In this episode of the How to Live in Denmark podcast, host Kay Xander Mellish narrates the capricious nature of Danish summer weather and its ripple effects on locals, tourists, and businesses. She contrasts rare golden, warm evenings with frequent gray, rainy days that force residents to revert to dark clothing and jeopardize outdoor cafés, weddings, and festivals. Mellish notes that Danes often base their summer plans on the previous year's climate, highlighting a recent hot, dry year that favored non‑farmers versus the current rain‑rich season that benefits farmers but hampers leisure activities. She describes the disappointment of empty ice‑cream shelves, deserted balconies, and the logistical nightmare of tented outdoor events needing excessive champagne to survive. As the gray days persist, some vacationers abandon Denmark for sunnier destinations, sometimes ending up at obscure resorts. Meanwhile, tourists from Germany, China, and cruise ships continue to visit, often unprepared for the cool temperatures, leading to sightings of thick jackets in May and June. The episode closes with a promotion of Mellish’s new book, "Working with Americans: Tips for Danes," and a reminder of the podcast’s social media and website channels.
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Hello and welcome to the How to Live in Denmark podcast. I'm Kay Xander Mellish. Planning your summer vacation in Denmark is like playing the lottery. You could hit it lucky with golden days and long warm evenings where you sit with friends in the fading light and drink Houd de Blomps cocktails. Or you could get gray day after gray day interspersed with a little rain whenever it is least convenient. The weather could be chilly, leaving your cute new summer clothes to sit disappointed in your closet while you wear your boring dark sweaters and long trousers again and again. I find that locals tend to base their decision about whether to stay in Denmark for the summer on the previous year's summer. Last year's summer was great for anyone who is not a farmer. It was unusually hot and dry. This year, so far, the weather has been great for farmers with crops that need a lot of rain. And not so great for anybody else. Gray summers are sad summers. The shops have stocked up on ice cream bars that no one wants. The balconies of apartment houses sit empty. Heaven help anyone who put their savings into an outdoor restaurant or café, or the optimistic brides and grooms who thought an outdoor reception after the ceremony would be a really good idea. Most of these party throwers are smart enough to put up a tent in the backyard in case of rain. But have you ever spent a windy, rainy, cold afternoon with several dozen strangers in fancy clothes trapped inside a slightly unstable tent? You need a lot of champagne to make it through that. As the gray days drag on with little to recommend them except cheap and excellent strawberries in the supermarket, Some people who had planned a summer vacation in Denmark book last-minute trips to someplace sunny and warm. The selection starts to dwindle as the summer advances. If you make it to July before giving up on your Danish summer dreams, you may find yourself flying on an airline you've never heard of to a location you've never heard of and quite possibly to a resort that you will never exit. Because there's nothing nearby to see, but at least there is guaranteed sun. Meanwhile, there are still plenty of tourists coming to Denmark. The Germans are hardy people who love West Jutland's windy beaches. On a few of them, you can even drive your Audi right onto the sand. Cafés nearby advertise gemütliche Atmosphäre. and menus in German. In Odense, the Hans Christian Andersen Center always has long lines of summer tourists, many of them from China. And the streets of Copenhagen are full of cruise ship passengers unfolding their paper maps and asking for directions to Kongens Nytårn. I'm glad to see that whomever booked these tickets on their trip prepared them for the fact that summer in Scandinavia can be really cold. I see them on the Stroil, surprised to find themselves wearing a thick jacket and sometimes gloves in May or June. But that's the way it goes with a Danish summer vacation. And that's the How to Live in Denmark podcast for this week. We have a new book coming out, Working with Americans: Tips for Danes. If you have Americans as customers, colleagues, suppliers, and want to know what's inside their heads, this is the book for you. You can get it on Amazon, iBooks, Google, and, uh, saxo.com. You can also follow us on Twitter at How2LiveInDenmark— the 2 is a number— and on Instagram. We're on Instagram now. Plus, of course, on Facebook. And as always, on our website, howtoliveindenmark.com. Thanks for joining us. Talk to you next time. Talk to you next time.
