Sejerø – Hiking Routes, Beaches and Island Culture

Sejerø is an elongated island covering 12.5 km² in Sejerø Bay. If you would like to combine nature, days at the beach and maritime history on your trip, the island offers different ways to do so. When choosing your accommodation, it is helpful to first ask which focus should shape your days: the Sejerø Route, the beaches or the island’s cultural and historical sites.

Island character and getting oriented locally

Sejerby is the main village next to the Sejerø ferry port. The ferry crossing from Sejerø to Havnsø takes 65 minutes and therefore provides a clear geographical reference for planning your journey. The 65 minutes should be treated as a separate leg when timing your journey. The Sejerø Route starts next to the ferry landing and bathing jetty. It passes through dune landscapes and salt meadows; its duration can be adapted to the time available to visitors. For day planning, the route is not tied to a fixed duration; its scope depends on the time you have available for it.

There are more than 60 hills on Sejerø; in Sejerøsk, they are called “Bier”. The route also passes a salt meadow of approximately 20 hectares that has never been ploughed and is grazed by sheep and Icelandic horses. Several bathing beaches on Sejerø have clean, child-friendly bathing water. The dunes, salt meadow and bathing jetty therefore represent different landscape impressions between hiking trail and water.

Bronze Age, lighthouse and island history

Kongshøj is one of eight preserved burial mounds from the Bronze Age on Sejerø. It lies at the highest point in the southernmost part of the island and can be reached from a country lane on the north coast via a short footpath across the field. At Kongshøj, a Bronze Age burial mound and the highest point in the southernmost part of the island therefore come together. The Sejerø Købmandshandels Museum preserves the former shop and the living quarters of Anna and Aksel Jensen. In the museum, the former shop and the living quarters are thus part of the same local history handed down through the generations.

In the northwest, Sejerø Fyr lighthouse marks another historic site: it was built in 1852 at Gniben on the northwestern tip of the island. Sejerø Church has a chancel and a nave dating from around 1300, built of brick on a foundation of fieldstones. The church therefore brings together medieval architectural forms and 16th-century wall paintings. Its wall paintings are located in the chancel and the main nave and are dated to the years 1525 to 1558.

More recent island history is also present. Sejerø Kulturhus presents an art exhibition every summer. Det sorte hus was converted into a local fishing museum in 2015 and today provides information about Sejerø Harbour and the life of the fishermen. Anyone looking for a hotel or other accommodation on Sejerø can therefore base their choice of location on the island themes they are interested in: hiking, beaches, or maritime and ecclesiastical history.

For further comparison, you will also find Kongstrup Kongstrup, Ornum Ornum, Melby Melby, Reersø Reersø, Gørlev Gørlev, Kaldred Kaldred, Vollerup Vollerup and Jerslev Sj Jerslev Sj.

For the higher-level travel overview: Kalundborg.