In the month of April I made a week-long trip with Michel, discovering German aviation history in Friedrichshafen, Danish Railways History in Odense and navigating the sea to discover some Estonian history in Tallinn.

After flying Sun Air of Scandinavia into Billund and travelling onwards by bus and train we arrived in the Danish town of Odense. As it was in the early afternoon we first went to check-in in our hotel, the Radisson Blu HC Andersen, before hitting the city.

Odense itself is a typical Danish city, with some quaint streets lined by small houses. It’s in this district that Hans Christian Andersen lived and wrote his stories. His house is still standing and is now being incorporated into a big museum project dedicated to his life and work, but which we could not yet visit as there still is a lot of construction left before being finished.

After strolling through the city streets along the shops, to buy some replacement clothes as my baggage was delayed by the airline, we ended at the other side of town. Here we visited the BRANDTS museum for art and visual culture.

Located in a part of the former Brandts Clothes factory it housed an exhibition of Anton Corbijn photographs, a small immersive space displaying short films and an art installation inspired by life in a small Danish town a few decades ago. The remaining part of the factory is now an area hosting shops and restaurants and looks like it is a very nice area to spend the evening.

On the second day we visited the main reason for us to visit Odense, the Danish Railway Museum. It is located in a former locomotive shed at the rear side of the station. It’s not a very contemporary museum like Train World or the Dutch Railway Museum but still presents Danish railway history in an educative and immersing way. Luckily the museum has English explanations throughout most of the displays, just the section concerning safety on the tracks requires you to grab an English guide for explanations.

One of the most interesting displays was the Interrail and Wagon-Lits section in which they let you follow in the footsteps of either someone travelling on a post-war night train across Europe on a Wagon-lits coach or you could follow the alternative route of one of the first Interrailers backpacking through Europe. Both paths where very interesting and made you want to travel by train yourself.

I really liked this museum as I learned a lot about the Danish Railways, something I didn’t know a lot about yet.

If you ever are in the area around Odense, you should stop here for a stroll around and of course visit the Railway museum if time permits. I was pleasantly surprised by the town, offering much more than I expected at first.

Have you been in Odense before? And what did you do and see? Let us know in the Comments below!