Af Julie Aloush
Denmark's best potatoes
In 2018, Salling Group bought 24 kilos of this year's first Samsø potatoes for a staggering 36.000 kroner. It is no secret in that sense that the island is known for its exquisite potatoes. But make no mistake; Samsø has much more to offer than extremely delicious - and expensive - potatoes.
The picturesque island is also world famous - not only in Denmark - for its renewable energy, and has since 2006 been self-sufficient in energy from wind, solar and biomass. For the past three years, I have had the pleasure of visiting it beautiful island whole eight times, and have time and time again been able to confirm that there is a lot to come after.
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The world's largest labyrinth
Yes, you were right. The world's largest labyrinth can actually be found on Samsø, and here you can easily get a whole day to go.
Before you enter the giant maze, with a size equivalent to 12 football pitches, you first choose a specific thematic question, which should get you safely through the maze. So if you answer correctly at all T-junctions and do not turn wrong and come out on a siding.
As I said, you can easily in a whole day to walk here and get quite a few kilometers in the legs. You complete the maze by choosing a question category that you feel confident in. With 50 different options ranging from Harry Potter to historical monuments, there is a guarantee of finding something for everyone.
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Nordby Bakker
The magnificent landscape on the northern part of the island can well be considered Samsø's most scenic area. I have both gone on long trips and ridden mountain bikes around and up and down Nordby Bakker, and the hilly landscape impresses me every single time.
Nordby itself has 216 inhabitants and is also one of the most atmospheric towns you will find on Samsø, packed with charming little grocers and old half-timbered houses.
Walk along Besser Rev
It was only last summer that I experienced Samsø's very special natural phenomenon Besser Rev. A five kilometer long rare and complicated beach headland formation in the form of a narrow path that shields Stavns Fjord on the northeastern Samsø.
The headland is made up of sand and stone, which havet has led in, and you can walk five kilometers along the reef with wild seas on both sides – all the way to a fortification that dates from the wars with England at the beginning of the 1800s. If you want to go all the way to the facility, you must be prepared for a cool 10 kilometer walk, as you cannot exactly take a shortcut back home.
bale
Ballen Havn is Samsø's pulse, and here most tourists circle in the summer, as here you will find the most exclusive restaurants, shops and the island's only disco. A walk along the marina on a busy summer evening offers everything from small fishing dinghies to giant yachts from near and far.
If you get hungry for something local, the ultra popular Restaurant Skipperly is located in the heart of Ballen with a view of the harbour. The restaurant is known for extremely well-prepared food from the island's fresh ingredients and for fresh fish and shellfish havet 3 meters away.
Vesborg lighthouse and Samsø's southernmost point
A few summers ago, when the sun was shining at its highest, and everything was booked up by both Danish and foreign tourists, we had the pleasure of renting a small isolated cabin by the historic Vesborg Lighthouse on the southwestern part of the island. Here you will encounter a number of fewer tourists, wilder nature and the beautiful Bratningborg Forest.
I fell in love with the tranquility I found and had to admit that I had not explored the southern tip of the island enough.
The lighthouse is located on what in the Middle Ages was one of the country's largest ramparts: Valdemar Atterdag's castle. One can almost sense the magnificent story just by being there. Not far from the lighthouse, you can get lost in Bratningborg Forest.
Have a good trip to Samsø - the adventure awaits right in the middle of the Kattegat!
