Our First Camping Trip in Denmark: Testing Everything at Hesteskoen

One Friday in July, I had an idea:

Before travelling around Denmark and sleeping in a tent for several nights… maybe we should first check whether we actually know how to camp.

So we decided to start small with one night of camping in Aalborg, close enough to home that we could treat it as a test.

We had already decided that camping would be a big part of our summer holiday. We’d bought the tent, sleeping bags, cooking equipment and what felt like a LOT of other things.

But we’d never actually used any of it.

Could we set up the tent?

Had we bought everything we needed?

What had we completely forgotten?

Would everything fit?

And maybe most importantly…

Would we even enjoy camping?

So instead of finding out somewhere hours away from home, we decided to have a test night somewhere close to Aalborg.

No big adventure.

Just one night.

What could possibly go wrong? 🙂

Jump to

• Finding a Place for Camping in Aalborg
• Arriving at Hesteskoen
• Finding the Perfect Spot
• Setting Up Our Tent for the First Time
• Our First Camping Dinner
• A Quiet Evening by the Fjord
• Our First Night in a Tent
• Why Is the Tent Wet?!
• Breakfast in Nature
• What We Learned From Our First Camping Trip
• Hesteskoen Campsite Review

Finding a Place for Camping in Aalborg

Since this was our first time camping, I wasn’t looking for somewhere wild and difficult.

Quite the opposite.

I wanted a campsite that was close to Aalborg, easy to reach, close to parking, near a toilet, with access to clean water, and somewhere we could pitch our own tent.

At this point, we had absolutely no idea how heavy our equipment would feel once we had to carry it or how far we could realistically walk with everything.

So “parking nearby” suddenly became a very important filter.

I searched through Udinaturen, which is one of the resources I use to find primitive campsites, shelters and outdoor facilities around Denmark. After going through the map and checking different options, I found Hesteskoen in Aalborg Øst.

It seemed to tick almost every box.

And most importantly, if everything went terribly wrong…

we weren’t very far from home. 😄

Arriving at Hesteskoen

We drove there at around five in the afternoon.

There were two parking areas, and Google Maps directed us towards the second one, so that’s where we parked.

Later, I realised that the first parking area seemed to be connected to another camping area nearby. At the time, I wasn’t completely sure how that part worked, so we simply followed the route towards the nature campsite we’d found online.

From the parking area, we found the path leading towards Hesteskoen.

One of the first things we saw was the three shelters we’d already noticed on Udinaturen.

The surrounding area was green, peaceful and right beside the fjord.

So far, so good.

But we hadn’t come to test a shelter.

We had a brand-new tent waiting in the car.

Finding the Perfect Spot

Before carrying everything over, we walked around the area looking for somewhere to pitch the tent.

Then, because this was our first camping trip and apparently I needed to question absolutely everything, I suddenly thought:

Wait.

Are we actually allowed to put our own tent here?

So there we were, standing in nature, checking the rules again on our phones. 😂

Fortunately, yes, tent camping was allowed in the designated area, as long as we followed the rules regarding staying there, cleaning up and respecting the surroundings.

And honestly, those rules matter. Places like this only stay beautiful and available if the people using them take care of them.

Eventually, we found our spot.

For our first night camping, it felt pretty perfect.

Setting Up Our Tent for the First Time

Now came the real test.

The tent.

We took everything out, looked at what we’d bought…

and started.

And surprisingly?

It was easy.

Considering neither of us had any previous experience, I expected considerably more confusion.

But within around 30 minutes, our little temporary home was standing.

I also immediately appreciated one feature of the tent that I hadn’t thought much about when we bought it: the entrance area was huge.

We could keep our shoes, bags and equipment there while leaving the sleeping section behind it relatively organised.

We stood there looking at it feeling slightly proud of ourselves.

Step one:

We can build the tent.

Success. 😄

Our First Camping Dinner

By around seven, we’d brought over the rest of our things and were ready for the next experiment.

Cooking.

To be completely honest…

I had no idea what to cook.

So I brought meat, rice, onion, salt and some spices from our kitchen, put everything together in our camping pot and hoped for the best.

Between our tent and the shelters, there was a communal area with two benches and a grill, so we used one of the benches as our little outdoor kitchen.

And somehow…

the food was actually delicious.

Maybe everything tastes better when you’ve just built your first tent. 😄

Cooking also revealed the first few things we’d forgotten.

We had no cooking oil.

Our camping pot was slightly sticky.

We didn’t have a wooden spoon to stir everything properly.

And then came another fairly obvious discovery:

Plates would have been useful.

😂

Okay.

Mental list started.

A Quiet Evening by the Fjord

After dinner, we opened our camping chairs, made some tea with our little kettle and found a quieter spot closer to the tent.

This was probably the moment when it finally started to feel like camping.

No setting things up. No figuring out equipment. No wondering what we’d forgotten.

Just sitting there, listening to the birds and the sounds around us, with the fjord nearby.

While we were relaxing, though, something else had caught my attention.

Earlier, we’d noticed a strange concrete structure close to where we were camping. I immediately became curious about what it might have been.

I searched online but couldn’t find enough reliable information to identify it. There is Second World War history connected to the wider Aalborg area and the German occupation of Denmark, but without finding proper evidence about this particular structure, I don’t want to pretend I know what it was.

