Download PDF map of attractions
1. Kommandørgården farm
Do not miss out on Rømø's old Kommandørgården farm, built in 1746 during the island's whaling heyday. A commander (kommandør) was the captain of a whaler and many made such a good living that they could build impressive farms decorated with Frisian and Dutch tiles, and beautifully painted wainscots. Inside there was beautiful furniture and copperware. "Kommandørgården" is located at Juvrevej 60. Look at the fence at Juvrevej 82, made in 1772 out of whale bones.
2. The military area at Juvre Sand
Juvre Sand covers an area encompassing 20 km2 on northern Rømø and no entry is permitted at any time. The Danish military has used the area for military training since 1954. Now the area is used particularly to train army pilots, who attack simulated tanks, planes and military vehicles from their aircraft. Military exercises are signalled using signal balls, and a white flashing light is lit on the top of the control tower. You can watch the exercises from the viewing platform at the car park, but please be careful of the laser lights used in the target range as these may cause eye damage. For the same reason it is not a good idea to use binoculars.
Walking or cycling along the 10km-long Juvre dyke protecting the vast marshland area of Juvre Enge is always permitted. The Juvre dyke was established in the 1920s, but after building Rømø dyke in 1948, it was damaged several times by the changed current patterns. In 1965, a more secluded dyke was built on the eastern side, which today is still holding its ground.
3. Rømø dyke
The almost 9km-long causeway to Rømø provides your first impression of the Wadden Sea. You are right in the middle of the Wadden Sea here, and the birds won’t even give you a second look. Stop at a passing place and experience flocks of sandpipers, ducks and geese, and at times, the white-tailed eagle on the hunt. Along the dyke, you can also see tidal trenches and slit trenches which look like a ploughed field. These increase the sediment of material washed in with the tide, and help to stabilise the dam. Land reclamation was stopped in 1992 but marshlands have been formed in many places, with violet beach starwort blooming in August.
The dyke was not completed until 1948. Before then, people sailed to Kongsmark, from where a horse-drawn tram could take them to Lakolk. The dyke was severely damaged by storm surges in 1976, 1981 and 1999.
4. Naturcenter Tønnisgård
Naturcenter Tønnisgård (nature centre) is a good place to start your tour of Rømø. Maps and brochures are available here. You can book the following guided tours: The Wadden Sea tour, bunker tours, bird watching tours, horse-carriage tours, schnapps tours or shrimping and oyster tours. There are also activities for children such as polishing amber, building kites, nature workshops and using mussel shells to build models.
In 2013, a new exhibition opened on the mysteries of the Wadden Sea and thrilling nature experiences along the west coast of Jutland.
Next to Tønnisgård is the Rømø Mini Museum, which is a wooden shed with a poster exhibition about nature on Rømø and how the island originated (free and always open).
Read more at tonnisgaard.dk (danish)
5. Bunkers in Tvismark Plantage
Midway between Rømø dyke and the beach is Tvismark Plantage, which is about 1.5 km2 of pine wood, heaths and sand dunes. Tvismark Plantage has about 15 of the 50 bunkers remaining on Rømø from the German occupation in 1940-45. The Germans had one of their largest radar positions around the "Mammut bunker". Blasting the bunkers after the war was an enormous task, and instead they were more or less buried in the sand. Most bunkers are locked, but it is possible to take a guided bunker tour where you go into the bunkers and even go out through an emergency exit. The tours can be booked at Naturcenter Tønnisgård.
Vesterhavsvej may be known as "Pommes Frites Strasse" among locals on Rømø because of the many fast-food restaurants, but in the woods you can also take your own picnic basket and enjoy your meal at covered tables and benches. If you remember to bring coal, you can even fry your own sausages, meat and vegetables on the brick barbecue under the roof, ensuring food is dry, even during rainfall.
6. Høstbjerg
Together with the Stagebjerg record, Høstbjerg has the highest "mountains" on Rømø. However, there is no risk of altitude sickness. Høstbjerg is 19 metres high and is located on the border between the forest and dune heaths, with a handsome view of twisted trees, the heath, Rømø dyke, Juvre Sand and Mandø. Even the Esbjerg skyline is visible on the horizon.
Follow the yellow, marked hiking trails and take a 3km round trip through varied landscape of pine forest and open heaths with heather and crowberry, as well as light purple bell heather in moist areas.
7. Lakolk beach
If you experienced Rømø in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, you probably remember the beach as Denmark's widest “motorway”, with parking so close to the sea that the waves often lapped against car tyres. This is not so any more. Rømø is growing about 2m towards the west every year, and a new row of sand dunes is forming on the beach. Therefore most of the coast has become a car-free area.
At Lakolk beach there is still 2km of coastline where everything is as it was in the old days, and it is still possible to park close to the sea. Here you can fly a kite, build sand castles, play ball and let the wind decide your hairstyle! If you're looking for wind surfers, go to the northern part of Lakolk beach. If you want to let your dog run off its leash, go to the sand dune area between the beach and the camp site.