'''Zealand''' (''Danish: Sjalland'') is the largest island in Denmark, located between the Island of Funen and the southern tip of Sweden. It is the seat of the capital Copenhagen. In addition to Zealand this region also encompasses the islands of Lolland, Falster and Mon, as well as numerous small islands.

Regions

  • Nordsjalland - northern section of the island
  • Cities

  • Copenhagen, Largest city and capital of Denmark.
  • Roskilde World heritage site of Roskilde cathedral, containing the Royal Tombs for the past 1000 years. and the excellent Viking ship museum.
  • Nastved
  • Elsinore (''Helsingor'') Location Kronborg Castle of Hamlet fame, a beautiful old city center, and home of the ferries to Helsingborg in Sweden
  • Koge Has a nice well preserved old city center. The beatifull Vallo caste and the 15 meter Stevns chalk cliffs within easy reach.
  • Haslev with Gisselfeld Kloster.
  • Slagelse
  • Hillerod, site of the spectacular Frederiksborg Palace and Denmark's Museum of National History.
  • Ringsted
  • Kalundborg
  • Nykobing Falster- On islands of Lolland/Falster south of Sjalland (Zealand)
  • Islands

  • Lolland
  • Falster
  • Mon
  • Bogo
  • Faro
  • Bogo Kro. ogo Hovedgade 134. '+45'' 55893015. ail@bogoekro.dk. ttp://www.bogoekro.dk. o-Sa 5pm-9pm. KK 170 for mains. Friendly inn on Bogo

    Other destinations

    North of Copenhagen towards Elsinore

  • Niva with Nivaagaard Picture Gallery
  • Skodsborg
  • Vedbak
  • Rungsted
  • Humlebak, 50km. north of Copenhagen. Location of Louisiana Museum of Contemporary Art. Exhibitions and concerts venue. Exceptional garden/park.
  • Faxe
  • Hornbak
  • South

  • Mons cliff
  • Understand

    ''King Gylfi ruled the lands that are now called Sweden. It is told of him that he gave a ploughland in his kingdom, the size four oxen could plough in a day and a night, to a beggar-woman as a reward for the way she had entertained him. This woman, however, was of the family of the Asir. Her name was Gefion. She took from the north, out of Jotunheim, four oxen which were the soils of a certain giant and, herself, and set them before the plow. And the plow cut so wide and so deep that it loosened up the land; and the oxen drew the land out into the sea and to the westward, and stopped in a certain sound. There Gefion set the land for good and gave it a name, calling it "Zealand." And from that time on, the spot whence the land had been torn up is water: it is now called the "Vaneren" in Sweden; and bays lie in that lake even as the headlands in Zealand. Thus says Bragi, the ancient skald:''

    Today a large statue commemorating Gefion plowing Zealand out of Sweden with her oxcart stands near ''Kastellet'' in Copenhagen. Much has happened since then, and today nearly half the population of Denmark lives on the island, where also the capital and largest city Copenhagen is situated - the metropolitan area covers almost the entire north eastern part of the island.

    Get in

    Although densely populated and the seat of the Danish capital, Zealand is an island - in the past 15 years two fixed connections to Jutland and Sweden respectively have been completed, but there is still numerous ferry lines connecting Zealand with the European continent.

    By car

    Zealand is connected to the European highway network on European routes '''E20''' running between Shannon in Ireland, and St Petersburg in Russia, the '''E47''' between Lubeck, Germany and Helsingborg in Sweden and finally the '''E55''' between Helsingborg, and Kalamata in Greece. Please note that all of the ferry connections listed below, also take on cars. Avoid highways leading into Copenhagen in the morning rush hour between 7-9AM, where traffic is notoriously slow for tens of kilometers.

