Hygge is a concept close to the Danes' hearts. We cannot live without that indefinable mixture of calm, homely surroundings and a relaxed atmosphere. That may be the reason why so many people choose to spend their holidays in a holiday home when recuperating.
If you ask a Dane where he would prefer to spend his holidays, you can be sure most would answer: "We are going to spend it in our summer house!" Year after year the holiday home is the permanent holiday base - and a great place to be visited by family and friends.
When the Danes themselves are not staying in the holiday homes, many of them are rented out. It gives the holiday an extra "hygge" dimension to rent people's private houses - with all the love and care they have put into decorating their "second" home. Therefore, it is no wonder that holiday homes have become the favourite place for spending the holidays for many of our foreign guests.
The oldest and most fashionable holiday homes date back to the turn of the last century. At that time, the wealthy citizens of Copenhagen talked about "going to the country", and spent their holidays north of Copenhagen - along the old Strandvej and the north coast of Sealand between Hornbæk and Gilleleje.
Rich Jutlandish merchants bought land and built holiday homes near the artists' colony in Skagen at the most northerly point of Jutland, at Løkken in Jammerbugten and at the peninsula of Mols at Djursland. Today, these beautiful houses can still be seen in the countryside.