"Home of the Big Danish Toll-Booth" Helsingør by yooperprof

Helsingør Travel Guide: 149 reviews and 441 photos

(You might know it better as Hamlet's Castle)

But you know, you can't trust everything you read by that Will Shakespeare!

For example, the real Danish prince Hamlet never set foot in "Elsinore" (aka Helsingor) Castle, since it wasn't built until the late 16th century. It was never a medieval castle; you can walk on the ramparts all you want, and you'll never come across the ghost of Claudius.

King Frederic II of Denmark started construction on a castle here in the 1570s. It was intended to be a big Danish toll-booth, collecting the royal fee for passing through the Øresund from all sorts of passing ships. It was a massive project, and much "in the news" in Shakespeare's life. No doubt when the young playwright was looking around for good Danish place-names, "Elsinore" was something that many members of his audience would have been familiar with.

I was there on a rather grey and gloomy day in May 2006. Perfect Hamlet weather.

alcohol tourism is popular here

The town of Helsingør. It's prospered over the years because of the tourists coming in search of Hamlet - apparently there's even a Hamlet cemetery nearby! And also the town is popular with Swedish visitors who come over on the ferry for the day in search of relatively inexpensive Danish booze.

Home of the Big Danish Toll-Booth - Helsingør

There comes one of the ferries! There must be scores every day.

Last visit to Helsingør: May 2006
Intro Updated Jul 6, 2006
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Reviews (2)

an odd place for siting sculptures, imho - Helsingør

Castle Bus Stop? Transportation (1)

These two contemporary sculptures seem to be waiting for a bus outside Elsinore Castle. I'm not sure what the story is... more travel advice

You could swim across if you wanted - Helsingør

The Strait (Øresund) is Narrow Favorites (1)

It's not a long way across to Sweden - a few miles, perhaps. There's always been a lot of traffic through these narrows... more travel advice

Travelogues (1)

Written Jul 6, 2006

4 photos

To Be or Not To Be a Tourist at Elsinore

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Comments (2)

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craic Jan 18, 2008 at 5:54 AM

fascinating
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littlesam1 Jul 18, 2006 at 9:54 AM

It looks like you and I have been to many of the same places. I wonder how we keep missing each other. : )