Hirtshals is a

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

and

seaport A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Hamburg, Manc ...

on the coast of Skagerrak on the

island An island or isle is a piece of land, distinct from a continent, completely surrounded by water. There are continental islands, which were formed by being split from a continent by plate tectonics, and oceanic islands, which have never been ...

of Vendsyssel-Thy at the top of the

Jutland Jutland (; , ''Jyske Halvø'' or ''Cimbriske Halvø''; , ''Kimbrische Halbinsel'' or ''Jütische Halbinsel'') is a peninsula of Northern Europe that forms the continental portion of Denmark and part of northern Germany (Schleswig-Holstein). It ...

peninsula in northern

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

. It is located in Hjørring municipality in

Region Nordjylland The North Jutland Region (), or in some official sources, the North Denmark Region, is an administrative region of Denmark established on 1 January 2007 as part of the 2007 Danish municipal reform, which abolished the traditional counties () an ...

. The town of Hirtshals has a population of 5,347 (1 January 2025).BY3: Population 1. January by urban areas, area and population density
The Mobile Statbank from

Statistics Denmark Statistics Denmark () is a Danish governmental organization under the Ministry of the Interior and Housing, reporting to the Minister of Economic and Internal Affairs. The organization is responsible for creating statistics on the Danish society ...

Located on the

Skagerrak The Skagerrak (; , , ) is a strait running between the North Jutlandic Island of Denmark, the east coast of Norway and the west coast of Sweden, connecting the North Sea and the Kattegat sea. The Skagerrak contains some of the busiest shipping ...

, it is especially known for its

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment (Freshwater ecosystem, freshwater or Marine ecosystem, marine), but may also be caught from Fish stocking, stocked Body of water, ...

and

ferry A ferry is a boat or ship that transports passengers, and occasionally vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A small passenger ferry with multiple stops, like those in Venice, Italy, is sometimes referred to as a water taxi or water bus ...

harbour A harbor (American English), or harbour (Commonwealth English; see American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, spelling differences), is a sheltered body of water where ships, boats, and barges can be Mooring, moored. The t ...

History

The town of Hirtshals developed around the artificial harbour which was constructed between 1919 and 1931. In 1925, the Hjørring-Hirtshals

railway line Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of land transport, next to road ...

opened to link the port of Hirtshals with the Danish rail network. In 1966, the harbour was expanded and became one of the largest

fishing port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Hamburg, Manche ...

s in Denmark. On 8 September 1989, Partnair Flight 394 crashed off the coast of Hirtshals killing all 55 passengers on board making it the worst in Denmark's history. Until 1 January 2007, Hirtshals was also the seat of Hirtshals Municipality which was merged with existing Hjørring, Løkken-Vrå, and

Sindal Sindal is a railway town on the island of Vendsyssel-Thy at the top of the Jutland peninsula in northern Denmark. It has a population of 3,071 (1 January 2025) and is located in Hjørring Municipality in Region Nordjylland. Until 1 January 2007 ...

municipalities to form an enlarged Hjørring Municipality.

Geography

Hirtshals is located on the

sand Sand is a granular material composed of finely divided mineral particles. Sand has various compositions but is usually defined by its grain size. Sand grains are smaller than gravel and coarser than silt. Sand can also refer to a textural ...

and

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolinite, ). Most pure clay minerals are white or light-coloured, but natural clays show a variety of colours from impuriti ...

promontory A promontory is a raised mass of land that projects into a lowland or a body of water (in which case it is a peninsula). Most promontories either are formed from a hard ridge of rock that has resisted the erosive forces that have removed the s ...

''Hirtshals'', overlooking the

between the Jammer Bay and the Tannis Bay. The shoreline is backed by low

cliff In geography and geology, a cliff or rock face is an area of Rock (geology), rock which has a general angle defined by the vertical, or nearly vertical. Cliffs are formed by the processes of weathering and erosion, with the effect of gravity. ...

s, beneath which is a narrow and rocky

beach A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from Rock (geology), rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle beach, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological s ...

Cityscape

The town's 35-metre-high

lighthouse A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lens (optics), lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways. Ligh ...

, ''Hirtshals fyr'', is a local landmark. Building was begun on 28 June 1860, and it was first lit on 1 January 1863. It is constructed of red brick and covered with Dutch tile.

Climate

Memorial to the crew of the Danish lifeboat RF2

The sea level has been as high as 1 metre over the norm. But in days where there is no wind, the waves typically will not be higher than maximum over normal sea level. Due to the proximity of the town to the coast, sea fog is not an uncommon occurrence. In the winter, the air temperature can fall as low as 1.6 degrees, but in the summer, it can reach over 25 degrees Celsius.

Waves

Hirtshals Havnekontor (Hirtshals' Harbour Office) keeps track of wave periods. Annual wave periods fluctuate between half a second, up to about 9 seconds. According to Hirtshals Havnekontor (Hirtshals' Harbour Office) normal wave heights are between 2 and 2.5 metres.

Wind

The prevailing wind in Hirtshals is to the south or south-west. Wind speeds vary all year long, usually topping at 10 m/s during the winter.

Economy

Fishing plays a big role for the town and its inhabitants, as does tourism and the renting of summer homes. Due to the ferry connections with

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

, the shops in Hirtshals thrive on the large number of visitors, especially Norwegians, who shop in the small town all year long. Hirtshals also provides good employment in manufacturing industries like ‘Jackson, Lilleheden and Scanvogn’.

Culture

It is the home of one of the largest

aquarium An aquarium (: aquariums or aquaria) is a vivarium of any size having at least one transparent side in which aquatic plants or animals are kept and displayed. fishkeeping, Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, aquati ...

s in Europe, the

Nordsøen Oceanarium Nordsøen Oceanarium is a public aquarium and museum that opened in 1998 on the shores of the North Sea (''Nordsøen'' in Danish language, Danish) in Hirtshals, Region Nordjylland, north Jutland, Denmark. Their main tank, which holds , is the larg ...