  • '''Storebaltsbroen''' (Great Belt bridge)[http://www.storebaelt.dk/english]: Most people arrive from Funen (and Jutland), over this impressive 18 kilometer combined road and railway l ink, on the E20. A one way ticket with a regular sized car is 205 DKK.
  • '''Oresundsbroen''' (Oresund brige)[http://osb.oeresundsbron.dk/switchlanguage.php?lang=1] this 16 kilometer connection; part brige, part artificial island and part tunnel tunnel is on the E20, and connects Copenhagen with Malmo in southern Sweden. Price of a one way ticket in a regular car is 260 DKK.
  • By ferry

    Denmark:

  • '''Funen''':
  • * '''Spodsbjerg - Tars ferry'''[http://www.langelandstrafikken.dk/Default.aspx?langID=2]: There is a regular ferry connection between the islands of Langeland and Lolland, south of Funen and Zealand respectively, sails every 30 minutes throughout most of the day, and a crossing takes 45 minutes. 70 DKK for passengers, and 230 DKK for a car.
  • '''Jutland''':
  • * '''Ebeltoft/Arhus - Odden'''[http://www.mols-linien.dk/index.dsp?area=2&RedirectedByPURL=1]: High speed ferries do this crossing in 45 minutes from Ebeltoft, and 65 minutes from Arhus. 305 DKK for passengers, 695 DKK for cars. Many express buses[http://www.fjernbusser.dk/] between the capital and Jutland cross here.
  • * '''Arhus - Kalundborg'''[http://www.mols-linien.dk/index.dsp?area=2&RedirectedByPURL=1]: RoRo ferries takes 2 hours and 40 minutes connecting these two cities. from Kalundborg there is a train connection to Copenhagen. Passengers: 175 DKK, cars 375 DKK.
  • '''Bornholm'''
  • *'''Koge - Ronne'''[http://www.bornholmstrafikken.dk]: While there are between 2 and 4 ferries per day, depending on the season, between the Copenhagen suburb Koge and Ronne on Bornholm, leaving at 8AM and 11:30PM respectively. The journey time of 6 hours and 30 minutes leaves most people opting to go through Sweden which is must faster (2.5 hours). Price 250 DKK for passengers, 1350 DKK for a car.
  • '''Samso'''
  • * Kalundborg - '''Kolby Kas''' ferry. This crossing takes 1.55 hours and runs serveral times a day. Price is 97 DKK for a passenger, and 277 DKK for a car.
  • Europe:

  • '''Germany''':
  • * '''Puttgarden - Rodby'''[http://www.scandlines.dk/DKFront/Front_COM]: One of the busiest international ferry crossings in the world, this crossing takes 45 minutes, and leaves every 30 minutes throughout most of the day. 40 DKK for passengers, 460 DKK for a car. The Eurocity (EC31-EC35) train connection between Hamburg and Copenhagen crosses here, as does numerous Eurolines[http://www.eurolines-travel.com/] buses for Hamburg, Berlin and Amsterdam
  • * '''Rostock - Gedser''': Ferry plows across the Baltic sea, between these two towns in 1 hour, 45 minutes. Mainly used for journeys to Berlin or Eastern Europe. Price 630 DKK for cars. 45 DKK for passengers.
  • '''Sweden''': There are over a 200 sailings per day on the crossing between Helsingor and Helsingborg, Acelink[http://www.acelink.dk/] charges 35 DKK on it's passenger only ferries, discount HH Ferries[http://www.hhferries.dk/] takes 19 DKK for a passenger, and 250 for a car. While a crossing with Scandlink[http://scandlines.dk/] will set you back 23 DKK for a passenger ticket, and 275 for bringing a car.
  • '''Norway''': DFDS Seaways[http://www.dfdsseaways.co.uk/] sends it's massive cruise like ferries on a return trip to Oslo everyday at 5PM, They officially charge 495 DKK for a car and 750 DKK per Passenger. In reality you can often get massive discounts of up to 50%.
  • '''Poland''': Polferries[http://www.polferries.pl/en/home] operates a crossing between Copenhagen and Swinoujscie in north-western Poland on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 8PM as well as Sundays at 10:30AM.
  • By train

  • '''Denmark:''' There are numerous trains connecting Zealand with Funen and Jutland, all crosses the Great Belt fixed link. The Main lines departs from Copenhagen twice every hour, usually divided in a Express and a Intercity train, and runs across the length of Zealand with stops in Roskilde, Ringsted, Slagelse and Korsor before crossing the Belt and Funen, and finaly branching out when they reach Jutland. The most important branches being Arhus/Aalborg running North, Esbjerg running west and finaly Sonderborg running south. All cross belt trains are operated by DSB (Danish Railways[http://www.dsb.dk]
  • '''International:''' Copenhagen Central station hosts connections to Hamburg, Berlin which stops in major Zealand cities; Nastved, Vordingborg and Nykobing Falster on the way. There is also connections between Copenhagen and Ystad, Goteborg and Stockholm in Sweden
  • By bus

    Buses between Zealand and Jutland are only marginally cheaper than the train, although there is considerable discounts between Monday - Thursday. The International buses on the other hand offers considerably lower prices than the train. Copenhagen due to its size, acts as the central hub for all bus lines, but the highway buses for Jutland, listed under Copenhagen, makes stops in both Roskilde and Holbak.

