Family holidays in Denmark: summer houses, Norway, sun, short breaks

Why does everyone in Denmark go on holiday the same week?

Because the school calendar sets it. Danish school holidays fall in the same few weeks across most of the country, and families plan around them. Copenhagen’s suggested plan for 2026-27 (Københavns Kommune):

• Efterårsferie (autumn holiday): week 42, 12-16 October 2026
• Juleferie (Christmas): 21 December 2026 - 1 January 2027
• Vinterferie (winter holiday): week 7, 15-19 February 2027
• Påskeferie (Easter): 22-29 March 2027
• Sommerferie (summer): from the last Saturday in June, about six weeks

The winter week is not national. Copenhagen takes week 7, while Brønderslev takes week 8 in 2027 (Brønderslev Kommune). Danes say uge 7 (week 7) and uge 42 the way others say “half-term”. Your child’s school publishes the exact dates. For the school system itself, see the education system in Denmark.

Employers plan around these weeks too. Your main holiday is normally three weeks taken between 1 May and 30 September, and the pay that funds it works its own way, as our feriepenge guide explains.

The result is predictable. Summer houses, ferries and charter flights cost more in those weeks, and the good options sell out first. Sol og Strand, one of the big summer-house agencies, says its houses are generally dearer in the school summer holiday, Easter and Christmas than outside high season (Sol og Strand). If you have school-age children, you cannot move your dates, so booking early is the only lever you have.

What is a sommerhus, and how does renting one work?

A sommerhus (summer house) is a holiday cottage, usually wooden, in a designated summer-house area near the coast. Renting one for a week is the classic Danish family holiday. The well-known areas are North Zealand, the west coast of Jutland, Funen and Bornholm.

You book through a rental agency (udlejningsbureau) such as Sol og Strand, Novasol, Dansommer or DanCenter, or privately from the owner. The agencies run on standard terms, and the details are where the cost hides. Using Sol og Strand’s published terms as the example (read October 2026; terms valid from January 2023):

• Deposit. The deposit is offset against electricity, oil and water use and any damage. The balance is returned within two weeks of the stay (Sol og Strand).
• Electricity on top. Consumption is read before and after your stay. Danish summer houses are normally heated by electricity. Sol og Strand gives an average of about 7 kWh per person per day for a house without a pool, rising to about 13 kWh in the coldest month and 27 kWh in winter for a house with a pool (Sol og Strand). A spa or pool house in February is expensive to run.
• Linen is yours to bring. Duvets and pillows are in the house, but you bring bed linen, towels, tea towels, cleaning products and toilet paper, or rent a linen pack (Sol og Strand).
• Cleaning. You must leave the house tidy and clean. Final cleaning can be bought; otherwise any cleaning needed is charged to you.
• Cancellation. Cancel up to 56 days before arrival and you pay 33% of the rent; from 55 to 14 days, 75%; from 13 days, 100% (minimum DKK 600 in each case). Sol og Strand includes a compulsory cancellation insurance with Tryg in the booking.
• Short stays. Sol og Strand rents some houses for two to five days. Some of those can only be booked 28 days before arrival (Sol og Strand).

Other agencies’ terms differ, so read the lejebetingelser (rental terms) before you pay. In the private market, agree in writing on the price, the deposit, how electricity is charged and who cleans.

Can you live in a sommerhus?

No. A summer house in a summer-house area is a holiday home, not a home: from 1 November to the end of February it may not be used for overnight stays except short holiday stays, and the municipality must order anyone registered in the CPR at such an address to move out within 14 days (planloven §§ 40 and 51 a).

Holiday letting falls under the Summer House Act, which covers letting for holiday and leisure purposes (Plan- og Landdistriktsstyrelsen). The exceptions are narrow. A municipality can give a dispensation, and a pensioner who has owned a summer house for a year may live in it (planloven § 41). Neither helps a newcomer looking for a flat. If you are house-hunting, see renting an apartment in Copenhagen.

How do you get to Sweden and Norway?

By car over the Øresund Bridge. You pay the toll each way. From 14 September 2026, a car up to 6 metres costs DKK 470 one way at the toll station or DKK 420 as an online ticket (Øresundsbron). The discount agreement ØresundGO (formerly BroPas) brings it to DKK 182 one way for an annual fee of DKK 370. It pays for itself on the first return trip (Øresundsbron).

By train. Öresundståg runs from Copenhagen across the bridge into southern Sweden, and SJ runs the longer routes to Stockholm and beyond. Book SJ early for summer.

