Møns Klint

Now that I am back from my travels with a little more time on my hands, I’ll have a handful of posts coming your way about some of the places I visited and experienced while on my month-long excursion through Denmark, Germany, and Thailand.

Starting off this series of travel posts is one of my favorite adventures from my time in Europe.

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When I got to Denmark, my friend Lexi, whom I was visiting, assured me that Denmark was entirely flat and farm-like. “Believe me, ” she said as we were boarding the train to begin our day-trip adventure to Møns Klint (The Cliffs of Møn), “Once we leave Copenhagen, you’ll begin to think you’re in Iowa.”

Now Lexi and I are both Midwestern girls. Though both of us hail from Minnesota, we both have family in our home state’s southern neighbor and have spent more than our fair share of time there. We knew that any comparison to Iowa could only mean one thing–flat farmland and fields as far as the eye can see.

As the train made it’s way out of Copenhagen and into the country, the landscape did, indeed, start to look more farm-like. However, once we made it to the cliffs (and oh man, was that an adventure to itself–see below), we were in a completely different world; a world that most definitely had no resemblance to the plains of Iowa. In fact, Lexi, who has been a resident of Denmark for almost two years now, said of Møns Klint, “Well, I had no idea Denmark’s landscape could be this interesting.”

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The trip to Møns Klint took a bit of planning because we had a couple of transfers from train to bus to bus. Once on the bus, the coast of the Baltic Sea became present. Oh, the farmland was still there–but we also were afforded really lovely views of the water, too.

Here, I will relate our biggest error in planning:

We were under the impression that once on the bus, we would be driven right to the cliffs without much issue. We would wander around the cliffs to our hearts content and hop back on the bus in time to make the last train back to Copenhagen.

Well, you may have imagined our surprise when, instead of being dropped directly at our destination, we found ourselves landed at what we came to realize was the bus’ last stop–a sleepy town right in the middle of no where with not a whole lot to offer.

“Can you maybe drive us to Møns Klint?” we asked the bus driver, who refused. He was, however, kind enough to grudgingly point us in the direction we needed to go to get there ourselves with the parting words, “It’s six kilometers that way.”

Well, we hadn’t gotten up at the crack of dawn and taken numerous trains and buses on a nearly four hour journey just to wind up six kilometers away from our final destination. It was a cloudy day, though not rainy, and I wanted to see these cliffs. So, we walked. Due to poor planning on my part (a.k.a I wasn’t expecting to travel to Europe when I left for Thailand), I had terrible shoes on for this excursion–so my feet suffered a bit–but I soldiered through.

Our hike through the Danish countryside was an adventure in itself…and yes, it felt like we were in Iowa as we cut through fields that stank of manure and wandered along country roads. It was half the fun, though, and incredibly worth it…for the adventure in itself and our arrival at the cliffs.

Fields for dayyys

The long walk wouldn’t have been complete without a selfie

country roads

As we neared the cliffs, the landscape became more uphill and forest-like

Once we arrived at the cliffs, we were famished from the long walk. We stopped by the cafeteria at the visitor’s center for some much needed sustenance and then headed to view the cliffs. We decided to walk down to sea level and view the cliffs from below instead of walking along the top–which was probably for the best, given my fear of heights.

The views were incredible. Møns Klint is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful places I have ever visited. I can only imagine what it might look like during the summer time, with foliage present. A lack of leaves on the trees certainly did not deter from our experience, though.

The cliffs of Møn are chalk cliffs and the contrast of their white faces against the blue of the Baltic sea was something else. We had such a lovely time walking around the beach area, climbing onto rocks, and taking in all the sights we could see. Given that I was wearing black pants and was climbing all over the chalk rocks, I also ended up with a quite a white butt, which was both incredibly messy and mildly entertaining.

The stairs down to the beach

When we eventually started to get tired, we headed back up the stairs to the visitor’s center in search for a ride home. We really weren’t keen on walking the six kilometers back to the bus stop. Even though we had an adventurous walk to the cliffs, we were tired and didn’t really feel the need to complete the walk over again. We managed to meet a young couple on their way out to the car park who were kind enough to drive us to the closest town where we could catch a bus back to Copenhagen.

After arriving back in Copenhagen, we decided to explore some of the city at night time; Lexi played tour guide and showed me around more of her adopted city until we were too tired and cold. We headed back to her friend’s apartment, where we were staying for the weekend, exhausted from a well-spent day of adventuring.

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I highly recommend making a visit to Møns Klint while traveling through Denmark. It is a bit of a hassle to get to from Copenhagen if you don’t have a car, but it is unbelievably beautiful and incredibly worth it, in my opinion.  During the summer, there are quite a lot of activities to do in the Møn area. We made it a day trip to see Møns Klint because of a lack of time and money, but it would be quite possible and, I think an even more fruitful experience, to book a hotel for a couple nights and explore even more of the area.

My trip to Møns Klint was such an adventure and it has already become one of my most cherished memories from my two weeks in Europe this last March.

Getting to Møns Klint from Copenhagen via public transportation:

1. Take the train from København H (Copenhagen Central Station) to Vordingborg
2. At Vordingborg, walk to the bus stop (it’s directly outside the train station) and look for Bus 660R
3. Take the bus to Stege–this is the last stop for this bus
4. At Stege, get on Bus 667
5. Pay close attention to where you are and once you see the sign for Møns Klint, get off the bus! Møns Klint is only 4 kilometers from the main road, but we missed the sign and ended up in Klintholm Havn, which added two extra kilometers to our journey. You can spot the road up to Møns Klint by both the sign and a retirement home at the intersection.
6. Enjoy the walk up to Møns Klint. Hopefully it’s a nice day!

Traveling anywhere in Denmark via train or bus? Rejeseplanen is a fantastic resource.