How to Pinch a Krone : Finding discounts on rooms and activities in countryside and capital

COPENHAGEN —  For the past 10 years my wife, Helle, and I have spent time each year in Denmark. Helle is a Dane, so we combine family visits with side trips to uncover some of the secrets of this level little land of Lego and Lurpak (Denmark’s best-selling brand of butter). In my opinion, there are few finer spots in the world to vacation. But, inevitably, there are drawbacks.

There are two major ones. The first problem, primarily in June and July, is the mosquitoes. But if you go in late August or September before the weather turns frigid, you may dodge this one.

The other is sky-high prices. Is there a way to soften Scandinavian prices and savor this destination without breaking the bank? This year we were determined to find out.

My first advice is to get out of the capital city of Copenhagen--both to save money and to see the real Denmark. There are some ways to save money in the capital, but more about that later.

We set off from Frederikssund northwest of Copenhagen. Our drive took us from Denmark’s largest island of Sjaelland (Anglicized, Zealand) by ferry to Jylland (Jutland), where we would sample farm life on Jutland’s northerly island of Vendsyssel and then enjoy another farm stay in the Danish Lake District, the closest thing Denmark has to hill country. (In general, dinner, bed and breakfast at a farm is about half to two-thirds the cost of staying in a hotel or inn.)

Our car ferry to Jutland surged out into the Kattegat from the stem of Sjaellands Odde. Bright, blue light motivated me to don sunglasses and race to the top deck.

Almost immediately, beer crates were hauled upstairs and packed lunches strewn across the plank work. My second tip for economy travel in Denmark is to remember that you can turn native and take food and drink with you. A beer in a bar for $5 may cost just 50 cents in a supermarket down the road. Always check too to see if pant is payable. Pant is a refundable deposit levied on glass and plastic bottles, something often overlooked by visitors. Watch out for the words Retur Flaske (returnable bottle). On a large plastic bottle of lemonade the pant can be 5 Danish krone (pronounced CHRON ah). That’s about a dollar!

So as the hour-and-a-half trip on the modern, well-equipped vessel sped by, Erik, my father-in-law, gave a demonstration of “playing the glass trumpet”--Danish slang for drinking from a bottle, which most Danes prefer to a glass.

Soon two catamarans will ply the route to Ebeltoft, cutting traveling time by ferry almost in half. Somehow it almost seems a shame to speed things up.

On route to the ferry, we had looked in at one of the 88 hotels and kro (inns) in the Dansk Kroferie (Inn Holiday) discount program. The Hotel Strandparken sat sedately in the town of Holbaek on Holbaek Fjord, an inlet off Isefjord. Clean, comfortable and serving good food, it was a typical example of what the Dansk Kroferie program has to offer.

At the Strandparken, two people can stay in a double room with bath and breakfast that would usually cost $107 for $95 using the program. Using a Familiekrocheck (Family Inn Check)--two extra beds for children in a family room--produces greater savings. The normal rate is $157; with the Inn Check it is $121. One can buy krochecks--vouchers--before leaving home. Guests can also buy a two-course dinner in each kro--the Dan Menu (Danish meal)--for an additional $16.

Traveling north through Jutland, we soon found ourselves in Rold Skov, Denmark’s largest forest. We had planned a break in Rebild, the country’s first and so far only national park, where parking and entrance are free. A gift from Danish Americans, it has been the venue for a festival and huge Independence Day celebrations since 1912.

Hills, hummocks, heathers and gorse replaced manicured pastures. Suddenly, the sky blackened and swirled and hailstones hurtled down along the winding road. The storm was abrupt, almost tropical, another manifestation of the hot summers that have settled over Denmark in recent years, bronzing bodies and scorching crops.

We were left with no time for the well-signed walks around Rebild’s hills. We did find time, though, to visit the reconstruction of Abraham Lincoln’s log cabin (there is a $1.70 admission to the cabin). Recently destroyed by fire, it has been rebuilt using cedar logs from the state of Washington and roofing from Oregon. It houses an exhibition emphasizing the bonds of friendship between the two lands. Apparently 300,000 people, some 10% of Danes, emigrated to the United States between 1864 and World War I.

