Island of Møn in Denmark: On the way on Europe’s best hiking trail

by time news

DThe red crown on a dark green background is the sign. For all those who want to hike the “King of the Cliffs”. Alone or with the help of a professional like Tore Steenberg Reyhé, who is on the road practically non-stop from spring to autumn.

Because the guests have been coming in even more numbers than usual since the German Hiking Institute certified the brand new, challenging hiking trail in 2022 with top marks. “Klintekongens Rige”, as the route is called in Danish, is not only the first on the Danish islands to be officially awarded a “premium route”. It is also considered Europe’s best rated hiking route.

The hiking institute in Marburg creates Europe’s strictest quality system for hiking routes – there are currently 640 in Germany, Belgium, Denmark, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland and in Rwanda as an exotic African. The hiking seal stands for the highest quality of experience and measures the sensual quality of subjective experiences. These are contributed by independent specialists who collect all experience-relevant data for every kilometer in the field.

Source: Infographic WORLD

To get the seal, a path must offer special goals and many highlights, while dry spells should be excluded. Evaluation is based on around 50 different criteria, from which a point value is finally calculated. A double accolade for Møn: “We now have the highest rated hiking trail in Denmark and Europe here – with 102 experience value points,” beams Steenberg.

What distinguishes the hiking trail on Møn

Of course, a lot goes into that. For example the varied nature. On Møn, you sometimes go straight to the beach and sea, sometimes along the top of the chalk cliffs. Sometimes through rustic beech forest with tree monuments, sometimes through open pasture landscape with heath and meadows. Liselund Castle Park and GeoCenter Møns Klint meet high demands in terms of culture and education.

Møn in Denmark: The path above the chalk cliffs leads through beautiful beech forest

The path above the chalk cliffs leads through a beautiful beech forest

Source: Ekkehart Eichler

The route must be excellently signposted. And in addition to the many terrain types, the altitude difference also plays an important role. “The stairs to and from the beach are especially hard,” confirms the guide, who has mastered hundreds of steps effortlessly thanks to daily training. In contrast to his puffing leisure hikers crowd.

The new circular hiking trail is 14.8 kilometers long. A real pleasure for experienced hikers, but a chunk for everyone else. And even Steenberg admits: “I haven’t seen anyone who has gone the entire six-hour lap in one go. Including me.”

Møn in Denmark: The stairs in particular make things difficult for inexperienced hikers on the circular route

The stairs in particular make things difficult for inexperienced hikers on the circular route

Source: pa/Lars Halbauer

But that shouldn’t deter anyone. Anyone can walk this path. In small stages, in small loops. Or half the distance like we did with the Nordschleife today and the Südschleife tomorrow. But no matter when, how and where – you should definitely be good on your feet and never set off without hiking boots.

Walk along the beach under the chalk cliffs

It’s easy at first. The Jydelejet is a gently rounded valley that is particularly popular with botanists and zoologists. Because here, just a few centimeters above the chalk, rare orchids such as the pyramidal dogbane and the white forest bird grow – which in turn appeals to many insects.

Møn in Denmark: White chalk, colorful foliage and the green-blue water always provide beautiful color contrasts

White chalk, colorful foliage and the green-blue water always provide beautiful color contrasts

Those: pa/vizualeasy/Rico Ködder

Next stage: Descend to the beach via one of the five tiered stairways that connect the cliff path at the top with the beach walkway below. Two hours of hiking below the mighty chalk cliffs.

You can now look out for special stones for two hours. With thunderbolt inclusions. With sea urchin prints. With Klapperstein pebble sponges. And with holes. A six-kilo chicken god finally ends up in your backpack – in Denmark you can take anything you can carry with your own hands from the beach.

Møn in Denmark: This magnificent specimen of chicken god weighs a full 6.1 kilos and was taken home as a souvenir

This magnificent example of Hühnergott weighs a whopping 6.1 kilos and was taken on the journey home as a souvenir

Source: Ekkehart Eichler

For two hours there are stories about the flints underfoot, which are of the best quality, by the way, because they never get frost and therefore do not burst through cracks when you knock out daggers or axes.

Steenberg tells a lot about the 100 meter high vertical chalk layers, which consist of skeletal remains of algae and are full of fossils: snails, mussels, sea urchins, fish fragments. He reports on chalk falls like in 2007, when the “Great Preacher”, an icon splashed spectacularly into the sea under the cliff formations – with around half a million tons of chalk, clay, gravel and vegetation.

Møn in Denmark: Seen from the beach, the steep chalk walls are even more impressive

Seen from the beach, the steep chalk walls are even more impressive

Those: pa/Zoonar/LOTTI FABIO

And he talks about the peregrine falcon, which can dive at over 300 km/h – making it the fastest animal in the world. He disappeared from Denmark for 30 years because environmental toxins made the eggs infertile. Then in 2002 the miracle happened: A Swedish male and a German female mated on Møns Klint and had offspring. Today, two to four pairs breed on the chalk cliffs each year. However, there is no guarantee of a sighting.

Liselund Castle is situated in a romantic park

In the end it took almost three hours from stair to stair. For less than two kilometers that feel like at least five in your calves and feet. Walking on the flints is a grueling test for ligaments and muscles, and the climb up the stairs gives them all the rest.

Denmark: Liselund is a thatched miniature castle built by a noble couple at the end of the 18th century

Liselund is a miniature thatched castle built by a noble couple in the late 18th century

Source: picture alliance/Peter Schickert

But the next premium spot is already waiting at the top: the romantic pleasure gardens in Liselund. A thatched miniature castle is the center of the park, which a noble couple had laid out at the end of the 18th century – in the spirit of Jean-Jacques Rosseau’s philosophy of nature. The Danish socialite, which also included the fairy tale writer Hans Christian Andersen, enjoyed themselves here.

Fancy a holiday on the Baltic Sea? Here are tips:

Now it’s back to Jydelejet through the beautiful forest. After that, half the lap is done, with various stops and breaks we were on the road for five hours. With the exception of Tore Steenberg, everyone is exhausted, but everyone agrees: tomorrow will be the southern loop. Even if bones and knuckles hurt: Nobody wants to do without the chalk-white queen’s chair.

Tips and information:

Getting there: With Scandlines from Puttgarden to Rødby (45 minutes) or from Rostock to Gedser (two hours), continuing by car to the cliffs takes about an hour (scandlines.de).

Accomodation: Holidays in cottages are extremely popular on Møn. Novasol (novasol.de), for example, offers a large selection; a cozy alternative is Egn Bed & Breakfast in Råbylille, double rooms with breakfast from 133 euros, egnbb.dk

Activities: GeoCenter Møns Klint: The science center provides information about the geological formation of the island – including interactive Cretaceous time travel, guided hikes are also offered (moensklint.dk).

Dark Sky Experience: fascinating night walks to the dark side of light in Scandinavia’s first Dark Sky Park. It is about the importance of darkness for nature and human health (darkskymoen.dk/en/sightseeing-dark-sky-park).

Premium hiking trails: Excellently marked routes and circular hiking trails with a high hiking experience, pleasant routes and a selected dramaturgy. The Premiumweg hiking seal makes the quality of a hiking trail quantitatively measurable on the basis of an extensive catalog of criteria, details at wanderinstitut.de/premiumwege/daenemark/klintekongens-rige/.

Information: danischeostseeinseln.de/moen; visitdenmark.de

Participation in the trip was supported by Visit Denmark. You can find our standards of transparency and journalistic independence at axelspringer.com/de/Werte/downloads.

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