Where to Stay in Silkeborg, Region Midtjylland

What is Silkeborg known for?

Museum Jorn gathers the work of the painter who took the town's name, and the older Museum Silkeborg sets out the wider local story in Silkeborg Hovedgård. Culture spreads beyond them. KunstCentret Silkeborg Bad fills a former spa with exhibitions, while the AQUA Akvarium og Dyrepark draws families to its freshwater zoo.

The scenic viewpoint of Dronningestolen looks out over the surrounding country, and JYSK Arena hosts the town's football.

What are the main landmarks in Silkeborg?

Two museums anchor Silkeborg. Museum Jorn holds the art of its namesake painter, while Museum Silkeborg keeps the town's history inside Silkeborg Hovedgård, and KunstCentret Silkeborg Bad shows work in a converted spa. Animals draw their own crowd.

The AQUA Akvarium og Dyrepark runs a freshwater aquarium and animal park, and the viewpoint of Dronningestolen looks over the wider landscape. Silkeborg also has the parish churches Balle Kirke, Alderslyst Kirke and Hvinningdal Kirke, the wartime Silkeborg Bunker Museum and the heritage house of Landlyst.

What is the history of Silkeborg?

Silkeborg is a lakeside railway town on the Jutland peninsula, founded in 1844 around a big paper mill at the Gudenå, the longest river in Denmark. The name goes back to at least the 15th century, when a castle called Silkeborg was mentioned in written documents. It stood on an islet in the lake Silkeborg Langsø.

Only a few ruins remain. As the town spread it drew in the village parishes around it, with their churches Balle Kirke, Alderslyst Kirke and Hvinningdal Kirke. The painter Asger Jorn brought a different kind of fame, and his gift of work to the town founded Museum Jorn.

The second world war left its own trace in the bunkers now kept as the Silkeborg Bunker Museum, while the spa at Silkeborg Bad, long since closed, lives on as the art centre KunstCentret Silkeborg Bad. From a mill town Silkeborg became the seat of Silkeborg Municipality.

Where is Silkeborg?

Silkeborg sits in central Denmark, on the Jutland peninsula, in the central part of Central Denmark. The town spreads across a wide municipal area that it heads as the seat. Its outer parishes ring the centre.

Balle, Hvinningdal and Alderslyst hold their own churches and were once separate communities, while the scenic viewpoint of Dronningestolen looks out over the country around the town from higher ground.

What is the climate of Silkeborg?

Inland Jutland sets the weather. Silkeborg lies away from the open sea in the central part of Central Denmark, so its winters run colder and its summers warmer than the Danish coast, in a temperate northern year of changeable skies. Grey, damp spells are common.

The longer, milder days of summer fill the gardens at Silkeborg Bad and the grounds of the AQUA Akvarium og Dyrepark with visitors, while autumn brings wind and rain across the open country before the short, dim days of winter close in over the town.

How do you get to Silkeborg?

Rail and road reach Silkeborg through Jutland. Trains run to the town from the wider Central Denmark region, and the centre lies a short walk from the station for arrivals heading on to Museum Jorn or the town's cafés. Drivers come by motorway.

Roads cross the Jutland peninsula to link Silkeborg with the larger Jutland cities, and signs guide visitors out to the AQUA Akvarium og Dyrepark and the viewpoint at Dronningestolen on the edge of town.