Helsingor Old Town

Helsingor grew rich because every ship passing into or out of the Baltic had to stop and pay the Sound Dues at the narrowest point of the Oresund, and the money built a merchant town of half-timbered and brick houses in tight lanes behind the harbour, much of which survives. Sankt Mariae Kirke and the Carmelite monastery attached to it are among the best preserved medieval monastic buildings in northern Europe, with cloisters and a painted refectory. Sankt Olai Kirke is the cathedral. Down at the water is the Maritime Museum of Denmark, built by BIG into an old dry dock beside Kronborg so that the galleries run below ground around the empty dock and the castle keeps its silhouette uninterrupted.

What you actually see

• The Carmelite monastery - cloisters and painted rooms from the medieval house.
• Half-timbered merchant lanes - the town the Sound Dues paid for.
• The Maritime Museum in a dry dock - galleries sunk around an empty dock.
• The Oresund narrows - Sweden two miles away across the water.

When to go

April to October for walking the lanes. Half a day, more with the maritime museum. The ferry to Helsingborg in Sweden takes twenty minutes and runs constantly, which makes an easy addition.

Honest expectations

The town is often skipped in favour of Kronborg alone, and the lanes get little traffic as a result, which is good for quiet and bad for open shops. Some museums close on Mondays. The harbour area is dominated by the ferry terminal.

Nearby

Kronborg Castle is on the point; Hornbaek and the north coast lie west.