Agger - our new favourite?
Text and photo by Camilla Lyngbo Wolden-Ræthinge
I've never been to Agger. My holidays in Denmark usually go to Tisvilde and Bornholm - where there is beautiful nature and a guarantee of good coffee and local delicacies. Until recently, I hadn't even heard of Agger, but now we're planning a summer holiday in the small surf and beach town in Thy.
The travelling group consists of my boyfriend and I - who have only been together for six months - and our gaggle of half-grown children. It's an interesting project on several levels...
Active holidays are... necessary
My colleague in Copenhagen suggested Agger: "It's the new Klitmøller. Not too overcrowded yet. People are starting to move back, and some great restaurants have opened up in recent years. And some locals are quite keen on organising all kinds of activities. Isn't that something for you and Henrik with all of your kids?"
Between us, we have four children between 10 and 15. And yes, it can feel like running a small youth club. They're all great but with very different tastes. This also applies to the adults. Henrik wants water, I want good food. However, we share a common wish to pull the kids away from the screen and do something active with them. And with each other.
I have two boys and I often have to search a bit to find activities that all three of us enjoy. My boyfriend is a keen sailor and it takes a lot for his kids to be impressed by anything involving water. But it turns out that EVERYONE wants to try surfing.
I research a bit and quickly find a surf bar with equipment to rent. I also come across a popular restaurant called AGGER DARLING. It can't be the most secluded, remote place in Denmark, I conclude - and I'm reassured by the realisation that I'll probably also be able to find good coffee and bread.
Bare feet and a Michelin star
It's early August. We arrive in Agger after a 5-hour drive from Copenhagen. Agger is a cluster of restaurants and holiday homes between the dunes with the famous waves of the North Sea on one side and the calmer waters of the Limfjord on the other. There's a distinct holiday atmosphere here.
Opposites meet in the heart of Agger: Just opposite Surf & Event's relaxed beach bar, where music is played and people hang out with bare feet in the sand, is the architecturally rigorous restaurant TRI, which was awarded a Michelin star in June 2023.
First, we have to check out the beach. The vast sandy beach stretches as far as the eye can see. The sun is shining and there is no wind, yet the surf is still wild.
The waves crash against the beach with swirling foam. To get the adrenaline pumping, it's enough for the kids to jump around at the shoreline. Everyone has to be careful not to tumble in the current.
Mister Agger Holidays
We have booked a stay with Agger Holidays, which offers several different types of holiday homes. Peter welcomes us kindly because Peter IS Agger Holidays. Most importantly for us: Even before we arrive, Peter has already given us his recommendations for excursions and secret places to eat - all the things that are hard to find if you don't know anyone.
We have chosen two smaller holiday apartments instead of one of Peter's larger houses. For strategic reasons. It's important that our two teams don't get squeezed together, but that everyone has the option to withdraw from the festivities.
Our apartments are part of Agger Tange Feriecenter - 100 metres from the beach. Our white terraced houses side by side on Aggervænge are quite nice. The dunes start right outside the door. White sand, seaweed and clear skies.
Without knowing the place, I reckon it must be the best location. The children run at a steady pace back and forth to the beach over the high dunes.
Dolphins in Jutland?
Peter has told us that there are dolphins off Agger - and we have booked a dolphin safari for the next day, but then we receive a call. The weather is perfect for dolphins - now! We are ready and head out along Agger Tange. Agger Tange is a long narrow strip of land with water on both sides - a bird-rich area that is part of Thy National Park. At the end is the small ferry to Thyborøn.
We embark on board Ariel's motorboat. Captain Ariel runs a kitesurfing school with his wife when it's windy and goes on dolphin safaris when it's not. The kids are excited, the adults are a little doubtful about the dolphins, no one knows why, Northwest Jutland is the new sunshine coast.
Ariel tells us that he has just been out with TV2 weather without being able to find a single dolphin to film. So there's no guarantee. But we sail out into the Thyborøn channel, and it doesn't take more than 5 minutes before we see them!
At first, there's a lot of shouting and pointing and jumping in the life jackets when we see a dolphin sticking its head above the water and then the characteristic soft arch of its back. But after an hour, we've seen so many dolphins that the kids start to dig into the cooler full of goodies that Peter has provided. They barely lift their heads when Captain Ariel points: Now there are three! Look at that!
