Small Danish town becomes unique cold-water surf spot

The sound of the waves crashing onto the shore and dissolving into white foam brings a calming sense of serenity to the wide, white beach. The cold wind rushes through the tall dune grass as a young woman, carrying a blue longboard under her arm, makes her way down toward the sea. 

That girl is 19-year-old Freja Kristensen. She is a local surfer from Løkken, a small coastal town in Northern Denmark.

“It’s going to be cold, but good to get in,” Freja says with a grin on her face.

She was only 13 years old when she first started surfing. The uniqueness of the sport drew her in, but she quickly fell in love with it:

“When I first started out I was really bad, but I just kept going until I caught a wave, then another one, then another. It was really addictive.”

The surfing addiction never stopped, and Freja has only become more passionate about the sport over the last six years. Today, surfing is an important part of her life:

“It makes me feel free. I can let go of everything and just focus on the waves.”

Cold water surfing: a growing trend

In countries like Iceland, Scotland and now Denmark, cold-water surfing is gaining popularity.

Peter Krusborg Pedersen, CEO of the regional tourist organisation VisitNordvestkysten, believes Løkken, and Denmark in general, is catching onto a larger global phenomenon:

“We’re riding the wave that’s much bigger in other countries. Now we’ve realised we can do it in Denmark as well.”

The freezing water doesn’t scare off Freja, even if it can be extreme:

“Sometimes I think ‘why I am doing this?’, because it hurts so much to surf when it’s that cold.”

Despite the pain, she keeps paddling out:

“The waves are bigger and better, which challenges me more, so I do it even though it’s cold. It feels really satisfying afterwards though.”

A small town with a big surf scene

It is not just Freja who surfs in Løkken. According to the local surf club, Løkken Surf Klub, they only had 15 members when the club started in 2018. Now they have 270, and the number keeps rising.

But it is not just locals who can be seen in the lineup. The town has become a popular surf destination for visitors, including many foreigners.

Peter Krusborg Pedersen says the surfing environment has become one of the key reasons why tourists are drawn to Løkken:

“It’s one of the things that makes Løkken unique, especially because it’s so user-friendly. It is ideal for surfers of all levels.”

Around the small town, it is easy to see how the surf environment plays a big part in the life there.

Right by the beach, there is a surf café, where you can rent surfboards or book beginner lessons. Here, many of the locals also hangout after a surf-session, to grab a coffee or a portion of fish n chips.

Just across the café, new saunas have been installed, often fully booked on cold, windy weekends.

According to Peter Krusborg Pedersen, tourism in Løkken has changed over the last few years, turning the former summer town into a year-round destination:

“We see a lot more Germans, Norwegians and southern Europeans coming here. It used to be a summer town, but now it’s an all-year-town.”

For Freja, surfing isn’t just a hobby. She also works in the local surf café and volunteers as an instructor in the surf club.

Being this immersed in the surf environment, she has noticed the growing number of foreigners herself, both on the water and in town. She thinks Løkken is a very safe environment to surf in, which is part of what makes it so special to surf right here:

“Other places have a lot of prestige in the surf environment,” she says. “But here there’s space for everyone, no matter how good you are.”