13 delightful things to do in Solvang, the Danish fairy tale town with plenty of ‘hygge’
Stroll through Solvang, Calif., the largest town in the Santa Ynez Valley, and you could almost believe you’re in Denmark, or a Disney-esque version of it. The streets are lined with Danish bakeries, restaurants, boutiques and lodgings designed in an old-world Danish architectural style of half-timbered facades and (faux) thatched roofs. Establishments are often staffed by locals in Danish folk costumes. There’s even a replica of Copenhagen’s “Little Mermaid” statue, an homage to Danish author Hans Christian Andersen.
But Solvang, population 6,000-plus, didn’t always look like a Danish fairy tale. Danish immigrants founded the town as a farming community in 1911, establishing a folk school and a Lutheran church. “Those were among the few buildings constructed in a traditional Danish architectural style,” said Esther Jacobsen Bates, the recently retired executive director of Solvang’s Elverhoj Museum. That changed in 1947, when the “Saturday Evening Post,” one of the most widely read weeklies at the time, described Solvang as “a spotless Danish village that blooms like a rose … a special place where old-country charm and customs have been successfully fused with the American way of life.”
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Thanks to the glowing portrait of what the magazine dubbed “Little Denmark,” complete with photos of costumed children performing folk dances for Solvang’s (now annual) “Danish Days” festival, tourists started showing up. But “Danish Days” had concluded for the year; the children’s red-and-white costumes had been stowed away. It was business as usual — and business in postwar Solvang was not booming, as many locals who’d enlisted and seen the world had moved elsewhere. So town fathers came up with a plan to boost the local economy: Make Solvang the charming old-country Danish village of “Saturday Evening Post” readers’ dreams.
They remodeled the town’s existing buildings in a Danish provincial village style. Over the years, more were added, including motels and B&Bs, enabling overnight stays. Visitors took selfies in front of the town’s four Danish-style windmills, indulged in Danish delectables and shopped for garden gnomes, Christmas ornaments, replicas of Viking swords and other Scandinavian-themed tchotchkes.
In 2004, the hit movie “Sideways,” about a wine-tasting trip gone wacko, jump-started the transformation of Santa Ynez Valley into Southern California’s favorite wine-country destination. The 2020 air-travel shutdown during the COVID-19 pandemic sealed the deal. Restless Angelenos couldn’t get on a plane, but in a couple of hours they could drive to more than 150 wineries and countless restaurants, boutiques, hotels and Airbnbs spread among Santa Ynez Valley’s rolling hills. Tourists came in droves, and weekend hotel prices rose sharply. That hasn’t changed, and the tourism has kept up too.
While miniature windmills and Viking statues still abound in Solvang, there’s a new crop of places to dine, taste wine and shop that merge Santa Ynez Valley’s wine-country branding with the Danish vibes of the past. If you haven’t heard the Danish term “hygge,” (pronounced “hoo-guh”), it means a quality of coziness and comfort in life’s pleasures. And this town has plenty of it.
Solvang Amber & Viking Museum at the Copenhagen House
“I first visited Solvang in 2010 and was blown away by the natural beauty and everything Danish,” he said. “I bought a house, a vineyard and Solvang’s 1919 bank building. After a renovation, in 2015, I opened the building as a showcase for the best in modern Danish design.”
Copenhagen House features Georg Jensen’s sleek housewares; the “egg” and “swan” chairs of Arne Jacobsen; streamlined Bering watches; Lego plastic building bricks; and Hoptimist bobble-head toys that have become symbols of Denmark’s “Happy Movement.” (Denmark has often ranked No. 1 in the annual “World’s Happiest Country Report,” although last year, Finland won by a slim margin.)
Copenhagen House also showcases amber jewelry and museum-quality pieces of ancient amber that date back more than 30 million years. “Amber was the only precious stone native to Scandinavia,” said Kærskov. “The Vikings traded amber beads as early as the Iron Age.”
In 2022, Kærskov added centuries-old Viking artifacts to the Copenhagen House & Amber Museum and renamed it the Copenhagen House & Solvang Amber & Viking Museum.
“Viking history is ingrained in Danish culture,” he said. “It’s important for visitors to learn that Vikings were in North America 500 years before Columbus.” On display are ancient Viking swords, axes and spearheads collected from Danish and British auction houses.
On June 7, 2023, the Danish ambassador to the U.S., Christina Markus Lassen, used one of the Viking swords to cut the ribbon unveiling the museum’s newest exhibit: a 21-foot-long replica of a ninth-century Viking ship. Kærskov commissioned the replica from the Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde, Denmark. “The shipbuilders used axes to hew the wood, the same way the Vikings built ships more than 1,000 years ago,” said Kærskov. A mannequin of a dead Viking king lies in the ship, as if awaiting his Viking funeral. On the wall, a video shows the 10-month-long process of making the ship. It ends with footage of Kærskov rowing it across a fjord with the shipbuilders. “We didn’t know for sure until we put the ship in the water if it would float or sink,” he joked.
