Ekkodalen (The Echo Valley)

Ekkodalen, the Echo Valley, is the most dramatic stretch of Denmark's longest rift valley, cutting through the great Almindingen forest in the heart of Bornholm. For roughly a kilometre the walking path runs between sheer walls of granite that rise as much as 20 metres above the valley floor, in places barely 70 metres apart. Clap your hands or call out toward the cliffs and your voice returns to you a heartbeat later — the echo that gave the valley its name and has delighted visitors for well over two centuries.

The full rift system stretches some 12 kilometres, from the wetlands of Vallensgård Mose through Almindingen and on through Flæskedal, Kløvedal and Kelseådal to Saltuna on the island's north-east coast, but Ekkodalen proper is the celebrated core near Ekkodalshuset. The valley was carved along an ancient fault line in Bornholm's hard bedrock, and the steep slopes on the western side are known as Styrtebakkerne, the "plunge hills."

The place was not always called Ekkodalen. It was originally Kodalen, the Cow Valley, after a royal edict of 1658 that granted local farmers free grazing rights here; the more poetic name appeared around 1746. The valley's modern character owes much to Hans Rømer, Bornholm's first royal forester from 1800 to 1836, who enclosed the land with a stone wall in 1809 and planted the woodland that became Almindingen — today the third-largest forest in Denmark.

One detail rewards the curious. The finest echo is not heard just anywhere but beside Hans Christian Ørsted's spring, an old holy well long believed to have healing powers, about twenty metres along the path opposite Ekkodalshuset. The spring recalls the physicist Ørsted, who surveyed Bornholm's geology in 1819 and struck up a friendship with the forester Rømer. Scattered through the valley are quiet memorials — to the philanthropist Marie Kofoed, to Rømer himself, and to a young scout, Johannes V. Andersen, who fell to his death from the cliffs in 1947, a sober reminder to keep to the marked paths.

Visiting is a genuine pleasure. Well-kept trails and wooden staircases lead down into the valley and up to viewpoints on the rim, winding past ferns, mossy boulders and towering old trees. Ekkodalshuset at the entrance offers refreshments, information and a natural starting point, and the network of paths links to longer routes across Almindingen, including the climb to the Rytterknægten lookout tower. The main valley floor is fairly level, but the staircases and uneven, sometimes muddy ground make full wheelchair access difficult; the viewpoints above are reached by steps.

Spring and early summer are magical, when the beeches leaf out and wild anemones carpet the ground, while autumn brings golden colour and the deep quiet that makes the echo carry best. Summer is busiest, and the valley can be lively with families testing their shouts against the rock.

Getting there is easy. Ekkodalen lies in central Bornholm, roughly a fifteen-minute drive from Rønne and close to Aakirkeby, with a car park at Ekkodalshuset. In summer the island's bus network and the many marked cycle routes through Almindingen bring you almost to the valley's edge, making it a fine stop on a longer day in Bornholm's green interior.