3 Best Sights in Jutland, Denmark

A hit from the day it opened in 2004, this museum displays the more than 8,000 artworks dating from 1770 to the present that make up its own, impressive collection, as well as internationally known visiting exhibits. There is a café, a museum shop, and a much-Instagrammed rooftop terrace in the form of a rainbow, an artwork by the Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson.

It might be tempting to spend the day in the sculpture garden, which is surrounded by forest and home to sculptures by Olafur Eliasson, Jeppe Hein, and Bjørn Nørgaard, but Aalborg’s museum of modern art has much more to offer. Wander through the airy, light-filled galleries and divide your time between the permanent and changing exhibitions and the building itself, an architectural masterpiece by Alvar Aalto. The café has an ambitious lunch menu and is a wonderful spot to stop for a light meal or a coffee. There's free admission to the sculpture garden, which is open 24/7, outside of the museum's opening hours.

The 19th-century Danish artist and poet Holger Drachmann (1846–1908) and his friends, including the well-known P. S. Krøyer and Michael and Anna Ancher, founded the Skagen School of painting, which sought to capture the special quality of light and idyllic seascapes here. They and their contemporaries depicted everyday life in Skagen primarily from the turn of the 20th century until the 1920s, and you can see their efforts on display in the Skagens Museum. It's a wonderful homage to this talented group of Danes, and you'll become mesmerized by some of the portraits, which seem more like a photographic collection of days gone by. The light and the landscape, however, remain the same, and it's a magical experience to recognize scenes from the paintings when you walk on the beach or in the dunes. The museum store sells posters, postcards, and other souvenirs depicting the Skagen paintings.