Danish Mill Bakery
It’s hard to choose from the more than 30 possibilities, which include melt-in-your-mouth Danish kransekage marzipan cookies and meringue-and-chocolate Danish flodebollers. Gram bakes a dense-and-delicious Danish Viking bread chock-full of flax, pumpkin, sunflower and sesame seeds. Danish Mill Bakery pastries and breads also are available at Kærskov’s trim, modern Brod & Kage Bakery, which opened in early 2023 next to the Landsby Hotel.
Good Seed Coffee Boutique
Good Seed Coffee Boutique, with an airy wood-trimmed interior and trellised porch, opened in 2018. In Starbucks-free Solvang, it quickly became a locals’ hangout. Hot espresso drinks are served in handcrafted ceramic cups. The on-tap Nitro brew, which Brad makes with small-batch artisanal coffee beans, goes into the bracing iced coffees. Leyla bakes luscious organic scones, cinnamon buns and sourdough bread made with heritage wheat from Israel. Try a toasted slice topped with whipped ricotta, chopped walnuts, dates and honey, and you’ll buy a loaf to take home. Good Seed also sells hand-knit beanies to enhance customers’ “hygge” coffee-drinking ritual at home.
Parc Place
Four Santa Ynez Valley wineries have opened tasting rooms here, each with its own ambiance, including McClain Cellars, a clubby-lounge space with a pool table, arcade games and artisanal popcorn-and-wine pairings. At Cailloux Cheese Shop, owner-cheese monger Janelle Norman stocks nearly 100 U.S. and international cheeses and dozens of wines. Boutiques include a branch of Carpenteria’s Heritage Goods & Supply, whose housewares and apparel appeal to homestead-minded (or fantasizing) folks. In 2021, Alessio Carnevale opened Via Gelateria, featuring flavors like Santa Barbara pistachio and Belgian cookie. Carnevale’s gelato is the real thing: He learned to make it at his uncle’s gelateria in Calabria, Italy.
Ramen Kotori
In 2019, with the backing of now-retired chef Kazali, they opened Ramen Kotori in Solvang. Lunch and dinner are served on a patio under a Danish windmill. You’ll find ramen nestling in rich house-made broth, sometimes with a soft-boiled egg garnish, and locally sourced Japanese seafood specials including sashimi, oysters and uni (sea urchin) from the Channel Islands.
Peasants Feast
You can also order sandwiches and other picnic fare at the Cherneys’ new Peasants Deli & Market across the street at 473 Atterdag Road, No. 104. If there’s a wait, step through the “secret” door leading to a vintage video and pinball arcade with more than 15 games. “We raised two kids in the Valley, so we know it’s hard for teens to find things to do here,” said Cherney. The arcade games, most from the ‘80s and ’90s, have proved as popular with adults as kids, he adds.
The Landsby
Mad and Vin, the restaurant at what quickly became Solvang’s trendiest hotel, serves creative farm-to-table cuisine, like caramelized Brussels sprouts with bourbon maple syrup, crême fraiche and preserved lemon and a dry-aged beef burger with husk tomato jam, applewood bacon, arugula, pickles and duck fat. Locals and visitors take advantage of the bar’s daily happy hour from 4 to 6 p.m., when cocktails, wine and bites like sliders and truffle fries are discounted. Stop in for a recent authentic Danish addition to the bar menu: a long, thin, reddish hot dog smothered with crispy onions, tomato jam and Danish remoulade, like one you’d buy from a street vendor in Copenhagen.
Hotel Ynez
Complimentary breakfast and bikes, and a small pool, make up for the fact that Hotel Ynez is two miles from downtown Solvang. Don’t feel like driving to town for dinner? Order a bottle of wine and a barbecued-ribs kit from the front desk to cook on a Weber grill delivered to your patio.
The Hamlet Inn
Elverhoj Museum of History and Art
Olsen's Danish Village Bakery
Peek inside: Olsen and his team fill the tubs with cinnamon, coconut, oatmeal, chocolate chip and marble butter cookies — 2,000 and counting — several times a week. If you or a loved one is planning a wedding or a birthday party, check out the traditional Danish kransekage cakes on display. Olsen makes the multi-ringed towers of marzipan cookies to order.
Paula's Pancake House
Seein' Spots Farm
Once you cuddle with a miniature donkey, you may be tempted to take home one of your own. “They make affectionate pets,” says Linda Marchi. Donkeys are available for adoption from the farm — they go only to approved homes in pairs, she says, as they need to be with another donkey — with proceeds allowing for further rescues.
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