Holiday apartment in Fredensborg – palace, palace gardens and Lake Esrum

Fredensborg combines royal architectural history, open garden spaces and Lake Esrum with museums, mills and diverse paths. Fredensborg Palace was built from 1719 to 1722 as a smaller pleasure palace for the king. The palace contains a Baroque dining room dating from the construction period in 1722. The palace is normally closed to the public, but opens for guided tours in summer. The public part of Fredensborg Palace Gardens, on the other hand, is open to visitors at all times.

Culture and history

Fredensborg Palace Gardens are home to Nordmandsdalen, with 70 sculptures of Norwegian and Faroese farmers, fishermen and other subjects of the king. Nivaagaards Malerisamling offers a different perspective on art history. The collection displays portraits from the Renaissance, Baroque and Danish Golden Age. The works mentioned include Giovanni Bellini’s “Portrait of a Young Man”, dated to around 1490. Through a foundation established on 30 September 1908, Nivaagaards Malerisamling became a self-governing institution with public access.

The Fredensborg Museum in Avderød is a local history museum about people, objects and places in present-day Fredensborg Municipality. In the classroom, children and adults can experience how their great-grandparents wrote with pen and ink or on slate boards with slate pencils. The Louisiana Museum of Modern Art also makes a lasting contribution: its sculpture park contains around 50 permanent works that form a significant part of the Louisiana experience throughout the year.

Paths, mills and crafts

The Dronningerunden trail runs through Kokkedal, Nivå, Humlebæk and Fredensborg in Fredensborg Municipality. In addition, the experience routes in Fredensborg form a connected system of more than 5 kilometres. It links local paths, passages and historic road layouts with the straight Baroque axes of the palace gardens. Inlaid brass plates tell stories about the royal family, architecture and important figures from the town.

In Nivå, a historical audio walk is approximately 2.5 kilometres long, takes about 1.5 hours and includes nine stops. A 5-kilometre walking route through Fredensborg Palace Gardens starts in front of Fredensborg Palace, follows the shore of Lake Esrum to the rear of the palace and continues past Kancellihuset before returning. Fredensborg Palace Gardens are located in Kongernes Nordsjælland National Park.

The history of milling is also present in several places. Karlebo Mill is a Dutch-style windmill in Fredensborg Municipality, built in 1835. Højsager Mill was ready to reopen in 1985 as a museum mill and landmark of the municipality. It is open on selected dates during the summer season; volunteers explain the mill and, when there is enough wind, demonstrate how it operates. Nivaagaards Teglværks Ringovn was built in Fredensborg Municipality in 1870. A guided visit can be extended with a visit and lesson in the smithy, where the blacksmith explains and demonstrates the traditional craft.

Lake Esrum and the surrounding area

At Lake Esrum, you can swim, walk, go birdwatching and fish, as well as travel by kayak, canoe, SUP and boat. Bådfarten Esrum Sø offers boat trips with views of Fredensborg Palace Gardens and Gribskov. A round trip departs from Skipperhuset and passes Sørup, a bird sanctuary, and Nødebo Holt before continuing to Dronningens Bøge and returning along the palace-park side to Skipperhuset.

This area also includes Sørup Is & Kaffestue. Here, ice cream is made in the traditional way from fresh ingredients.

Holiday apartment in Fredensborg

Other nearby places: Niverød, Humlebæk, Nivå, Kokkedal.

To the main travel overview: Hovedstaden.

More destinations

More places within the same destination:

Copenhagen, Gribskov Municipality, Brøndby Municipality, Allerød Municipality.