Your Cart is Empty
FREE UK SHIPPING FOR ORDERS OVER £150 | FREE INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING FOR ORDERS OVER £200
Just an hour north of Copenhagen, Tisvilde
feels like summer bottled: wild dunes, sea air, barefoot cafés and the soft clink of wine glasses on sun-bleached terraces. Once a fishing village, now a Scandi-cool coastal hideaway, it’s where Copenhagen’s in-the-know crowd come to slow down.
Think linen dresses, sea swims, forest walks and that effortlessly undone Danish aesthetic and no-one knows it better than Susheel Schroeder.
There are very few hotels in Tisvilde so visitors often rent from Copenhagen residents that have a week or two to spare at their summer homes via Landfolk and Airbnb.
"For a shorter stay the family-run Helenekilde Badehotel is my favourite."
This is an iconic summer hotel first built in 1896 as a private house, now converted with thoughtful restoration. It offers that dreamy seaside elegant stay without being ostentatious. Decorated in a charming summerhouse style, with jute carpets, rattan furniture and tastefully weathered antiques, the walls are lined with theatre posters and photographs of an old Tisvilde. Susheel’s husband’s great grandfather built one of the first houses in Tisvilde.
The rooms are simple but elegant and well equipped. In their gardens you’ll find deck chairs overlooking the ocean and winding steps that take you down to the beach. You’ll often find guests in cosy white dressing gowns on their way to the sauna after a cold swim and everyone will say hello.
"Most mornings we find ourselves at the bakery Bagt on Hovedgaden, the main street running through Tisvilde town. It has most delicious seeded rugbrød (ryebread), kanelsnegle (cinnamon buns) and Brunsviger (a warm brioche cake covered in brown sugar).
The seats outside catch the morning sun and are fun for watching locals queue up in their dressing gowns for warm bread. On a slower weekend morning, we might visit the beachside hotel Helenekilde Badehotel, and have coffee on their terrace looking out on the bluest Kattegat Sea. We once met Bradley Cooper having lunch there. As good a reason to visit as any.
I love simple food well made - those Noma menus would have been lost on me - so my favourite place in town is Toby’s, the beach cafe (or Strandkiosken’ in danish) that sells the best burger you’ll ever have. We eat on picnic benches in the sand and watch the sunset over bottles of good wine while our children swing in hammocks. We often invite our friends from Copenhagen to meet us here for an early evening dinner. A small winding path between rosehip bushes takes you from Toby’s to the edge of a wide beautiful beach, Tisvildeleje Strand, surrounded by warm dunes and tall beach grass, which leads down to clear shallow water.
On cooler evenings I love sitting inside Tisvilde Bio Bistro, a brasserie with richer food and warm candlelight. After dinner we cycle down to the ice cream parlour, Hansens Flødeis, to get the boys the iswaffel (a soft ice with toppings) that we’ve bribed them with all day."
"I love shopping in Tisvilde, more than I ever do in London. The owners of the few small boutiques curate such a perfect mix of pieces from Danish and international brands and their stores are full of perfectly oversized cashmere jumpers , linen trousers, summer dresses and chic accessories in muted tones. I always find things I love there and can’t find elsewhere. My favourite’s are H66 and No. 17 Limited, a Nordic concept store, both on Hovedgaden."
There is a big culture of thrifting and collecting antiques in Denmark. On the weekends during the busy summer season the Tisvilde Loppermarked (flea market) attracts people from all the surrounding areas looking for vintage lamps and furniture.
This summer Susheel found her new favourite piece of art at a small thrift shop on the main road - some embroidered parrots on canvas from the 60's. There will often be rails outside peoples homes with things they no longer need. From silk blouses to oversized leather jackets from the nineties being sold for 20kr (a little over £2) in a neighbour’s front garden. It’s these one-off unique finds, full of history that always find their way into your overweight bag on the way home!
