Charlottenlund – Beach Park, Forest and Culture

Charlottenlund combines a public beach park with forest paths, historic architecture and cultural offerings. For planning your trip, the desired mix is therefore decisive: water and beach, exercise in green surroundings, history or an active outing.

Beach Park and Orientation by the Water

Charlottenlund Beach Park has been a public park since 1932. It covers approximately 13 hectares and extends for about 650 metres. The park includes a fine sandy beach as well as areas consisting primarily of lawns and large trees. For a stay by the water, the park is therefore characterised not only by the beach and bathing water, but also by lawns and large trees. The bathing water quality was rated “excellent” in 2024; the rating is based on data from 2021 to 2024. Public transport and marked parking spaces along the road are available on Strandvejen. Additional parking spaces are located at the southern and northern ends of the park.

Forest Paths and Historic Sites

The official hiking route through Charlottenlund Forest and the palace park is approximately 5 kilometres long. Charlottenlund Forest has 30 orienteering posts as well as 11 maps with routes of varying difficulty and length. The approximate route length provides a clear framework for the hike; the additional maps also offer alternatives when a different level of difficulty and distance is desired. The forest consists primarily of old oak woodland with around 300 old oak trees. The paths are suitable for people with reduced mobility, including wheelchair users. This allows you to choose between a fixed route and several map-based options. Charlottenlund Palace was originally built as a Baroque palace and was later converted into the French Renaissance palace that can be seen today. Charlottenlund Fort was built between 1883 and 1887 as part of the defence system for Greater Copenhagen and was decommissioned in 1932. The Forest Botanical Garden was established in 1799 as a small arboretum to support forestry botany education at the University of Copenhagen. The palace, fort and arboretum thus lead through courtly, military and scientific chapters of the local history.

Culture, Water Sports and Racing

In the Art Park of the Ordrupgaard Museum, visitors can touch, climb on, crawl through, play in and dance among contemporary works of art; the Art Park is free for everyone to access. The interactive works make the Art Park an experience in which contemporary art is not merely viewed from a distance. Finn Juhl’s House is an integrated part of the Ordrupgaard Museum and offers Danish design history as well as an outstanding modernist art collection in a domestic setting. The house combines this collection with the atmosphere of a private residence. At KAYAKOMAT at Charlottenlund Fort, kayaks and SUP boards can be rented through an unmanned self-service operation. Booking takes place online; a code sent by email and SMS is used for collection. Charlottenlund Trotting Track is considered the oldest trotting track in the Nordic region. The Danish Trotting Derby takes place on the last weekend of August at Charlottenlund Trotting Track. There are also regular race days with trotting and Monté races. The municipality of Gentofte also includes Hellerup and Klampenborg.

Back to the higher-level travel overview: Gentofte.