Entrance to the Tirpitz Museum, also called Blavand Bunker Museum.

© Raimundo79/Shutterstock

Tirpitz

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Near the west-coast resort town of Blåvand, 38km northwest of Esbjerg, is this inspired new museum, which showcases Danish history alongside its knack for intriguing architecture and adept storytelling. Tirpitz is a large, menacing-looking bunker built in the coastal dunes during WWII as part of Hitler's Atlantic Wall defence. Abandoned since 1944, it is now the end-point of exhibits that shine a light on the bunker plus the effects of war in the region, and on Jutland's wild west coast.

There's also a beautiful collection of amber (Jutland's coast is one of the best places to hunt for it).

The clever, tunnel-like museum is built through the dunes; it opened in mid-2017 and was designed by the starchitect Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) – the same designers behind Lego House in Billund.

From Esbjerg, take Rtes 463 and 431 to reach it. If you're cruising the west coast, from Tirpitz it's 30km to reach the stand-out Henne Kirkeby Kro.


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