Bornholm is an island that feels like another country. Out in the Baltic, closer to Sweden and Poland than to Copenhagen, this Danish 'sunshine island' has its own light, landscape and character: granite cliffs and rocks in the north, forests and rolling fields inland, long beaches of bright white sand in the south, and a coast dotted with fishing villages of colourful little houses. It is one of the places Danes themselves love most for their holidays.
You can feel its history everywhere. Bornholm keeps its famous round churches (rundkirker), medieval fortress-churches unique in the world, white and massive, which served both as churches and as defensive refuges. And the north of the island is dominated by the outline of Hammershus, the largest medieval fortress ruin in Northern Europe, perched on a cliff above the sea. It is an awe-inspiring place, steeped in centuries of sieges and intrigue.
But Bornholm is also about flavour and art: its smokehouses (røgeri), where the smoked herring that is the island's signature dish is prepared; its ceramics, glass and craft workshops, which have made it a creative hub; and its nature for walking, cycling and swimming. This guide covers the essentials of Bornholm with a practical, warm approach: what to see, how much it costs, how to get to this Baltic island and how to get around it to make the most of each of its treasures.
Bornholm, a granite island in the heart of the Baltic Sea, has been inhabited since prehistoric times, as shown by its many Bronze Age petroglyphs (rock carvings) and megalithic monuments. In the Viking and medieval periods it was a strategic trading post. In the Middle Ages the island was long controlled by the Archdiocese of Lund (then Danish, now Swedish), which built the great fortress of Hammershus, whose origins go back to the 13th century. Its unusual round churches, from the 12th century, served as places of worship and as fortified refuges against attacks. After the Treaty of Roskilde in 1658, which handed Bornholm to Sweden, the islanders staged a famous revolt and managed to return the island to the Danish crown in 1660, a source of local pride. During the Second World War, Bornholm was occupied by Nazi Germany and, at the end of the war in May 1945, it was bombed by the Soviet Union, which occupied it until 1946 before returning it to Denmark. In modern times the island has lived from fishing (with its herring smokehouses), farming, granite quarrying and, increasingly, tourism and a thriving scene of crafts, ceramics and food. The full story is on our history page.
Read the full history ↓No exact prices: a scale from $ (budget) to $$$$$ (luxury), with 2-3 options per category.
Origins, formation and what the sources say.
Bornholm is, above all, a granite island rising out of the middle of the Baltic Sea, and that rocky nature has shaped its history since prehistoric times. The island has been inhabited for thousands of years, as its many monuments show: Neolithic dolmens and megalithic burial mounds, and above all the famous petroglyphs (helleristninger), Bronze Age rock carvings cut into the stone, with figures of ships, sun wheels and footprints that bear witness to the beliefs and daily life of the island's ancient inhabitants. These carvings, scattered across the island, are among the most important in northern Europe.
In Antiquity, Bornholm was a place with its own identity. Its name has been linked to the 'Burgundians', a Germanic people who, according to some theories, may have originated here before migrating to the continent. During the Iron Age and the Migration Period, the island kept up trade links across the Baltic, as shown by the rich archaeological finds of gold and luxury objects unearthed in its soil.
In the Viking Age (8th-11th centuries), Bornholm held a strategic position on the Baltic sea routes between Scandinavia, the Slavic lands and the East. The island was part of the Viking world through its settlements, its trade and its seafaring. That ancient and Viking past, carved in stone and buried in its fields, is the first layer of a long and unusual history: that of an island that has always looked out to the sea around it.
The Middle Ages left Bornholm two of its most remarkable treasures, both born of the same need: defence. On an exposed island in the middle of the Baltic, at the mercy of pirates and of the struggles between the region's powers, architecture couldn't just be beautiful: it had to protect. That is how, in the 12th century, the famous round churches (rundkirker) came about: circular, white, massive churches with extremely thick walls that served at once as places of worship, storehouses for provisions and fortified shelters for the population in case of attack. The island has four of them — Østerlars, Nylars, Nyker and Olsker — unique in the world for their shape and their purpose.
The island's great symbol of defence, however, is Hammershus, the largest medieval fortress ruin in northern Europe, built on a cliff at the northern tip of Bornholm. Its origins go back to the 13th century, when the powerful Archbishopric of Lund — which controlled the island at the time — built it to assert its rule and project its power over the Baltic. Throughout the Middle Ages, Bornholm was the object of a long struggle for control between the Archbishopric of Lund, the Danish Crown and the Hanseatic cities, and Hammershus was at the heart of those disputes, changing hands through sieges and conflicts.
