Henne Moelleaa Badehotel
At the end of a narrow dirt road through scrubby heath, about a fifteen-minute drive from Henne Kirkeby Kro , Henne Moelleaa is hunkered so deeply in dunes that you almost can’t see it until you’re at its door. Built by Danish architect Poul Henningsen in the 1930s, Henne Moelleaa was given a sleek redesign five decades later. The result is beach motel bones with rooms and a restaurant that are all modern Danish minimalism. Simple food—fried mullet, organic lamb—and warm service endear it, but the biggest draw is the gateway to the North Sea steps from Henne Molleaa’s wooden deck—a postcard of grassy dunes, smooth sand, and shimmering sea that’s alone worth the prices of a room.
Svinkloev Badehotel
A three hours’ drive north of Henne Kirkeby Kro on the North Jutland coast is Svinkloev, a clapboard hotel plopped right on a pristine stretch of beach. Svinkloev’s head chef Kenneth Hansen has lately become a national star, medaling at Bocuse d’Or and along with nearby peers, helping turn the North Jutland into a culinary destination in its own right. The staggering local bounty—Limfjord oysters, considered among the best in the world, coveted forest mushrooms, wild herbs, produce from abundant organic farms—helps.
Ruth’s Hotel
On a finger of land pointing at Sweden, an hour-and-a-half journey from Svinkloev, is the Skagen Odde peninsula, a magical piece of Danish coastline famous for the way it captures sunlight. Ruth’s Hotel, a favorite of the country’s jet set, is perpetually bathed in that light. Perched on the western shore of the peninsula, the hotel’s glassed-in pool, candlelit by night, private terraces, and deck tables—there’s an all-day French brasserie and a refined Nordic restaurant best for evening—are angled to make the most of the ethereal daylight.
Mortens Kro
Celebrity chef Morten Nielsen and his restaurant Mortens Kro in Aalborg, the largest city in these parts, are often credited as the spark for the North Jutland culinary renaissance. An hour from the nearest wind-swept coast in a lively city known for its star-making cooking school, Mortens Kro serves a polished feast of new Nordic cooking—smoked cod with gooseberries, Danish venison marinated in juniper and pine needles, poached pheasant with forested mushrooms.