The local community steps in
Back home, we need to unpack. Settle in. Allocate beds. The two apartments are decorated slightly differently, but both have well-equipped kitchens, bedrooms and an excellent pull-out sofa in the living room.
Peter has left small bottles of herbal-scented organic shampoo, conditioner and lotion for us - there are Thy soft drinks and Thy beer in the fridge, good coffee in the jar and dishwasher tabs so we don't have to buy everything.
We relax a tad too long, suddenly it's getting late and we hurry off to buy some take-away. But we are in Jutland on a Monday. Everything is closed. A kind soul informs us that we can make it to Netto in Hurup if we put the pedal to the metal - but then the owner of the restaurant Signalmasten takes pity on us poor Copenhageners and opens the door anyway. There has been an event on the beach for 800 locals - the World Ballet stopped by for an outdoor performance - and he has a stack of tapas platters to spare. We can get them at a good price.
We feel the value of a small local community - and return home equipped with home-baked rye bread and salmon rillette, cheese and sausage. And it's still a pretty good dinner, as my boyfriend's daughter observes.
A hot tub and good hospitality
Now that the children are settled in the different apartments, it's time for the adults. We may be a little tired after a long day, but we simply don't want to miss the hot tub that Peter has heated for us at Blishønevej 23. Peter's holiday home is nicely situated next to Flade Lake with a path to the beach, but it is rented out from tomorrow, and we would like to stop by and see it another time - there is room for the whole group. For now, though, it's just us - a tired new couple getting into the steaming hot wooden hot tub.
We open the bubbles, lean back and look at the stars. If you take a compass and draw a circle with Copenhagen in the centre, you can't get any further away. We feel like we're on an adventure.
Surfing the waves
Everyone wants to try surfing on the waves. We hope to surf with Jan, who owns Surf & Event. He is one of the returning locals who has brought a lot of new life to Agger with a beach bar with live music, courses, surf and kayak equipment to rent.
But we know you can't plan for the weather. We keep an eye on the wind speed and direction to be ready for the perfect surfing waves if they come. In the meantime, we're content to splash around on the beach and play in whatever waves there are.
Less than hardcore Point Break surfer style can do that. Earlier this summer, my kids and I went surfing on these little cheap body boards at the beach in Tisvilde. We know you can have fun - even in small waves.
My boyfriend brought his own paddleboard in the car, and we visit Jan at Surf og Event to rent extra equipment. We bring our own wetsuits for the whole group because my boyfriend sails everything that can be sailed - but Jan can also provide wetsuits and flippers and whatever you might need.
It's a struggle to get the wetsuits pulled up, we get salt water in our eyes, scrapes on the knees, sand to be brushed off, and a bathing sandal that gets sucked into the sandy bottom with tremendous force and is gone. But then it's fun. The kids are lying on their stomachs on the boards, paddling away with their arms and actually manage to roll with the waves all the way to the beach. Even though the waves aren't huge, they feel a lot like surfers.
Parenting is a bit like surfing. You spend a lot of time waiting for the perfect wave, the perfect moment - so when the kids squeal with delight in the water, we take in the moment and enjoy it!
A few days later, the wind and the big waves arrive. But they are simply too big for us. We send my boyfriend out in a wetsuit and vest on the smallest board, but he is thrown around and almost disappears underwater. You have to wait until the wind dies down and the waves are still rolling. There's a reason surfers live in their vans and have a life where they can throw everything away when the wind is just right.
We're considering taking up Jan's offer of a kayak trip - he drives his guests inland so they can sail along the river towards the fjord WITH the current - but that will have to be the next time we come to Agger.
Grandma's food and architect-designed ice cream parlour
It doesn't hurt that it's convenient. The grocery store is two minutes away and has a good selection. When I start craving a real coffee, we cross the road to Agger Iscafe, designed in the Nordic style with lots of wood and pastel colours. It's part of the same building that houses the gourmet restaurant Tri. The building is the area's old nightclub, which was apparently abandoned for many years, but now has been renovated in a very beautiful way.
The ice cream at the Ice Café is so compelling that I had to take a look. It's local Thy ice cream from Ice Bakers in Thisted. They know how make this too on in the west coast!
Right across the road is Agger Badehotel, which has remained completely untouched. Rumour has it that today's dinner is classic Danish grandma food - if your grandma is from Jutland. Every day a new homemade dish: Fried pork belly with parsley sauce, roasted chicken with cucumber salad, chicken in asparagus, boneless birds. We could use something solid. Today it's Danish meatballs in curry, a true favourite for the kids.
