The Holiday House in Denmark
The Danish holiday house vacation tradition is long, and Denmark has approximately 200,000 holiday houses - most along the Danish 7.000 km coastline.
The first real holiday houses were built as early as the beginning of this century, but vacation in a holiday house was at that time quite different from what it is today. Holiday house vacation was up until 2. World War mostly for families from the upper classes, which spent a few weeks during the summer "in the countryside", often only a few kilometers from their homes in the city. Father and mother, several children as well as housekeepers and other staff were accommodated in large, black-stained timber boxes with hardly the comfort, that we are accustomed to today.
Just after the war the building of holiday houses increased and the Danish holiday houses formed a natural setting of the vacation for thousands of average Danish families. Holiday houses from the fifties and sixties were often relatively small, with wood-pulp boards roofing, poor insulation, small bunk spaces and often with petroleum lamps replacing the electric light.
With the increasing prosperity since the middle of the sixties, the Danish holiday houses soon aquired a standard, which corresponded with the houses inhabited all year round. The good insulation of the holiday houses made them suitable for use all year round. The rooms became larger and the bunks of the early houses where replaced by modern beds with mattresses. The kitchens and baths were equipped according to the requirements of modern comfort as in the all-season houses in the cities.
This development has continued and today the Danish holiday houses in general belong to the most modern ones in Europe. The capstone of this development is the so-called "luxury houses" with all possible facilities e.g. indoor swimmingpool, whirlpool, sauna and solarium, large dwelling areas with open fire-place or chimney oven, color TV with satellite dish and a kitchen with all desirable modern conveniences.
The letting of Danish holiday houses began approx. 50 years ago and in the beginning the local tourist organisations were often in charge of the letting. Gradually more and more letting offices evolved, and today the Danish holiday house letting consists of a small number of large holiday house letting offices with holiday houses all over of the country. Some regional and local letting offices as well as some of the local tourist organisations are also part of the Danish holiday house letting industry. Altogether scarcely one fourth of all Danish holiday houses are to let.
If you would like to rent a holiday house in Denmark, you should turn to one of the members of the Association of Danish Holiday House Letters. This is the only way that you can be sure that the "Good business ethics in the holiday house letting industry" are met.
If you turn to a member of the Association of Danish Holiday House Letters, you can acquire a brochure of their holiday houses with descriptions, photos, prices etc. free of charge.