Vejle unveiled: discovering Denmark - The Jewish Chronicle

‘Vejle? In Jutland?” The surprise in my Danish friend’s voice was so sharp over the phone I could practically hear her eyebrows arching high in astonishment.

I had just told her of my planned destination for a spa weekend and she was utterly surprised: “I thought there was nothing at all to see there.”

A visit to Denmark that did not call at any of its biggest cities was a genuinely baffling concept to her. And her scepticism, I reflected as we boarded our flight at Heathrow, was not entirely unfounded: my destination was so close — the flight would take barely an hour — and yet so little is known about it.

Half of Denmark’s 5.8 million people live on its many islands in the Baltic Sea but it is the mainland, Jutland, a top-heavy landmass north of Germany, that gives the country its distinctive shape on a map of Europe.

The first thing I established is that it is not as northerly as I thought: the regional capital Vejle — and Copenhagen, for that matter — are on roughly the same latitude as Edinburgh and Glasgow, which makes for magnificently long, warm summer evenings and abundant greenery.

It is also terrifically flat, an easy half-hour drive from Billund Airport to Vejle, which revealed itself to be a charming little town nestled around a harbour at the western end of a fjord, surrounded by gentle, rolling hills.

Lunch on that first day was at the Restaurant Remouladen, an elevated wooden box with sweeping views over the marina. The speciality is smørrebrød, a round of Danish open-top sandwiches served on a choice of rye, nut or wheat bread that needs to be tackled with a knife and fork.

Unsurprisingly a lot of the zesty menu is based on fish: we went for the Faroese smoked salmon with radish and smoked cheese; the marinated herring and onion and, feeling a little ambitious, the kipper and berries doused in raw egg yolk.

As we took in the landscape we began to understand why this part of the world identifies itself with peace and tranquillity.

Vejle is one of the first Danish towns to put in place an official architecture policy to improve its urban spaces. The harbour area is where the fruits of that code are clearest, with curving apartment complexes like The Wave and unconventional paving and street lighting that give the neighbourhood an avant-garde feel.

During our visit there was an outdoor exhibition of floating items in the fjord and we spent a happy hour walking up and down the pier trying to spot them all.

The half-submerged Apollo moon capsule was a pretty obvious one, but it took a little longer to realise the floating corked bottle was not a piece of litter recklessly discarded in the otherwise immaculate bay area.

Off the beaten path this town might be, but it is taking great strides towards putting itself on the map. Nowhere is that push more evident than in cellar restaurant MeMu, the only place in town to boast a Michelin star.

In keeping with Vejle’s modern trends, the walls are bare and white, decorations are kept to a minimum, tables are spaced well apart and diners limited to no more than a few dozen per night — all to contain any possible distractions from the true art on display, the food.

Forgive me for using a phrase that sounds rather hackneyed, but this was truly a gastronomical journey. Over four hours we had a wondrous 17 kosher-friendly courses placed in front of us, from sea foam served on driftwood (creamy and surprisingly satisfying) to the single brie with potato and freshly-picked local truffle.

There were three (yes, three) dessert courses at the end, including a single, stunning mirabelle plum in whipped cream with a macaron, and each of the 17 was deliciously complemented with a splash of wine selected by our friendly sommelier.

Gourmet dining can so often be a delight for the eye yet leave one feeling peckish not too long afterwards, but this was an exception that truly tested that notion.

Our short walk to take in the night air around Vejle’s canals and the pedestrianised, winding streets was definitely necessary before the ride back to our lodgings.

The grand Hotel Vejlefjord, a short drive out of town, gives you enough reasons to spend the entire weekend in a dressing gown and slippers — and many of the guests do.

This grand spa hotel is hidden among a tall forest on the slopes of the fjord’s northern shore and it’s striking how quickly you become accustomed to seeing people wandering out of the woods wearing just white robes.

This place has a century-old tradition of recovery and recuperation: it opened in 1900 as Denmark’s first state-owned tuberculosis sanatorium, with patients encouraged to use the tranquil setting and fresh air to heal.

Other facilities cropped up around the fjord in later decades; all have since followed the Vejlefjord’s example and turned into luxury hotels.

The hotel’s spa is truly something special, with saunas, steam rooms and seven different thermal baths. Some had good novelty value — it’s difficult not to yelp aloud as you scuttle between the 8°C ice bath and the fire bath at 42 degrees — but the outdoor, heated forest pool was a true delight.

I honestly can’t say how long I spent, warm and content in the fresh air, because it was so easy to doze off.

Easy though it would have been to spend our waking hours in the spa, or exploring the hotel’s pristine private forests, other attractions prised us away.

First there was the commune of Jelling, famous for its huge, carved rune-stones planted nearly a millennium ago to celebrate Denmark’s conquest of Norway and the nation’s conversion to Christianity.

This Unesco World Heritage site is a prime example of how Scandinavians buried their kings under large mounds, surrounded by rocks that form the shape of a ship. It’s a quick walk to the top to take in the view over the ship outline at Jelling and beyond.

Next we were off to Kolding, a half-hour drive on the main road south from Vejle, where a 13th century castle forms a distinctive part of the skyline. Koldinghus is Denmark’s answer to the Tower of London: a one-time royal residence that now houses the crown jewels — although some had been temporarily replaced with a polite sign ahead our visit so that Queen Margrethe could impress Emmanuel Macron.

Then on to the 12-hectare Geografisk Have botanical garden, to wander in the sun among an eclectic collection of rose gardens, trees and plants from as far afield as Chile and Japan.

Despite the convenient flights, it seems this is a part of the world yet to be truly discovered by most outsiders.

The guests at our hotel were almost all from big nearby cities like Copenhagen and Odense, and at breakfast Danish voices tended to dominate around the buffet tables.

I never thought it was possible to travel so little to escape so far.

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