Being such a coveted prize shaped the island's medieval history: Bornholm was a strategic point that everyone wanted to control. The round churches and Hammershus are the stone record of those centuries of insecurity, when islanders lived with one eye on the sea in case enemies appeared. Today, these monuments are Bornholm's great historical attractions and the gateway to understanding its medieval past.
One of the episodes Bornholm is proudest of took place in the mid-17th century, during the wars between Denmark and Sweden. After a Danish defeat, the Treaty of Roskilde in 1658 forced Denmark to hand over large territories to Sweden, including the provinces of Scania (Skåne) and also the island of Bornholm. Overnight, the people of Bornholm became Swedish subjects against their will, and the Swedish authorities took control of the island.
But the islanders didn't accept it. In December 1658 an uprising against Swedish rule broke out on Bornholm. The island's Swedish commander, Johan Printzensköld, was shot by the rebels in the town of Rønne, in an episode that became local legend. The uprising succeeded: the people of Bornholm drove out the Swedes and, in a highly symbolic gesture, decided to hand the island back to the Danish Crown, to King Frederick III, on condition that Bornholm would never again be ceded or separated from Denmark. And so, in 1660, the island officially returned to Danish sovereignty.
This episode — a popular uprising that returned a territory to its country on its own initiative — is unique in Danish history and a source of pride for the people of Bornholm, who remember it as proof of their steadfast Danish identity. While Scania remained in Swedish hands for good, Bornholm became Danish again by the decision of its own inhabitants, and so it has stayed to this day. The story of 1658-1660 goes a long way to explaining the island's strong sense of belonging and its special place within Denmark.
The 20th century brought Bornholm one of the most dramatic chapters in its history. Like the rest of Denmark, the island was occupied by Nazi Germany during the Second World War, from 1940 onwards. Because of its strategic position in the Baltic, Bornholm had some military importance for the Germans, who set up garrisons and installations on the island, including radar stations.
The drama came in the last days of the war in Europe. As Germany surrendered and the rest of Denmark was liberated in May 1945, the German garrison on Bornholm, under a commander who refused to surrender to the Soviet forces (who were advancing across the Baltic), held out. In response, Soviet aircraft bombed the towns of Rønne and Nexø on 7 and 8 May 1945, causing destruction and casualties and forcing part of the population to evacuate. It was a tragic blow, just as peace was arriving in Europe.
After the bombing, Soviet troops landed and occupied Bornholm. Unlike other territories that remained under Soviet control for decades, the island was handed back to Denmark: the Soviet forces withdrew in April 1946, after almost a year of occupation, and Bornholm returned fully to Danish sovereignty. Rønne and Nexø were rebuilt, partly with Swedish help, with rows of distinctive post-war houses. This episode, with its Nazi occupation, its Soviet bombing and its return to Denmark, left a deep mark on the island's memory and is an essential part of its recent history, always treated with the seriousness its victims deserve.
After the upheavals of the 20th century, Bornholm has reinvented itself as a destination for nature, art and food, without losing its character as a hard-working, authentic island. For generations, the economy relied on fishing — with the distinctive herring smokehouses whose white chimneys dot the coast —, farming and granite quarrying, the stone the island is made of and which was used in buildings all over Denmark. Today these traditional activities sit alongside new ways of making a living.
In recent decades, the island has become a notable hub for creativity and food. Its special light and its calm drew artists and craftspeople, and Bornholm is now famous for its ceramics, glass and craft workshops, with a strong design identity, and for its food scene: small producers of cheese, cured meats, mustard, sweets, beer and chocolate, restaurants that work with local produce — some of them internationally recognised — and, of course, smoked herring and the classic 'Sol over Gudhjem'. The island has earned a reputation as a little 'foodie' paradise in the Baltic.
Above all, Bornholm today is the 'sunshine island' (Solskinsøen), one of Danes' favourite holiday destinations and increasingly well known outside the country. Its mix of historical heritage — Hammershus, the round churches, the fishing villages —, varied nature — granite cliffs, forests, white sand beaches such as Dueodde —, food and art makes it a one-of-a-kind place with a personality of its own within Denmark. The rock of the Baltic once coveted by archbishops, kings and armies is now a bright, peaceful haven for enjoying the landscape, the flavours and the calm. That is the latest, and gentlest, stage of its long history.
