Foreign visitors may well think that cycling in a country where every second inhabitant owns a bicycle must be ideal. This is quite true, at least to a certain extent. Cycle lanes around in Denmark and increasing efforts are being made to adapt traffic to the weaker road-users.

Denmark is indisputably a country of bicycles. There are 2.5 million of them in a country with a population of only 5.1 million.

A great many use them for holidays. Every year there are more holiday-cyclists on the Danish roads and many of them take their children along.

Denmark is ideal for this purpose. The highest point is only 179 meters above sea level, but this does not mean that Denmark is flat. Far from it. The landscape is hilly, requiring frequent use of low gears, and the winding country roads will hardly give you a moment in your saddle without a refreshing change of scenery.

The country is dominated by islands and only the peninsular of Jutland, the largest province, is connected to the European mainland. There are more than 500 islands in all, though only about 60 of them are inhabited. This unusual geography means that the travelling cyclist has to cross sounds, straits, and inlets, frequently by using small ferries.