Skanderborg’s new hiking festival draws crowds with social trails and no alcohol

A simple desire to find hiking companions has grown into a nine-day festival in Skanderborg, Denmark, where over 2,500 members of a local Facebook group will gather—not for music or drinks, but for shared walks through nature, DR reports.

Kim Nielsen, the festival’s founder, launched the event after realising how lonely long-distance hiking could be. What began as a personal search for company on 50-kilometre treks evolved into Skanderborg Vandrer (“Skanderborg Hikes”), a Facebook group that now boasts 2,700 members and a team of 15–20 volunteer organisers.

“It’s about experiencing new places in nature, but just as much about the social side,” Nielsen told DR. “This is a very social group, and that’s something I really emphasise.”

The festival, running for nine days, offers hikes of varying lengths—from short 5-kilometre strolls to demanding routes like the recent Bjergetapen in Mols Bjerge. Skanderborg’s mayor will officially open the event today with a speech, followed by a traditional Danish kagemand (cake shaped like a man) and group hikes of 5, 8, or 12 kilometres.

The festival coincides with the first anniversary of the Facebook group, which will celebrate mid-week with more walks and socialising. For Nielsen, the balance between nature and camaraderie is perfect: “I’d say it’s fifty-fifty.”

While Skanderborg is best known for Smukfest, Denmark’s largest music festival, Nielsen believes the town is equally suited to a hiking event—one where the only thing on the menu is kilometres.