Finally we arrived at our spick-and-span white-walled farm nestling in the shelter of towering trees. Albaekgaard, in the town of Pandrup, is run by Inger and Lars Jensen and their son Erling. We were the only four visitors there, but the farm has 11 rooms with 26 beds, a typical farm-stay accommodation. Rye and barley waved in a warm westerly wind; white windmills whooshed above a sea of rape while a chorus of lowing cattle and squealing pigs carried for miles across open fields. Farmland reached out toward the horizon and toward the long sandy shores stretching up the coast of western Jutland.

And how was the food in our rural retreat? Dinners, served in the farmhouse dining room, were traditional, huge and handsome. We took our own wine. (Wine from a store in Denmark is relatively inexpensive, ranging from $5 to over $20.) Coffee, homemade cookies and chocolate cake were put out at 9 p.m. Breakfast was a movable feast served on a long wooden table. The cooked meats, bread and cheeses that we could not manage could be taken away to eat later as lunch.

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Sand, sea, light and air form the ways and lives of Danes in Northern Jutland, shaping reality and coloring the moods of its people. Over the years they have drawn artists to the country’s northernmost point, a finger of sand pointing toward Norway and Sweden at the fishing port of Skagen.

In Skagen I could not resist a $2 trip out on the “sandworm,” a tractor pulling a long coach, to dip my toes where Skagerrak and Kattegat collide. Skagen has a lively little quarter with busy restaurants and bars close to the quayside. Fish and chips at the harbor cost me less than $6. South of Skagen is Aalbaek, with its Old Aalbaek Inn, also a member of the Dansk Kroferie discount program. Cold dishes, averaging about $11, are served in the lounge throughout the day.

If you are looking for a party in northern Jutland, then Aalborg, about 50 miles southwest, will not disappoint. Aalborg is famous for its aquavit, or snaps, a drink similar to German schnapps but flavored slightly differently. Jomfru Ane Gade is the street where it all goes on. Here Helle and I downed a couple of red Aalborg. That’s snaps faintly flavored with cumin. Just enough snaps to let the fish swim, as the Danes say.

The variety of scenery in Jutland surprised me. In some parts of Denmark you can lay claim to a good view by standing on a folded newspaper. I was not prepared for the roll of hills and the ruggedness of some of the higher ground. Our next stop was a half-timbered working farm, Tarskov Molle (Tarskov Mill), by a mill pond close to the Danish Lake District. It has only three rooms in the main building, eight in the out buildings. The setting is very beautiful, and it was priced about the same as our other farm stay, but I didn’t find the food comparable to Albaekgaard’s excellent traditional Danish farm fare.

From here we drove to Ry and scaled Himmelbjerget, or Sky Mountaina 485-foot hill sometimes reputed to be Denmark’s high point. In fact it’s not. Two other spots on Jutland and one on the island of Bornholm reach farther heavenward, but with its tower and souvenir stalls at the top it certainly looked the part.

Atop Sky Mountain was the Hotel Himmelbjerget, where a stay with breakfast in a double room cost $34, which is very inexpensive for Denmark. This hotel is in the Larsen Kroferie discount program, which does not advertise in English. But Vira, my mother-in-law, explained the way it works. There are over 100 participating hotels and inns in this program. Travelers must buy guest tickets from the individual hotel or inn or from the main Larsen Kroferie office in Virum before booking into any participating lodging. Although there’s currently no brochure in English, English-speaking staff will take calls and answer questions at individual inns and the main office.

We walked from Sky Mountain to Silkeborg, alongside Julso lake. A four-hour trek meandered through beech and pine and a boat ride back ($6.50) cruised past picturesque lakeside dwellings and gardens alight with azaleas and rhododendrons. The following day a less strenuous short trip set us down in Aarhus, Denmark’s second-largest city. Here we toured the old town, which has an admission fee of about $9.50. Buildings have been relocated and rebuilt and some old trades are flourishing again amid the revitalized surroundings.

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A Copenhagen Card is one way to shave costs in Copenhagen itself, a city with a well-deserved reputation for priceyness.

Purchased alone, the three-day version of the card costs about $60. With it, all city train and bus rides are free, as is admission to over 50 sights and museums including Rosenborg Castle, the Wax Museum and the zoo. With it, you also can travel freely to other parts of northern Zealand. Travel is easy, with frequent buses and the clean, efficient S Tog (S train) rail links reaching out to much of the surrounds.

