Odense · Backpacking
ON A BUDGET
Hans Christian Andersen's home town, flat, compact and cheaper than the Danish cities on either flank.
Centre and the station
The hostel and cheap guesthouses sit around the bus terminal and Vestergade, which puts the old quarter, the river and the trains within ten minutes.
What a day costs
DKK 400–750, roughly $55–110: dorm 180–320, food 150–250, and almost nothing on transport if you walk or borrow a bike.
Bikes, tram and trains
Odense calls itself Denmark's cycling city and mostly earns it; the new light rail crosses the centre, and Copenhagen is about eighty-five minutes by train.
Free by day
The crooked lanes of the Andersen quarter, Munke Mose park along the river, and the walk out through Fruens Bøge woods to the zoo fence.
Brandts and Vestergade
The old textile mill houses galleries, cinemas and cafés at student prices; the bars off Vestergade fill early and cheaply on term-time weeknights.