DESCRIPTION:

Dragør is a pretty old fishing village, with many of its homes dating back to the 1700s. In Dragør you can visit the Dragør Fort, which was built between 1910 and 1915 to defend Copenhagen. While the Øresund Bridge was being built the Fort was used by Vessel Traffic Service Drogden to control shipping on the Danish side of the Øresund, especially the area between Dragør and the island of Saltholm. Today Dragør Fort contains a hotel and restaurant. Although you can walk around the Fort, it is privately owned and so you are not allowed to bring food with you to eat there.

​

Do go down to Dragør Harbour, where you will see some beautiful old fishermen’s houses, which date back to the 1700s. The fishermen fish for herrings and at the weekend, there’s often a fishmarket here. There has been a nautical pilot service, here in Dragør, since 1684. Down at the harbour, the Pilots House, which dates from the 1820s, houses the Pilots Museum.

 

Also in the harbour is the Cutter, Elisabeth K571. She’s one of the few remaining ships, that took part in the evacuation of occupied Denmark’s Jewish Community, to neutral Sweden, in October 1943. Around 700 Jewish Danes sailed over the Øresund from Dragør to Sweden, including around 70 in Elisabeth K571, before her skipper, Einar Larsen, was himself forced to flee to Sweden in 1944. There is a small exhibition about the Jewish Danes escape to Sweden, in the Dragør Museum, a short walk from the harbour.

​

Do take a walk around Dragør’s lovely little old streets, where the houses date back to the 1700s, as its one of the best preserved towns in Denmark. The houses in old Dragør are built in terraces and run from east to west, with gardens on their south side. On the eastern side of Strandstræde, or Beach Street in English, are some small alleys that run down to the road, Strandlinien, that runs parallel with Strandstræde. Only Zytfeusgade is wide enough for a horse and cart to come down. Other smaller alleys are Bagersgangen, Fiskergangen and Strandgangen. In the middle of Dragør are some small shops, selling clothing, handicrafts and jewelry.