I would recommend bringing the food back home. As a take-away, the price is very reasonable: DKK 78. It comes with both rice and potatoes - because that's how they like it here - and there's plenty. The only one in our group who finishes his meal is the one who normally won't eat anything.
The city without fences
I convince my boyfriend to do a guided tour of the city, because I love this kind of tours myself. Gitte is a volunteer and every Tuesday she guides tourists around Agger along the small paths between the houses. We see Mother Maren's old fisherman's house, which in the old days was moved inland several times, stone by stone, rafter by rafter when the sea ate the coast - before the state engineers came and made mounds for coastal protection. In the old days, the town's properties were not cadastral. When your children needed a house, you built it in the grass between your own and your neighbour's. Paths went where they went independent of private property rights.
Gitte's husband, who is from out of town, is the laughingstock of the whole town because he has a nice garden. This is a fishing village. Now, part of the charm of the village is that it's wonderfully free from the straight lines and forbidding wooden fences of detached houses in Denmark.
Mini golf and tiki bar
While we're on our historical excursion, the kids explore the facilities at the holiday centre. The equipment for mini golf and tennis turns out to be freely available at the reception of the holiday centre, even outside opening hours. We check that the kids are happy and stop by the bar in Surf and Event.
Jan runs a surprisingly large and well-equipped shop. It's a tourist shop version 2.O with lots of water sports equipment, swimming trunks, necklaces made from seashells brought back from Bali and local Thy beer. Outside, it's all very Cold Hawaii - lots of surfboards, sand, a bar with a fluttering tiki roof, hand-painted signs and casual furniture that moves with the wind. It's meant to be casual.
It's a small town, and it turns out that tonight it's Peter, our host, who is bartending for Jan.Peter tries his hand at the keg system and together we manage to mix a couple of good Dark and Stormy.
Peter and Jan are friends from primary school and help each other out whenever they can. Jan is also a local returnee.
Peter has also been asked to keep an eye on a third friend from primary school who has to come by and fix Jan's car, which is not running. When the bar closes, everything is left out - apparently no one steals in Agger. If they are, another school friend would probably step in. There's a story about some young Germans who recklessly stole the ice cream sign - however, they didn't get very far before they were grabbed by the neck by a neighbour and sent back to apologise.
The secret Micro Bakery
Elisabeth runs a micro bakery in Agger. She doesn't advertise, but you can find Agger Mikrobager on Facebook. Her freshly baked sourdough bread must be ordered in advance and can be picked up at the small stall in front of her house on weekends.
Our host Peter has ordered breakfast breads for us, and we take the short walk along the gravel road to pick up a nice heavy loaf of bread and a bag of rolls. The baker tells us that she's not even really local - she lives in Gentofte for the winter. But her husband has roots here in Thy. She just likes being in Agger and baking good bread for people in the summer months. It's all about taking the time to bake it well.
We taste the bread with its chewy crumb and crunchy crispy crust and the buns that taste a little buttery like scones - and then we understand. We understand why there are queues all the way across the lawn of the Microbakery on weekends when the small stall can barely keep up with demand. Sometimes there's trouble because she says no if she can't make it. The locals are first in line of course, and if there are tourists hoarding for the week, they won't be allowed to come back.
In the evening, we pick up take-away from Mikrobageren. We are told to bring the car. We wonder and think we can carry some food, but her so-called "tapas" are much more than that. Platters of fish in tomato sauce with fennel and new potatoes, boneless chicken thighs, fresh vegetables with smoked cheese cream, 3 kinds of homemade tapenade, a large platter of cold cuts, because that's the local thing to do, with a wonderful selection of cheeses and a divine tomato jam. And of course, sourdough bread and the best focaccia bread I've ever tasted.
I won't share the price here, as Mikrobageren would get run over. But she makes both party food for 50 people and food for 1 - if you are visiting Agger by yourself. I ask how she can possibly cook at that price - I couldn't even buy the ingredients at that price - but she has worked professionally with food and nutrition, and knows it is all about buying the right ingredients.
Elisabeth says that she has turned down 3 parties this weekend because she can't cook when she has to bake. People almost feel like they've won the lottery when they're allowed to order - they've gotten over the confusion that Elisabeth is only open when she wants to be. It's clearly about quality of life.
