Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Kronborg Castle is located in Helsingør, a pleasant, salty Danish seaside town
that'softenconfusedwithitsSwedishsister,Helsingborg,justtwomilesacross
the channel. Kronborg Castle (also called Elsinore, the Anglicized version
of Helsingør) is a ▲▲ sight famous for its tenuous (but profitable) ties to
Shakespeare. Most of the “Hamlet” castle you'll see today—a darling of every
big-bus tour and travelogue—was built long after the historical Hamlet died
(more than a thousand years ago), and Shakespeare never saw the place. But
this Renaissance castle existed when a troupe of English actors performed here
in Shakespeare's time (Shakespeare may have known them). These days, vari-
ousShakespeareancompaniesfromaroundtheworldperform
Hamlet
inKron-
borg'scourtyardeachAugust.Amongtheactorswho'vedonnedthetightshere
in the title role are Laurence Olivier, Christopher Plummer, Kenneth Branagh,
and Jude Law.
To see or not to see? The castle is most impressive from the outside. The
free grounds between the walls and sea are great for picnics, with a close-up
view of the strait between Denmark and Sweden. If you're heading to Sweden,
Kalmar Castle (described in the Southeast Sweden chapter) is a better mediev-
al castle. And in Denmark, Frederiksborg (described earlier), which was built
as an upgrade to this one, is far more opulent inside. But if Kronborg is handy
to your itinerary—or you never met a castle you didn't like—it's worth a vis-
