Skagen is Denmark's northernmost town, sand along the Skagen Odde peninsula — the beach light its painters chased hangs in Skagens Museum and Anchers Hus.
What makes a beach destination worth the trip?
Water quality and shelter come first: a swimmable, clean shore beats a long but exposed one. After that it is the town — places that live year-round keep their restaurants and transport when the season ends, which is what separates a beach resort from a beach with a car park.
Rønne is the main town and ferry port of Bornholm, a granite island set out in the Baltic Sea east of the Danish mainland.
Køge is a historic harbour town in eastern Denmark, on the island of Zealand south of the capital.
Grenaa is a Kattegat port town at the eastern tip of the Djursland peninsula in central Denmark, on Jutland.
Hørsholm is a town in eastern Denmark, on the island of Zealand, set on the Øresund coast north of Copenhagen.
Løkken, a seaside town on the open Jutland coast, keeps its story of beach-launched boats and drifting sand in the Kystfiskerimuseum and Sandflugtsmuseet.
Gilleleje is a fishing town and seaside resort at the northernmost point of Zealand, in eastern Denmark, in Gribskov Municipality.
Frederiksværk is an old industrial town in Halsnæs on northern Zealand, grown up around a royal gunpowder works.
Ishøj is the seat of Ishøj Municipality in eastern Denmark, a town on the Køge Bay coast of Zealand south of Copenhagen.
Marielyst is a seaside resort on the island of Falster, in the southern part of Region Zealand, in eastern Denmark.
Søndervig is a North Sea beach resort on the dune coast of western Denmark, on the Jutland peninsula.
Blokhus is a coastal resort town on the Jammerbugt bay, in northern Denmark on the Jutland peninsula.