. This was built in 1984 as Nordsømuseet, The North Sea Museum, and got its present name after it was extended in 1998 to include a fish tank containing 4.5 million litres of water, making it the largest in northern Europe. The Oceanarium has 70 different species in its collection. A fire in December 2003 destroyed the new extension, but it was rebuilt and reopened on 22 July 2005. The 2014 Danish film '' The Sunfish'' is set in Hirtshals.

Transportation

Port of Hirtshals

Hirtshals is the Danish terminal for the services of the Norwegian ferry company, Color Line. Each year thousands of tourists travel back and forth between Hirtshals and the Norwegian cities of

Kristiansand Kristiansand is a city and Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Agder county, Norway. The city is the fifth-largest and the municipality is the sixth-largest in Norway, with a population of around 116,000 as of January 2020, following th ...

and

Larvik Larvik () is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Vestfold. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Larvik (town) ...

. Previously, Color Line also offered services to

Bergen Bergen (, ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland county on the Western Norway, west coast of Norway. Bergen is the list of towns and cities in Norway, second-largest city in Norway after the capital Oslo. By May 20 ...

Stavanger Stavanger, officially the Stavanger Municipality, is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Norway. It is the third largest city and third largest metropolitan area in Norway (through conurbation with neighboring Sandnes) and the ...

and

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

, but decided to stop operating these routes in early 2008. Another ferry operator, Fjord Line, now operates a route to

and Langesund. It has also been possible since autumn 2010 to travel to

Tórshavn Tórshavn (; ; Danish language, Danish: ''Thorshavn''), usually locally referred to as simply Havn, is the capital and largest city of the Faroe Islands. It is located in the southern part on the east coast of Streymoy. To the northwest of th ...

in the

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ) (alt. the Faroes) are an archipelago in the North Atlantic Ocean and an autonomous territory of the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. Located between Iceland, Norway, and the United Kingdom, the islands have a populat ...

and to

Seyðisfjörður Seyðisfjörður () is a town in the Eastern Region (Iceland), Eastern Region of Iceland at the innermost point of the fjord of the same name. The town is located in the Municipalities of Iceland, municipality of Múlaþing. A road over Fjarðarhe ...

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

with

Smyril Line Smyril Line is a Faroese shipping company, linking the Faroe Islands with Denmark, Iceland, the Netherlands and Lithuania. It previously also served Norway and the United Kingdom. is the Faroese word for the merlin. History Since 1983, ...

. The port has LNG facilities for the ferries, and hosts the first

wind farm A wind farm, also called a wind park or wind power plant, is a group of wind turbines in the same location used to produce electricity. Wind farms vary in size from a small number of turbines to several hundred wind turbines covering an exten ...

built without subsidies.

Railway stations

The Hirtshals railway line connects Hirtshals with Hjørring and the rest of the Danish rail network. Hirtshals railway station is the principal railway station of the town. The town is also served by the railway halts Lilleheden and Emmersbæk.

Notable people

Danmarks utrikesminister Lene Espersen pa Nordiska Radets session i Reykjavik pa Island 2010-11-03

* Niels Hausgaard (born 1944 in Hirtshals) singer, songwriter and comedian * Kim Lynge Pedersen (born 1965 in Hirtshals) a Danish weightlifter, competed in the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics (, ), officially the Games of the XXV Olympiad (, ) and officially branded as Barcelona '92, were an international multi-sport event held from 25 July to 9 August 1992 in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Beginning in 1994 ...

* Lene Espersen (born 1965 in Hirtshals) former politician,

Deputy Prime Minister A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a Minister (government), government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to th ...

2008/2011 * Louise Jensen (1971 in Hirtshals – 1994) a tour guide working in Cyprus, murdered by three British soldiers *

Simon Mathew Simon Mathew (born 17 May 1984) is a Danish pop singer. He is the brother of teen-pop singers Rebekka Mathew and Sabina Mathew.Dodo and the Dodos (begun in 1986) pop band on Danish radio stations in the 1980s * Patrick Pedersen (born 1991 in Hirtshals) footballer, plays as a striker for Valur

Local radio

* Skaga FM,The Skaga FM official website (Mainly in Danish, but offers German tourist radio during the summer)
/ref> formerly known as Radio Hirtshals, is a local radio station that plays domestic and foreign hits from the 1980s, 1990s and onwards, and reports on current events happening within the municipality of Hjørring. MHz: 105.6 FM. * Since early 2010, local ferry operator Color Line (serves two ferry routes between Hirtshals and Norway) have had their own radio station, Color Radio, that plays popular songs from mostly the 1980s and 1990s. It also gives passengers from Hirtshals to Norway information about the next departure, and when check-in closes. The radio can be heard all over Hirtshals town, and from the motorway roundabout near Aabyen at the E39. MHz: 95.3 FM.

External links

Hjørring Municipality's official website

North Sea Museum

Hirtshals local online newspaper

Links to Hirtshals Weather

Hirtshals Havnekontor Weathermeasurings, updates every minute (Only in metric)
'
Weather-Forecast.com Hirtshals (Metric & Imperial)

Webcams of Hirtshals Harbour

2 Webcams on Hirtshals Harbour
**The first one on the page is Pier II, and the second is Frontbassin towards northeast.

References

* Municipal statistics
NetBorger Kommunefakta
delivered fro
KMD aka Kommunedata (Municipal Data)
* Municipal mergers and neighbors
Eniro new municipalities map
{{Authority control Cities and towns in the North Jutland Region Port cities and towns in Denmark Hjørring Municipality Port cities and towns of the North Sea