Fresh fish from René
At home on the terrace, we scoop the first course into deep plates. It's a white fish, a ling, which Elizabeth has picked up from the fishmonger René in Agger harbour.
The fishing harbour in Agger is located on the fjord at the opposite end of Agger from the beach where we live. René opens every morning - and now also has a local Michelin-starred restaurant to deliver to.
The fish is only the first course, but I didn't need more. It turns out that the ling tastes a bit like cod, but is firmer in the flesh. Together with the rustic, Italian-inspired tomato sauce and the small potatoes - and the bread - the dish makes me feel like I've been transported to Tuscany in Thy. Coincidentally, the dish goes fantastically well with the sparkling cold organic cava, the only wine we have, and I'm just happy, happy, happy about the meal.
In the wilderness of the national park
The main attraction of the area is nature and I'm itching to get out walking and be surrounded by forest and heather. We're going hiking, I say, and the kids are worried. I've chosen the shortest route possible - from Agger to Lodbjerg Lighthouseis 5-6 kilometres - and arranged a lift home - but I still put music in my ears so I don't have to listen to any more questions about when we'll be there.
Thy National Park is a huge area - a wilderness - stretching from Agger and northwards towards Klitmøller along the coast. We walk directly from our holiday apartment by the sea along Redningsvejen and turn inland at Flade sø. Everywhere we go, cows and horses roam freely on the hilly, green areas next to the many lakes and the fjord - and also here.
The sun is baking, there's the scent of pine and forest floor, and as we get closer to Lodbjerg Lighthouse and the salt marsh turns into forest, we pick blueberries among the heather.
I've promised that we'll eat cake when we get to Lodbjerg Lighthouse. Among other things, I've heard that the Danish kringle is "insanely good". Apparently, there is a group of volunteers around Agger who offer a wide range of services for us tourists, and here too, the grey gold are ready in their blue Volunteer t-shirts and serve their own homemade cakes.
The café is insanely cosy with floral porcelain and mahogany furniture. We buy bottles of redcurrant juice from Thy Økobær and agree that we'll buy it again if we find it. And Olga's famous kringle is just as good as the rumours said - with marzipan remonce and crispy yeast dough. But let's be honest, it's a long way down to second place. The other volunteer bakers need a little more practice.
Behind the lighthouse is a rather lovely shelter area in a sandy clearing in the forest, where more persistent hikers would be lucky to take a break.
We can't do everything on this holiday, but I wish I could go deeper into the National Park. We meet a lot of cyclists - you can rent bikes 100 metres from our holiday centre - but my own dream is to experience the National Park on horseback. I've seen that there is an Icelandic stud farm in the area that offers shorter and longer tours, but that will have to be the next time we visit Agger.
Dairy cows and whisky go together
I'm quite attracted to stories about entrepreneurs and local food producers. So Thursday we have booked a guided tour and tasting at Thy Whisky. Here at Gyrup Farm, exquisite single-estate malt whisky is made all the way from the grain in the field to the finished bottle.
I've been looking forward to a grown-up date and have put on high heels for the first time in Thy - and now I feel like a slightly overdressed blogger: The first stop on the tour is with the cows, who are enjoying themselves in idyllic green surroundings around a small lake.
Ellen, the 8th generation at Gyrup Farm, shows us around and explains why dairy cows and organic whisky production are a perfect combination. The fields of barley for the whisky need to rest in order to be nourished, so the cows alternate with years of grass. The milk from Gyrup is only sent to Thiese dairy, where it is used to make the special Thybo cheese ( when we taste it later, we have to buy one to take home).
Then we come to the drums, the distiller and the smoker. I hasten to admit that I'm not much of a whisky drinker myself, but several of the others on the tour are obviously huge whisky fans and ask questions about all sorts of technical details - and I understand that there is a growing whisky culture in Denmark with connoisseur products like Thy's beech-smoked malt whisky.
Ellen's father was a grain nerd and it was he who first experimented with making whisky from different types of barley back in 2010. Perhaps it also had to do with making an exciting project that could lure his daughters and sons-in-law in Copenhagen back to Thy.
And they succeeded. Ellen, her older sister and their two husbands have taken over Gyrup and the whisky together. Neither of them has a degree in agriculture, but they've obviously succeeded - and are doing it in their own way. The history of the farm, the innovative book-smoked whisky and a very nice aesthetic on everything from the warehouse to the labels - all play a part in the story of Thy as a proud brand for good food.
