In September 2024, we decided to take a crazy trip to Aarhus, Denmark for a trip that we only had 24 hours to spare for. Aarhus was one of the cheapest flights for the date we went (beginning of September), and wow we are SO glad we did this!
24 hours is not a lot of time. With work, unless you book time off you only really have the weekends to do any form of activities. So, instead of doing a small, local activity, we thought why not take a short flight and have a fun adventure. It felt like we were almost doing something ‘wrong’, we managed a holiday with no time off! How crazy!
Due to only having 24 hours it made the most sense to stick to a small city, rather than a capital, just so we could maximise our time, and to feel like we didn’t miss out on too much… so naturally Aarhus felt like the best solution! We had never been to Denmark, so this was also a chance to visit a new country!
Below we will write about our 24 hour trip, what we got up to, and we will explain whether we would do this again!
*This post includes affiliate links, however all opinions are genuine and our own.
Time for takeoff!
We had to leave at around 3am from our home ready to drive to the airport. Our flight was for 06:35, and we made sure to have roughly 2 hours before the flight for arriving at the airport.
Due to the earliness of the flight, the airport was a lot quieter which is always nice! We flew from London Stansted Airport, so this isn’t necessarily a busy airport anyway. We chilled in the departures lounge, and got ready to board! Let’s go!
We landed in Aarhus for 09:20, and arrived to what looked like a tent/marquee… it was surprising! This airport was nothing like we had seen, it was such a small airport- it was nice to have something chilled and not hectic, because let’s be honest most airports are insanely busy! We got on the bus to the city, after a quick passport control.
How we spent 24 hours in Aarhus
Arriving for around 10am, we were in the city of Aarhus! We were greeted to sunny skies, beautiful sceneries, and a vibrant atmosphere. Although we had researched a bit about this city, we didn’t majorly know what to expect.
We decided our activities for this first day would be:
Visit the ARoS Museum + the rainbow roof,
Have lunch at the Street Food Market,
Explore the local area
Head to the hostel to check in
Visit the Marselisborg deer park
Have dinner, and then see what happens!
The ARoS Museum
Known for its spectacular rainbow roof, we had never heard much about the actual museum. Once we had arrived, we popped our bags into a locker (provided on the first floor), then went up into the museum! There was many surprises within…
One of the exhibitions we saw was, well, interesting. It was definitely something NSFW! Let’s just say, we saw some “objects” made into things like slugs, dolls made into weird displays… it was odd to say the least! We had a giggle, definitely not family friendly but it was funny!
Within this museum was also a range of interactive rooms, with one being a Japanese theme, lots of fun mirrors, and quirky decorated illusions!
Something that we did see, which was a highlight for Aimee, was the “boy” sculpture within this museum. Being 4.5 metres in height, this hyper realistic sculpture truly was something to see! It was almost unsettling how real it looked. You may have seen some of the artists work online, but seeing this Ron Mueck piece here was truly fascinating!
Our last stop within this museum was visiting the well known rainbow roof. Featuring a panoramic view of the city, this roof was made purely of rainbow glass, so as you walked around the circle room, you moved into each individual colour. Fun fact- your phone screen appeared different in each colour! We found this highly amusing!
Street Food Market
After our stop to the Art museum, we were hungry! We had made some food to bring on the flight but that had worn off!
It was a slight walk between places, so Jack found a hotdog stand and brought one to munch on! We also stumbled across a smaller market hall which we wandered into. We didn’t eat here but it was fun to explore!
Now, onto the street food market. Wow! This was so cool! Within this building were brightly coloured (and highly decorated) food vendors of all cuisines, from Japanese food, to Nepalese and traditional Danish… there were so many options!
We found a bench in the middle of the hall to sit at, and we each went to a random stall and ordered something for us both to try (as a surprise). We ended up eating some beautiful rice dish from the Nepalese stall, a selection of empanadas, a traditional Danish pastry, and some Asian fried chicken! We were so full after this… however we found the ice lollies on the way out so managed to sneak one in too!
Time to Explore
We decided to explore a bit around the city, while also planning how we would get to the deer park! This was interesting to say the least!
