Kronborg Castle: The Real Elsinore and What Shakespeare Got Right

Kronborg Castle in Helsingør, Denmark, is the fortress that Shakespeare immortalised as Elsinore in Hamlet (1600). The connection is not entirely fictional: Shakespeare set his play at the Danish royal court and would have known about the castle from diplomatic dispatches and the accounts of English players who performed there in the 1580s. The castle’s actual history is arguably more dramatic than the fictional version: Danish kings controlled the payment of Sound Dues on all ships passing through the Øresund strait for nearly 400 years, and the tolls collected at this strategic chokepoint between the Baltic and North Sea funded some of the most elaborate court architecture in northern Europe. Roughly 75 percent of Danish crown revenue came from Sound Dues at peak.

The Castle

The current Renaissance building dates from the rebuild after a fire in 1629, on the foundations of the earlier fortress built by King Frederik II in the 1570s. The distinctive copper-green spires are the castle’s signature.

The interior includes the Great Hall (the largest Renaissance hall in northern Europe at 60 metres long), the King’s Chamber, the chapel, and the casements – underground passages and storage areas beneath the main building. The casements are the most atmospheric section: a labyrinthine network that housed the garrison and allegedly shelters the legendary warrior Holger Danske, who according to Danish legend sleeps under the castle ready to wake and defend Denmark in its darkest hour. His statue is down there.

Tickets: Adult admission is around 145 DKK (approximately $21 USD) in peak season; 90 DKK in shoulder season. Under-17s free. Copenhagen Card covers entry. Buying in advance is recommended for summer weekends. Open Tuesday through Sunday (and Mondays in May through October), 11am to 4pm.

The Maritime Museum of Denmark, in a dry dock directly adjacent to the castle (by Bjarke Ingels Group), is included in the castle ticket and worth an additional hour.

Getting There

Helsingør is 45 kilometres north of Copenhagen; 45 minutes by DSB regional train from København H, running approximately every 20 minutes. The castle is 15 minutes’ walk from Helsingør station along the harbour front.

The Øresund strait at Helsingør is 4 kilometres wide; Helsingborg in Sweden is visible. The Scandlines ferry crosses in 20 minutes around the clock. Combining Helsingør with a half-day in Helsingborg is possible and the Swedish town has its own medieval castle (Kärnan tower).

Shakespeare Performances

Theatre companies perform Hamlet at Kronborg in summer, occasionally including major productions. Check the castle events calendar before visiting; performances in the courtyard or Great Hall add a dimension the play cannot have in a conventional theatre.

Eating

Café Kronborg on the harbourfront near the ferry terminal does smørrebrød (open-faced sandwiches on dark rye bread): herring with onion, roast beef with remoulade, shrimp with lemon. Correct lunch for this setting. Roughly DKK 80-120 per sandwich.

Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, 25 kilometres south on the coast road, is one of the finest modern art museums in Europe – clifftop house with gardens running to the sea, permanent collection including Giacometti, Calder, and Warhol, plus outdoor sculpture park. Buy the combined ticket with train access from Copenhagen for the most efficient day.