The city is built to wander, and pedestrians take priority. Next come cyclists, while lowly motorists skirt the center on strictly regulated fast, wide carriageways. This state of affairs leads to other economies: Cyclists can rent a CityBike, which is available from stands around town. You simply pop a 20-krone coin (about $3.30) into the slot and freewheel away. The deposit is refunded when you return it to any of the 120 bike racks around town.

At the harbor end of Stroget, the city’s main pedestrian artery, was Kongens Nytorv (King’s New Square) and Nyhavn, the old seamen’s quarter.

We sailed out into the harbor past white ferries shuttling to Stockholm and Oslo. A hydrofoil skips hourly across the Oresund to Malmo in Sweden. (cost: either $10 or $13.50, depending on the date).

Copenhagen’s famous Tivoli Gardens--much more than a park, with 28 restaurants, amusements, rides and nearly half a million flowers--can nevertheless add up. Adult admission to Tivoli is about $9, children about $4. But with a Copenhagen Card it’s free.

Clutching our handy cards, we headed back out of town. The clean S Tog set us back down in Helle’s hometown, the Viking town of Frederikssund. Quiet, spacious and prim shops typified the comfortable and orderly life common to many Danes away from the capital.

Only a half-hour from Copenhagen we walked alone by the quiet marina. Yachts creaked and clanked in the lively breeze. Behind us a weathered hut in Kalvoen, where the play is performed, bore a plaque optimistically declaring itself “Valhala.”

Crossing the bridge at Frederikssund to Jaegerspris, we found at the Vandrerhjem what may be the best way to stay in Denmark and not break the bank. The Vandrerhjem is a sparkling new hostel with clean, comfortable rooms with showers. Set in spacious grounds by the fiord and beechwoods, rooms cost $14 per person in a double. Breakfast is $6.50. Bikes are for hire at $8.50 for the day, and a beer costs $2.25.

If you have bought a Copenhagen Card then you can stay here and savor the woods, fiord and forests yet still be only a half-hour away from the heart of the capital. And with that card the journey downtown will be included in the cost.

Sitting under an ancient oak near Jaegerspris Slot, a local castle, we savored an ice cream at Poulsen’s, an ice cream parlor that I believe cannot be bettered.

The sun shone and I had lost my heart again to my favorite place. And though prices can be high, you can take a vacation here without breaking the bank. Why even on top of Sky Mountain we had found a way to keep prices down to earth.

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GUIDEBOOK

Danish Digs

Getting there: United, SAS, KLM, Northwest, Air France, British Air and Delta offer connecting service, with one change of planes, or fly direct, with a stop but no change of planes, from LAX to Copenhagen. Advance-purchase, round-trip fares start at about $1,200.

Where to stay: Hotel Himmelbjerget, Ny Himmelbjergvej, 8680 Ry; telephone 011-45-86-89-80-45, fax 011-45-86-80-20-04.

Farm Holidays, Sondergade 26, DK-Horsens; tel. 011-45-70-10-41-90, fax 011-45-75-60-21-90.

Dansk Kroferie (Inn Holiday) discount program, Sondergade 31, DK-8700 Horsens, Denmark; tel. 011-45-75-60-21-20

Larsen Hotel and Kroferie, Kongevejen 155, 2830 Virum; tel. 011-45-45-83-12-14, fax 011-45-45-83-12-11.

Jaegerspris Vandrerhjem hostel, Postboks 129, Skovnaesvej 2, 3630 Jaegerspris; tel. 011-45-42-31-10-32, fax 011-45-42-31-28-32.

Where to eat in Copenhagen: The selection is huge. Lively, inexpensive spots include:

Det Lille Apotek, Store Kannikestraede 15; local telephone 33-12-56-06.

Cafe Sommersko, Kronprinsensgade 6; tel. 33-14-81-89.

Disabled access: Denmark is one of the friendlier places for disabled travelers. A detailed guide, “Access in Denmark,” which includes ferry and rail information, is available from the Danish Tourist Board.

For more information: Scandinavian Tourist Board, P.O. Box 4649 Grand Central Station, New York, NY 10163-4649; tel. (212) 949-2333.

Scandinavian Tourist Board of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway or Sweden, 655 3rd Ave., 18th Floor, New York 10017; tel. (212) 949-2333, fax (212) 983-5260.

Frederikssund Tourist Information (on the main street), Jernbanegade 24; tel. 011-45-42-31-06-85.