We didn’t quite read the bus spots/times very well and managed to wait a lot longer than needed to get on the right bus! We also didn’t realise we needed to buy a bus ticket (we couldn’t purchase on the bus), so this made things a lot trickier!
While exploring, we took in the atmosphere. Aarhus feels extremely upbeat, and is so modern and youthful-feeling. It felt “fresh”, and we wouldn’t be surprised to hear a lot more hype over the next few years!
Marselisborg deer park
This was definitely the highlight of our trip. This was a free activity (only purchase needed was the bus ticket, and potentially carrots and/or apples if you wanted to feed the deer), and it was honestly breathtaking. The parameter of the park was fenced so there was no risk of the animals being hurt by the road, but we got to see deer roam around, watching the babies run after their mums… it was magical. We watched the sun set over the park, and the deers wandering in a pack, it’s not something we would forget. We did however forget to bring any carrots or apples… however, we did see some left on the floor, so we just used these.
We didn’t approach the deer as it didn’t feel fair, so we only allowed them to approach us. One of the deer was extremely inquisitive and got very close to our phone, creating the cutest up close nose photo!
The evening ahead
Prior to this trip, Aimee added us into an Instagram group chat for Aarhus Travel, and we managed to find two people who were in our hostel!
After checking into our hostel (we explain it further in this post here), we freshened up and got ready to meet these two new friends! We had a drink, then the 4 of us went out to find dinner! None of us were good at deciding where to eat, but eventually we settled on a Vietnamese restaurant not too far from the hostel!
We spoke for ages, getting to know each other, and after we all ate and chilled, we slowly wandered back to the hostel. One of our new friends headed off to bed, as she’d had a busy few days, however the other decided to stay back and have a drink with us! Who else loves a hostel happy hour!
After having a few drinks in the hostel common area, we decided to head to Kupé, a nightclub in the area. This was a great idea at the time, but remember we said we only had 24 hours?
We got back to our hostel for roughly 3am, before Jack and our friend decided to go get pizza for us all! Very exciting, however, it was now 4am before we got ready to sleep.
Rise and shine
After only waking up at 8am, after under 4 hours of sleep (and a slight hangover), we got ready to check out and eat breakfast.
This hostel was so cool.. it had an on site mini golf course! So, we had to of course get a game in before we left! We will link the hostel here if you want to check it out directly!
Breakfast was a large spread of continental buffet food, and alongside the bottomless juices it was greatly appreciated after the night before!
Getting ready to leave Aarhus
We left the hostel, and made our way back to the bus stop, taking in the surroundings we would be leaving! We stopped for a coffee and cake at a cute coffee shop, before boarding our bus ready to leave! We highly recommend a Danish Kanelsnegle, it’s divine!
Aarhus Airport
And we were off! The airport, like we mentioned before, was so small! There was only duty free as shops we believe, then only really one restaurant! There was a kids play area, and it probably would only take 10 minutes from one end of the airport to the other (if that)! Our flight left at 13:35, ready to signify the end of our trip!
Would we do this again?
As a rule, the 24 hour trip was fun. It felt spontaneous, and peaked that fun side of adventure. However, Jack heading back to work the next day did not experience the fatigue after! For those who do have little time to spare around work (and general life), this was such a fun idea. You got to explore without needing additional time off! It’s fun, however probably way too tiring to make a regular activity!
Our tips
Are you thinking about taking an extremely short trip abroad? We would recommend having low expectations for having a cram packed itinerary. This might sound strange, but if you are “running around” you don’t always appreciate and take in your surroundings. We suggest making a list of all the activities you would be interested in, and making a “hierarchy” list. Start with your most favoured activities, then if you have more time, find what things are nearby and work your way around!
For us , we were most excited to see the deer park, and the museum. The street food hall worked great due to needing lunch, and if anything else could fit in then we would’ve, but these were the most important to us!
We hope you liked our overview of our trip to Aarhus! If you would like to see more blogs, please subscribe to our newsletter for daily blogs and follow our journey on our Social Media down below!
Want to see more of us?
Check out our socials!
Share this post with friends!
Our Two Step Start 