trip to Bornholm: suggestions?

[VJ]

Hello,

At the end of August, I'm going to Bornholm with some friends. We already have accommodation (a holiday house on a camping near Nexo), transport and planning (cycling, walking, use of public transport, ...).

Just some practical things: are there mobile phone operators that offer prepaid cards? And perhaps prepaid internet?

Are there specific things we need to take into account there?

Thanks!


Jörg

[JTD]

You should be able to buy a prepaid card at a TDC Store (http://privat.tdc.dk/butik/?id=tdc3700) in Rønne.
I don't know if they offer prepaid internet.

And I think you have to show your passport, when you buy a prepaid card.

Edit: You can also try a Telia store (there is one in Rønne).

[VJ]

Thanks! Most likely it is not necessary, but it might be nice to know.
We are hoping for nice weather...

Jörg

[JTD]

You can check out the weather here: http://www.dmi.dk/eng/index/forecasts.htm

If you haven't already, you should view this website: http://www.visitdenmark.dk/siteforsi...elanguage=true
It's the official website for tourists coming to Denmark.

Have a nice trip

[VJ]

Yes, we checked there.
One thing we are still is missing is the bus schedule: on the website it only goes to mid August (end of high season, http://www.brk.dk/brk/site.aspx?p=11232 ), but we have no idea concerning the schedule after that. We've mailed the bus company, but so far no reply (after 1.5 weeks)...

Jörg

[JTD]

You can see the bus schedules here: http://www.brk.dk/brk/site.aspx?p=33543 if you click the link under the picture of Bornholm (http://www.brk.dk/EverestInet/showdo...e=doc&pdf=true), you get a big picture of the routes on Bornholm.

In the left menu you have regional routes (route 1-10).
Under this you have the city busses in Rønne (routes 22, 23, 24).

There you can see the schedule from 15th august 2011 - 29th june 2012.

[VJ]

Ooh, great, we couldn't find it before!
It does not look too bad (we were worried that it would by low season and there would not be many buses).

[Jammrock]

Bornholm is a beautiful island! Good spot to visit. I lived there for a few months, but I was there on business so I my tourist time was limited. I was there 15 years ago but as I recall here are the spots I enjoyed:

Hammershus - Largest castles ruins in Europe. Northwest corner of the island. There is a scenic trail on the coastline that has some gorgeous scenery. I can't remember the name though (Hammerknuden?).

The Round Churches - They dot the island. As I recall they are old Viking pagan "churches" that were converted to Christian churches during Scandinavia's religious ... uh, we'll call it change ... near the end of the Viking era.

Fredrick Island and Christian Island - They are a couple of small islands north of Bornholm you can reach by boat from a few of the northern cities. There's a museum and an old fort there. Not a lot to see or do unless you like old forts and museums, but I do ...

Svaneke - I think it was Svaneke that has a huge crafts and arts area. Old fashion black smiths, glass blowers, old school arts.

There are the beaches, of course. There are tons of them. Of note are Sandvig (just north of Hammershus...though honestly, the island is so small travel time is rarely an issue) and Dueodde (the big Nexo beach).

One of my favorite things to do was cycle in the countryside during the evening. Easy ride, beautiful countryside.

If you are a sunset person(s), Bornholm has the most spectacular sunsets in the mid/late summer that I have ever seen.

As JTD said, transport is not an issue. It's a small island with a good bus system when you need to go places. Bornholm is designed around tourism so you won't have any troubles at all.

[VJ]

Great information! Thanks!


We already planned Hammerhus (which we will do by bus, as we are staying close to Nexo) but did not know about the scenic trail. We noticed some round churches along a bicycle path. Svaneke was also on our agenda. Duoddde is close to us, so that should be no issue.

The other island are not (yet?) on our planning, as we only have a couple of days on Bornholm.

Thanks again!

[Jammrock]

If you're only there for a couple of days then I wouldn't bother going to Christians Island. You'd spend a good part of a full day just doing that.

Found this site. Don't know if you've seen it yet, but it has some good information on places and things to do.

http://www.bornholm.info/en

[VJ]

Just to thank again for the info.

The holiday was great, many nice cycling roads (we did 37 km, 73 km, 52 km and 25 km), nice walks, ... The weather was not so good any more, but we have no reason to complain. Our visit to Hammerhus was in the rain though, and our long cycling trip was interrupted by a quick shower. As we were between Balka and Nexo, we mainly visited the east side (Gudhjem, Svaneke, ...) and did not do the scenic walk on the west side.

One thing though: we were out of the tourist season and this had quite an impact on bus schedules; this impacted what we could do on the days we did not cycle (e.g. last bus from Gudhjem to Balka at 16.45, and it did not come - luckily we found another line and were lucky not the miss the connection or it would have resulted in a 2 hour wait). The lack of buses in the evening were the reason we had to skip the scenic walk near Hammerknuden: it was raining hard the day we went to Hammerhus, and we did not have good connections to get there without loosing too much time.

But still, a great cycling location.

[Fat Tone]

Presumably you rented bicycles?

We have just purchased some folding mountain bikes to make family outings a possibility.
I have an estate car (station wagon) so we can now get four bikes in the load space and still have plenty of room for pasengers and supplies for a day.

We got a 26" wheel folding mounting bike for Luke, who is now nearly as tall as me. It is a very 'convincing' bike, with 21 speeds and front disc-brake. Perfect for an everyday bike for a teenager.
Sadly we wouldn't be able to fit them all in the car at that size so we also got a couple of 20" wheel folding mountain bikes. Ideal for the sort of use I have in mind (flat dis-used railways converted to cycle paths). These only have 6 speeds and conventional brakes but are adequate for the purpose.

All the folding bikes come with folding pedals and carry bags, which make putting them in the car very easy.

Adam is still using a much smaller bike (I think 16" wheels). We just take the front wheel off then it goes in the car next to the others.

[VJ]

Yes, we rented bikes... At the moment I don't have a bike in Warsaw, but I was looking to get one. As my car is not very big, I have been looking at folding mountain bikes (to be able to put one in the trunk). The only ones I could find are these:

http://www.montaguebikes.com/

Are there others? Could you link to the one you have? Do you like them? (I don't intend to really go off road dirt-mountainbiking anyway)

[Fat Tone]

Hi

I found ours on ebay then went direct to the company website: http://www.8funbike.com/store.asp/d=5/c=39

There you can see both types of bike and how ridiculously cheap they are.
FYI the 26" ones don't come with folding pedals (£8.50 extra) or a storage bag (£10 extra if you haggle).
I had one problem with the handlebar stem not gripping the handlebar tightly intially but they replaced the stem and I shimmed the new one with electrical tape and it has been perfect. Luke is extremely happy with it.
For the 20" ones I have had to adjust the brakes and gears, but nothing you wouldn't expect.

[VJ]

Those bicycles are indeed ridiculously cheap! They look a thad heavy, and more importantly probably nearly impossible to obtain here, but still nice to see there are alternatives. I should look around more!

Does the folding capability deter from the ride comfort? Or isn't it noticable?