Teglstrup Hegn

Just inland from the busy waterfront of Helsingør, where the ferries cross to Sweden and Kronborg Castle guards the sound, lies a very different Denmark: Teglstrup Hegn, a deep, tranquil forest of beech and conifer laced with small lakes and boggy hollows. Together with the neighbouring woods of Hellebæk it forms one of North Zealand's largest continuous forest tracts, a green refuge that feels far from the coast's crowds despite being only minutes away.

The forest is at its most beautiful around its water. Several lakes and old millponds – among them Bondedammen and the reed-fringed Klaresø – lie scattered through the trees, mirroring the sky and drawing herons, grebes and, in the reeds, a rich chorus of warblers. Birdwatchers prize the area, and in spring the beech canopy fills with song while the forest floor turns green and then white with anemones. Old, tall trees give parts of the wood a cathedral stillness, and the network of wide gravel roads and narrower footpaths makes it easy to wander for an hour or for half a day.

There is human history layered in too. The Hellebæk area was once a centre of gunpowder and weapons manufacture for the Danish crown, drawing on the streams and ponds for power, and traces of that industrial past survive among the trees and in the handsome old buildings on the forest's edge. Today the whole area is protected as part of the Kongernes Nordsjælland (Kings' North Zealand) National Park, recognising both its nature and its long entanglement with royal history.

The forest's finest companion is Hellebæk Kohave, a grazed common on its northern side where free-roaming cattle keep the landscape open. The grazing has created a rare habitat where orchids and other wildflowers flourish and butterflies and birds thrive, and a walk that combines the shaded depths of Teglstrup Hegn with the light, open pasture of the Kohave gives you two quite different faces of Danish nature in a single outing.

Practically, Teglstrup Hegn is free and always open, a genuine local's forest rather than a managed attraction. It sits just north-west of Helsingør and is easily reached: take the coastal train to Helsingør – itself a fine day out for Kronborg and the old town – then a short local bus ride or drive to Hellebæk, where there are car parks and marked trails. The wide forest roads suit most walkers, buggies and cyclists, while narrower lakeside paths can turn muddy after rain, so decent footwear helps. Spring, for the birdsong and fresh beech leaf, and clear autumn days, for colour and long light, are the loveliest times. Bring water and a picnic; the reward is a quiet, lake-strewn woodland that most visitors to Kronborg never discover lies just over the hill.