New Year’s eve and New Year’s day are always awkward times to visit world heritage sites, and for the third year in a row I found myself locked out of a chilly northern European WHS. I know that it will be like this, and I have actually started to enjoy these half visits.

2011/12 led me to Kronborg castle, walking over its ramparts and spying its impressive interior across its moats and through a rather romantic blanket of fog.

Obviously I can’t claim to have seen the best of the site, or offer a full review, but it was actually very enjoyable to be locked out of this impressive fortress, and certainly feel I can count it as a visit, having done a lap and ducked into any open facility in order to warm up.

The castle is located at the tip of the little town of Helsingør. I would assume on days with better viability you could see Sweden, just across the narrow stretch of water. This slender channel was the reason for the castle’s creation, as it was essentially a very early and fearsome toll both, collecting taxes on good shipped to and from the Baltic. It is good to see the role of taxes and duties still plays a strong role in the economic life of the city, as the centre is full of shops selling alcohol to Swedes who made the short hop on the ferry. It does make you think though about cost of living if you have to go to Denmark! for cheaper booze.

Helsingør is easy to reach from Copenhagen by regular trains that take about an hour. It was a rewarding place to visit, even if I did miss out on seeing the inside of it.

[Site 3: Experience 4]