    Get around

    By train

  • Private railroads
  • * '''Frederiksvarksbanen''' ? Hillerod - Hundested via Frederiksvark - ''One of the most important private railways in Denmark, runs from Hillerod, terminus of Copenhagen's suburban line E to Hundested at the mouths of Roskilde and Holbak fjords.''
  • * '''Lille Nord''' ? Hillerod - Helsingor via Fredensborg - ''Runs once or twice per hour between the 3 castle towns of Northern Zealand, and is a good option from making a circle daytrip of Northern Zealand from Copenhagen''
  • * '''Gribskovbanen''' ? Hillerod - Tisvildeleje/Gilleleje - ''This beautiful small railway runs through Zealand's largest forest to reach the two main vacation towns on Zealands northern coast, where some excellent beaches can be found.''
  • * '''Ostbanen'''? [http://www.lokalbanen.dk/K%C3%B8replaner/%C3%98stbanen.aspx] Koge - Faxe Ladeplads/Rodvig. - ''Runs from Koge, the terminus of one of Copenhagen's suburban lines, across the Stevns district, for access to the remarkable 15 meter high, Stevns chalk cliffs.''
  • * '''Odsherredsbanen''' ? Holbak - Nykobing Sjalland -'' This line connects Holbak on one of the Zealand mainlines, to the Odsherred penisula - vacation country where many people Copenhagen has vacation homes''
  • * '''Hong-Tollose jernbane''' ? Tollose - Slagelse
  • * '''Lollandsbanen''' ? Nykobing Falster - Nakskov via Maribo
  • By Ferry

  • Hundested - Rorvig
  • Kulhuse - Solager
  • See

  • '''Tour the 3 main castles of Zealand''': The world heritage sight of Hamlet's Kronborg, Frederiksborg and Fredensborg slot - all within easy reach of each other.
  • Okologisk Landsby Samfund. covillage Torup. olen 15, Torup. rivate Hunsted railway from Hillerod, get of at the Torup stop.. 45 47 98 70 26. ttp://dyssekilde.dk/. ours: April 1st - Oktober 1st, every saturday in even weeks 3AM. Is a small village with around a 100 residents,in the Northern part of Zealand, where you can see some exciting architecture based on energy neutrality and substainabilty.

    Do

  • Canoeing on Susaen. kovridervej 11, 4171 Glumso. 45 5764 6144. ttp://www.kanoudlejning.dk. anoe rental from 370 DKK for 1 day. During the summer it's possible to do an almost 80 kilometers, 3 day canoe trip through beautiful scenery, on this stream that cuts through the middle part of Zealand.
  • '''Become a Viking for a day''' in the spectacular hands on history museum '''Lejre Forsogscenter''' near Roskilde.</do>
  • Eat

    While the rest of Denmark is aptly represented in terms of local specialties, the closest Zealand get's is probably the famous smorrebrod, meaning buttered-bread, which has it's origins in Copenhagen. These open faced sandwiches of rye bread and butter, comes with as many as 250 different toppings, and are usually finished by some elaborate decorations. Smorrebrod is usually eaten at lunch.

    Further south, on the island of Mon the local specialty is bidesild (''chewy herring'') and is herring that has been pickled in brine over several years, and is served with bread and fat.

    Drink

    There are several breweries dotted around Zealand. Carlsberg & Tuborg, Denmarks major brands used to be produced in Copenhagen but production has now moved to Jutland, but there are serveral other local brands to choose from
  • Faxe Bryggeri. axe Alle 1, 4640 Faxe. 45 5677 1590. ttp://www.royalunibrew.com/Default.aspx?ID=1310. The largest brewery on the island, is famous for the Faxe Pilsner, which also sees exports to serveral countries.

    Stay safe

    Get out

    The Swedish province of Scania is an easy trip by ferry or train from most parts of eastern Zealand. It shares a common history and heritage with the island.