Beach burger the way it should be
The kids refuse to eat any more delicacies - so we are having burgers from Vesterhavshytten, the kiosk right by the beach. It's the kind of grill bar with waffle ice cream that should be on a beach. And it was here long before the Michelin restaurant and a surf bar. Loyal in the poor years.
The kids order classic bacon burgers, but we're on an adventure, so I insist we try the specialities - a Cold Hawaii burger and a Heavy Agger burger, which refers to a metal music festival in Agger in the spring. I taste, but I just have to say that a burger is a burger for a reason. Product development with feta cheese and pineapple is a step in the wrong direction - I look far and wide for the kids' burgers with super delicious buns, good big patties and lots of crispy bacon.
We order one tray of fries and get a huge box. It's really, really good. The money stretches a little further over here in the west.
All you can do on a rainy day
We've been lucky with the weather, but the storm hits and the sky turns grey. The kids have been in the ocean waves non-stop until now, but now we have an opportunity to try out some of the indoor activities in the area.
In the Agger Tange Holiday Centre's centre building, the door to the indoor pool is open and we walk straight in. It says swimming pool on the door and the atmosphere is giving less spa and more small format municipal swimming pool, but it all works.
I'm considering the spa in Hurup, but I've had enough water. I need some culture. I try to convince my boyfriend and my boys to go to an art exhibition, but it doesn't work - and I end up borrowing my boyfriend's daughter, who is more open.
We make a stop on the way in Design Agger, a nice shop outside of town. We look at upcycled denim clothes, watercolours of naked women bathing with realistic curves and buy bracelets made from old flip-flops.
There's a new branch of the National Gallery of Denmark, located in Thy. I laugh to myself - they know a thing or two about applying for funds here in West Jutland. SMK Thy is located in the middle of nowhere in the old Doverodde Købmandsgaard - as far as I can see a fairly large restaurant - 20-30 minutes from Agger.
There are changing exhibitions. Right now it's Jeppe Hein, which is very conceptual and the exhibition is about something with communication and involvement and dialogue. We paint our breath with blue paint directly on the wall and become part of the artwork.
Then we look at ourselves in mirrors lent by local West Jutlanders and think about who we really are.
We have been given a card where we can write something heartfelt and hang it on a clothesline: On one card, another guest has written his own truth: WISE EYE + TALK = HOT AIR. And that's also dialogue with the locals.
Taking the ferry to the bakery
We drive on and meet the rest of the gang at the ferry to Mors, the island in the Limfjord. When you Google it, it says Discontinued ferry service in the official way, but on the Næssundfærgenwebsite it says VI SEJLER! in capital letters and exclamation marks. I think the volunteers have been at it again.
The ferry is the smallest we've ever been on, but it has a surprisingly well-equipped bar directly on the car deck.
We have one errand on Mors, and that is to visit Gaardbageriet bakery, which we have heard makes some exceptionally good cakes. You have to love cakes to pay DKK 200 for the ferry to get to the bakery - but so do we.
I expect something cute, rural idyll - and I'm a little confused by the large red brick farm buildings with tiles and gravel. It's agricultural industry. I've seen pictures of small refined cakes with flowers on them, but now I realise that they bake on a larger scale, typically celebration cakes made to order. Only on Fridays, its open for guests to stop by and eat cakes in the café.
We find a single free table in the hall. We've arrived late, but it's still packed with cake guests. It's obviously a big draw. I don't know what to think. I can't read the room. Are we in a former banqueting hall of some kind? There's a basketball net hanging on the yellow brick wall between exposed pipes and heavy old paintings.
My boyfriend just says: We're in Jutland. Then we order a whole bunch of different cakes to share. I give up my Instagram expectations and just eat cake: Fragilité, cakes with pannacotta cream and jam, mocha and caramel cake - and I surrender. Fresh, airy, crunchy, not too sweet. This is exceptionally good cake. Quite simply.
The trip to Mors gives me the impression of being on the outskirts of Denmark for the first time on our holiday. Several houses stare back with empty windows.
It makes me realise that the liveliness, deliciousness and the many activities we have experienced in Agger are not a matter of course. It is the result of a significant effort, local volunteers and enthusiasts, good timing and surfer vibes. Agger has been given a boost - and it works.
We'd love to visit Agger again - especially if we can benefit from Peter's local tips and great hospitality.