Aarhus second best in Europe: World's Smallest Big City
By Marina Aagaard, MFE. Photo: Henrik Elstrup Aagaard
Aarhus, second city of Denmark, and also a so-called second city sight-wise; when everybody has seen Copenhagen, where to next? And now also second on the Lonely Planet Best in Europe list. That's okay.
Aarhus second best in Europe
The town where I was born and raised, Aarhus, on the peninsula Jutland in Denmark, in 2016 was named among the best places in Europe by Lonely Planet travel guide. In second place, just before Venice, the most beautiful city, can you believe it? Director of Visit Aarhus, Peer H. Kristensen, was delighted, but sincerely hoped, that the citizens of Aarhus will become better ambassadors in the future. Right now we, the natives, are a little too used to our city to truly appreciate and brag about it ...Lonely Planet: Best in Europe 2016
- Peloponnes, Greece
- Aarhus, Denmark
- Venice, Italy
- Dordogne, France
- Lviv, Ukraine
- Warwickshire, Enland
- Extremadura, Spain
- Tenerife east coast, Canary Islands
- Texel, Holland
- Northern Dalmatia, Croatia
City of the Smile
Aarhus is a fairly small city - 264,716 inhabitants in the inner urban area and 330,639, municipal population (2016) - has been named 'City of the Smile' and 'World's Smallest Big City', especially the latter being reasonable descriptive: Aarhus offer smaller scale sight-seeing opportunities and facilities similar to those of bigger cities. There is a concert hall, Musikhuset, for opera and classical music, and there is a small, cozy theatre (plays in Danish, though) as well as exciting modern dance scenes. Aarhus has a festival week, Festugen, first week of September every year. There is an abundance of music, dance and plays in many genres. A lot of the events are free. There are also many beer stalls and tents, some with live music, during festival time making the event and city a bit loud and messy in some places. (photo above: Sculpture by the Sea 2015). The city has affordable - not supercheap nor overly expensive - offers for shoppers from visiting cruise ships and elsewhere. Exclusive top brands like Prada, Gucci and Hermes may not have shops in Aarhus, but you can get Danish design fashion, jewellery and art.Top-10 Reasons to Visit Aarhus
- Worldclass architecture, old and new, some street art
- Great museums: Aros, MOMU (photo), Den Gamle By (open air museum) a.o.
- Michelin food, quite a few star restaurants (see list below)
- Nice quarters, e.g. Latin Quarter with designer fashion and organic food
- Harbour, not especially tourist friendly, but nice anyway and with two little marinas
- Great music and dance, not only local stars; also international guests
- Pedestrian streets with coffee shops, bars and small restaurants
- Shopping, Danish design fashion, furniture, art
- Fairly friendly people; Danes may look 'busy', but do ask, give us a poke
- Great surroundings, bay area, forrest and fields