By ferry to Norway. Go Nordic Cruiseline sails Copenhagen-Oslo every day, overnight, with cars on board. It took over the route that used to be DFDS (Go Nordic Cruiseline). From North Jutland, Color Line sails Hirtshals-Kristiansand (3 hours 15 minutes) and Hirtshals-Larvik (Color Line). Fjord Line sails Hirtshals-Kristiansand and Hirtshals-Stavanger-Bergen (Fjord Line).

What draws people. Norway means mountains, hiking and a hytte (cabin). The Norwegian Trekking Association (DNT) runs a network of around 600 cabins, from staffed lodges to self-service huts (DNT). Sweden means lakes, forest and the archipelago. Its right of public access (allemansrätten) lets you walk, pick berries and camp in most of the countryside if you follow the access code (Naturvårdsverket).

Border, money and alcohol.

• Carry your passport or national ID card.
• Sweden uses Swedish kronor (SEK) and Norway uses Norwegian kroner (NOK). Card payment is the norm in both.
• Into Norway: Norway is outside the EU and allowances are tight. One allowed combination is 1 litre of spirits, 1.5 litres of wine and 2 litres of beer, plus 100 cigarettes. You must be 18, or 20 for spirits (Tolletaten).
• Back into Denmark from Norway: 1 litre of spirits (or 2 litres of fortified or sparkling wine), 4 litres of table wine, 16 litres of beer and 200 cigarettes. You must be 17 (Toldstyrelsen).
• Back from Sweden: Sweden is in the EU, so goods for your own use are allowed. The guide levels are 10 litres of spirits, 90 litres of wine and 110 litres of beer (Toldstyrelsen).

What is a Danish “sun holiday”, and what protects you?

A solferie (sun holiday) is usually a charterrejse (charter package): flight, transfer and hotel sold together, departing from Copenhagen or Billund. The big package brands selling in Denmark include Spies, TUI, Apollo, Sunweb and Bravo Tours. School holiday weeks are the most expensive.

A package carries legal protection that separate bookings do not. Under the EU rules (Your Europe):

• A package is two or more travel services for the same trip, bought together or through linked booking.
• The organiser is responsible for delivering everything, and must fix problems at no extra cost.
• If the price rises by more than 8%, you can cancel free.
• You can cancel for any reason against a reasonable fee. If unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances hit the destination, you can cancel for a full refund.
• You must be protected if the organiser goes bust.

In Denmark that insolvency protection is Rejsegarantifonden (the Travel Guarantee Fund), set up by law in 1979. It helps customers of registered travel providers if the provider goes bankrupt (Rejsegarantifonden). Use its search tool to check a company before you pay. Complaints about a package that went wrong go to the Pakkerejse-Ankenævnet (package travel complaints board) after you have complained in writing to the company.

Where do Danes go for a long weekend?

The short breaks in uge 7 and uge 42 are about a change of scenery in a dark month, not a beach. Hamburg and Berlin are the classic city trips. Further afield, people go to the Polish coast and the Baltic capitals, often on low-cost flights from Copenhagen or Billund.

If you want your car with you, Scandlines runs Rødby-Puttgarden and Gedser-Rostock to Germany (Scandlines). Øresundsbron sells a combined bridge-and-Scandlines ticket for drivers going via Sweden. For Poland, Polferries sails Ystad-Świnoujście from southern Sweden, across the bridge (Polferries). In winter, pack for the weather and the dark; our winter guide covers the kit.

What it costs & how long it takes

Booking windows decide the price. The houses and departures that fit school weeks go first, and late bookers get what is left.

Common mistakes

• Planning around Copenhagen’s winter week when you live elsewhere. Check your own municipality.
• Assuming the destination is on holiday too. Other countries set their own school calendars. That can mean quieter resorts, but it can also mean your week clashes with the peak somewhere else.
• Forgetting the meter. A big electrically heated house in February can cost far more in electricity than you expect.
• Booking flight and hotel separately to save money. You can lose the package protection without noticing.
• Treating a sommerhus as a stopgap home. It is illegal in winter, and the municipality will act if you register there.

If something goes wrong

If a sommerhus is not as described, contact the agency’s local office straight away, during the stay, and keep photos. If your package holiday falls short, complain in writing to the organiser first, then take it to the Pakkerejse-Ankenævnet. If the company goes bankrupt before or during the trip, contact Rejsegarantifonden.