Bornholm’s flavours, places and stories

Rønne is the gateway to Bornholm and the island’s main hub. This is where the ferries dock, goods arrive and depart, and major decisions about the island’s future are increasingly centred.

An experience in Rønne offers a chance to explore present-day Bornholm. Here we encounter specialist shops, food businesses, the harbour, logistics and the everyday realities of the island’s producers. Rønne is also closely connected to major energy and green transition initiatives centred on the harbour and Bornholm’s role as an energy island.

A tour of Rønne can combine tastings with conversations about production, distribution, energy, urban development and Bornholm’s future, but the town also has several important memorials to Bornholm’s unique military history. These include the memorial stone marking the spot where Printzenskold was shot in 1658, and various reminders of the Russian bombardments. The town also reveals layers of history relating to trade, the harbour, occupation, urban development and the many people who have used Rønne as a gateway between Bornholm and the wider world.

Hasle has a rich and complex story to tell. The town has made its living from the sea, smokehouses and industry – but also from the changes that follow when fishing evolves and ingredients begin to come from elsewhere.

On a tour of Hasle, we explore the interplay between tradition and transformation. The smokehouse tells a story of craftsmanship and preservation, while the town’s industrial history shows how fish, raw materials and production have left their mark on both the landscape and the local community. Hasle is a great choice for groups who want to understand a changing Bornholm through food, industrial history, the harbour, fishing and new stories about the town’s identity.

Allinge sits between rocky outcrops, the sea and some of Bornholm’s most striking landscapes. The town brings together fishing heritage, tourism, hotels and smokehouses, with wonderful opportunities to experience nature nearby. As a setting for an experience, Allinge offers the chance to combine foraging, local ingredients, sea views and time together. Here we can explore northern Bornholm’s rocky landscape, wild coastal herbs and stories of seafaring, tourism and food culture.

Allinge is particularly well suited to groups looking for an immersive experience that engages the senses, bringing together nature, gastronomy, history and hospitality.

The area is also rich in history and myth, from fishing, seafaring and tourism to folklore surrounding the rocks, ancient paths and stories of northern Bornholm as a landscape shaped by sea, stone and people. Madsebakke, for example, is a key stop in the area. Its rock carvings offer a way to connect the landscape with Bornholm’s oldest stories, ancient imagery and people’s long relationship with the sun, sea, stone and place.

Gudhjem is one of Bornholm’s best-known towns, but beneath its familiar image lies a longer and more complex history. The town grew as a fishing settlement and seafaring port, and its smokehouses were originally a practical necessity rather than a tourist attraction.

On a tour of Gudhjem, we begin with the smokehouses, harbour, rocks and techniques that have shaped Bornholm’s cuisine: smoking, salting, drying and preserving. Along the way, we explore the stories of artists’ colonies, tourism and the tensions that arise when a small town becomes an icon.

Gudhjem is ideal for groups who want to discover Bornholm’s classic flavours and modern history, with a deeper understanding of their origins. Here, folklore, artistic heritage, burial grounds, harbour life and tales of the island’s mythical underground beings sit side by side, offering a chance to connect the smokehouses and cuisine with the more mythical side of Bornholm’s cultural history.

Svaneke is a town where gastronomy, craftsmanship and history sit side by side. With roots in trade and seafaring, craftsmanship has been part of the town’s fabric for centuries.

Today, Svaneke is known for its artisan food production, brewing, smoking, chocolate, ice cream and baking. This makes the town an excellent starting point for an experience focusing on techniques, ingredients and Bornholm’s contemporary food craftsmanship.

We also explore the town’s folklore, local stories and layers of history. Svaneke is therefore more than a gastronomic destination: it is a place where flavour, craftsmanship and cultural history remain closely intertwined.

The town is a particularly rich setting for stories of seafaring, education and personal development, craftsmanship, childhood, folk beliefs and the people who have left their mark on both the town and Bornholm’s sense of identity.

Nexø is Bornholm’s largest fishing port and a town shaped by the sea, work and the changes the fishing industry has undergone. On a tour of Nexø, we start at the harbour and explore the role fishing has played in the town. We discuss fish landings, processing, structural changes and developments in the Baltic Sea, as well as the new layers shaping the town today: small food businesses, arts and crafts, creative industries and hidden places you might not discover on your own.

Nexø is a great choice for groups looking for a more grounded, contemporary perspective on Bornholm as an island of harbours and food production, with food as the starting point and the town as the context. The town also bears striking traces of its history: medieval herring fishing, trade, quarrying, the bombardment of 1945, coastal defence and stories of how the sea has both created opportunities and set limits on life in Nexø.