Still…

I couldn’t stop wondering.

Maybe it was something completely ordinary.

Or maybe it had a story.

I definitely preferred the second possibility. 🙂

Our First Night in a Tent

At around midnight, it was finally time for our first night inside the tent.

We had two sleeping bags and sleeping mats.

I had also packed warm clothes and very warm socks because I really didn’t want to spend my first camping night freezing.

And surprisingly, temperature wasn’t a problem at all.

I was warm.

Comfortable.

Everything was going suspiciously well.

Until around four in the morning.

I woke up because it was already becoming light outside. The wind was moving through the trees, birds were making all kinds of sounds, and I just lay there listening to everything.

It was actually beautiful.

There was just one small problem.

My neck.

Because among all the equipment we’d carefully bought and packed…

I had forgotten a pillow.

A pillow.

One of the most basic objects involved in sleeping.

🙂

I stayed awake listening to the birds and wind for almost two hours before eventually falling asleep again.

At around eight, I woke up feeling surprisingly fresh and happy.

Then I sat up.

Well…

“sat up” might be generous inside a tent.

And noticed something else.

Why Is the Tent Wet?!

Then I looked up.

The inside of the tent roof was covered in moisture.

For a moment I thought something was wrong with the tent, but we’d simply learned another beginner camping lesson:

Ventilation matters.

We had kept the tent too closed during the night, so moisture had built up inside.

Opening the ventilation points and allowing fresh air to circulate would help reduce condensation.

Another thing added to our growing list of things we’d learned in less than 24 hours.

Tent: working.

Sleeping bags: working.

Remember a pillow: definitely.

Ventilation: also definitely. 😄

Breakfast in Nature

The next morning, we made breakfast and coffee outside.

After our slightly questionable night of ventilation and my missing pillow, sitting in the morning air with something warm to drink felt very good.

And, naturally, breakfast taught us something else.

We needed a small camping table.

The communal benches were useful, but we couldn’t always rely on having one close to our tent. A lightweight table would make cooking and preparing food much easier.

At this point, our “test camping trip” was doing exactly what we’d hoped.

Every few hours, we discovered something we wanted to change before our summer trip.

After breakfast, we went for a walk around Hesteskoen and explored a little more before it was time to pack everything up.

Our first night was almost over.

And we’d already learned a lot.

What We Learned From Our First Camping Trip

By the time we packed up, our little test trip had already done exactly what we wanted it to do.

We discovered that our tent was easy to set up, our sleeping bags kept us warm, and cooking outdoors was much easier, and more fun, than I’d expected.

But we also discovered a few things that were definitely going on the packing list for our summer trip:

• A pillow
• Cooking oil
• A wooden spoon or something to stir with
• Lightweight, unbreakable plates
• A small camping table
• Something to do in the evening, cards, a game or a book

We also learned to think more carefully about ventilation inside the tent and, importantly, how much equipment we were actually carrying.

None of these were huge problems.

But that was exactly why doing one test night close to home was so useful.

I’d much rather discover that I forgot my pillow 12 minutes from Aalborg than several hours into a camping trip around Denmark. 😄

New to camping too? I put together everything I wish I’d known before camping in Denmark for the first time.

And if you’re planning what to bring, I’ve also put together our car camping checklist for Denmark, based on what we actually packed and used during our two-week trip.

Hesteskoen Campsite Review

Looking back, Hesteskoen was actually a very good place for what we needed.

We weren’t looking for the most spectacular campsite in Denmark. We needed somewhere close to Aalborg where two complete beginners could figure out how everything worked.

And for that, it did its job very well.

What I liked

• Very close to Aalborg
• Parking nearby
• Access to a toilet
• Clean water
• Three shelters
• Space for tent camping
• Green surroundings
• Fjord views
• Communal benches and grill area
• Easy for a short overnight trip

What I didn’t love

There were power lines visible in the area, and across the water you could also see industrial buildings.

Neither of those things ruined our stay, but they did take away slightly from the feeling of being completely surrounded by untouched nature.

After this trip, I realised that that feeling matters quite a lot to me when choosing a campsite.

And that was useful to learn too.

Would I camp here again?

Maybe.

For another quick overnight trip close to Aalborg, testing equipment, or introducing someone to camping? Yes.

For a longer camping holiday where I’m specifically looking for wild landscapes and a stronger feeling of being away from everything?

I’d probably choose somewhere else.

My rating

3 / 5

Location: Aalborg Øst

The Test Worked

When we came up with the idea of this one-night trip, the goal was simply to test our equipment before our summer holiday.

But we tested something else too.

Whether we actually liked camping.

We forgot things.

We learned that tents need ventilation.

We discovered that carrying equipment requires considerably more thought than simply throwing everything into a box.

I slept without a pillow.

Our dinner was basically an experiment.

And yet…

we loved it.

We went home with a list of things we’d forgotten, a tent we now knew how to set up, and considerably more confidence than we’d had the day before.

It was only one night, about 12 minutes from Aalborg.

But a week later, that same tent would be travelling with us through Skagen, Thy and the west coast of Denmark.

Apparently…

the test worked. 🙂