk in the beautiful nature around the Ekkodalen before we hit it off to our next destination, Døndalen, roughly 7 km from Gudhjem.
Døndalen is the highest waterfall in Bornholm and invites you to year-round hikes. We couldn’t take our bikes all the way to Døndalen - although we tried. Ultimately, we simply left them at the side of the trail, paying attention not to damage any of the nature around us. On our short hike towards the waterfall, we came across two other hikers who informed us that, due to the hot summer, the waterfall wasn’t carrying any water, and the hike towards it was rather exhausting. Since we were already quite exhausted from the 30 km that we did on our bikes that day, we decided not to continue down the trail to Døndalen but instead continue our tour towards the seaside and spend a few moments at the Helligdomsklipperne (Sanctuary Cliffs) which is also home to the Sorte Gryde (the Black Pot). The black pot is a unique cave to visit as it consists of crystalline rocks, which you cannot find anywhere else in Bornholm. The cave emerged from a crack in the stone that, over time, was formed into a cave by the waves crashing against the cliffs. Nowadays, it is as deep as 60 m into the stone.
Pssssst: The Sorte Gryde is not for you if you are afraid of spiders, as it is home to the Bornholm cave spiders.
A 20-minute bike ride later, we arrived at our last destination of the day: Gudhjem. Gudhjem is a historic fishing town and one of the biggest towns on the island, despite counting only a little more than 700 inhabitants. A friend of mine suggested staying at Jantzens Hotel, a historic hotel that opened its doors to guests in 1872. Still today, it welcomes many guests throughout the year to rest and experience Danish hygge. After a quick shower, we spend the rest of the evening wandering around the streets of the fishing town, marveling at the many art and handicraft shops that are so typical for Bornholm. We ended our day with a delicious dinner and a glass of wine at one of the restaurants right next to the sea.
From Gudhjem to Dueodde
Our travel destination of the day is around 30 km away at the utmost southern tip of the island Bornholm: Dueodde. The town is famous for its kilometer-long white beach with the finest sand in Denmark. If you want, you can cycle the entire way along the coastline, enjoying the view over the Baltic Sea, and stop at one of the small towns and cities. Still feeling more than 40 km from the previous day in our bones and wanting some spare time to spend at the beach later the same day, we decided to take the shorter but not less scenic route towards Dueodde. This route takes you away from the coastline after around 8 km and leads you through the islands inland. On this tour, we didn’t make any stops along the way but just enjoyed the mesmerizing nature of the Almindingen forest. The forest around Almindingen didn’t form itself but is rather the result of caring forest rangers who brought the forest to life around 1800. Before the reforestation, the island's farmers used the area for their cattle. Nowadays, the forest belongs to one of Denmark's biggest and most mesmerizing ones. Along the way, steep cliffs alternate with picturesque clearings. Every now and then, you can climb high up on one of the numerous lookout towers and enjoy the diversity of flora and fauna from above.
Since Dueodde is famous for its beach, we wanted to stay as close as possible to it and decided to bed out on the camping ground. We didn’t bring a tent so instead we rented one of the hostel rooms with a private bathroom. After a shower and a quick bite from the camping kiosk, we spent the time until dinner relaxing at the beach, watching the water and occasionally taking a dip in it. During summer, the water of the Baltic Sea heats up until around 24°C.
After dinner at the all-you-can-eat buffet of the camping restaurant, we went for a short walk towards the Dueodde Fyr, the lighthouse of this town. The lighthouse is one of the tallest ones in Europe, towering up 47 m into the sky. It can be visited from May to September during chosen opening hours. Unfortunately, we didn’t make it during opening hours, but the view from the top of the lighthouse is supposed to be breathtaking. Considering that already the view from the top of the dunes across the beach is beyond beautiful, we have no doubt this is true.
From Dueodde to Rønne
Bornholm is also called the “Solskinsøen”, the sunshine island, and during our trip so far, the island really lived up to its name. On our last day, however, we were reminded that Bornholm does belong to rainy Denmark and left us, unfortunately, no other option but to take our bikes on the bus. Luckily, the bus company of the island is prepared for travelers like us and offers plenty of space for bikes on board. Using the bus, we reached our final destination, Rønne, in around 1h. Since we planned to return to Rønne later, we now had some spare time to spend in Rønne. Luckily, the sky cleared up, allowing us to leave our bikes at the station and take a walk through the city where we once more admired the historic architecture. Some houses even remain from the 16th or 17th century. Finally, we arrived at Rønnes harbor, where we ended our weekend trip around the island and took the ferry back home - exhausted but full of unforgettable memories.
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