Denmark

Standard plates are long and white, with a blue strip on the left. Commercial plates are yellow. And so-called “Parrot” plates have a yellow section on the left hand side. These are unique to Denmark.

NOTE: The Netherlands, Luxembourg and the UK use yellow plates for private vehicles.

Denmark is a generally flat country with wide, open fields between towns. Suburban areas are usually open, with space between buildings. Urban cores are more dense and built up.

Denmark has all-white road lines. Double middle lines are very common.

NOTE: Some other European countries, most notably Poland and Greece, can have double middle lines.

Outer road lines often consist of small white squares. These unique-looking lines are a good way to identify Denmark.

Denmark has very unique-looking direction signs that are very useful to recognize the country. They are low to the ground and framed by pipes. They are either coloured red and white or blue and white, with a directional arrow incorporated into the background. Signs often feature road numbers.

Some larger road signs have a more standard layout without the pipe frame. Highway signs have blue or green backgrounds.

Most Danish street names end in “vej.” This is the Danish word for “street.” Street signs most commonly have a blue background with white text.

Denmark has a very recognizable white bollard with a yellow reflector and a dark orange stripe. This bollard is unique to the country. You may also find this green variant.

NOTE: Belgium has bollards that may look somewhat similar. However, it will never feature the orange stripe.

Danish is a North Germanic language that is closely related to Swedish and Norwegian. The Danish alphabet contains these special letters: Æ, Ø, and Å.

NOTE: The special letters found in Danish can also be found in some of the other Northern Germanic languages:

• Norwegian uses Æ, Ø, and Å.

• Faroese uses Æ and Ø but not Å. 

• Icelandic only uses Æ.

• Swedish only uses Å. In addition, Swedish uses Ä and Ö, which are not found in Danish.

Much of the architecture in Denmark consists of red brick. Roofs often have orange, dark brown or black tiles.

NOTE: Similar brick architecture is also common in the Netherlands and Belgium.

Some houses in Denmark have thatched roofs, especially in rural areas.

You can also sometimes find grey corrugated roofs. These look somewhat similar to roofs commonly found in Baltic countries.

Some older or rural buildings have timber frame walls.

NOTE: Timber framing can be found in other Western and Central European countries as well, but are an especially common wall type for historical buildings in Denmark.

This signpost, where the pipe frame is bent around the sign, is unique to Denmark.

Denmark has square (normal B-type) guardrails, with no reflectors.

NOTE: Denmark is one of only a very few European countries with this type of guardrail. For a good overview of European guardrails, see this infographic.

This Danish pedestrian sign has 5 stripes. Uniquely, the first and fifth stripe touch the edge of the white triangle.

NOTE: Sweden’s pedestrian sign has 4 stripes. Norway almost always has 4 stripes too, but very rarely you can find signs with 5 stripes.

This unique sign is found when entering a town. When leaving, there will be a red slash through the sign.

Bus stop signs in Denmark are black and yellow. A small sign is attached to the top of the pole, with the bus schedule underneath. Additionally, you may see this older blue and white version.

This red-and-white chevron is found in Denmark. They are often low to the ground.

Standard street level utility poles are rare in Denmark. Most of the electricity infrastructure you will find in the countryside are large, towering overhead power lines, often near highways.

You may sometimes see bicycle paths on the side of the road.

NOTE: Bicycle paths are also commonly seen in the Netherlands and Belgium.

The PostNord, or Post Danmark company, is the national provider of postal services in Denmark. It uses these unique postal boxes.

These four gas station brands are common to Denmark, but each are shared between one other country:

• Ingo can be found in Denmark and Sweden. 

• Ok can be found in Denmark and the Netherlands. 

• Uno-X and Yx can be found in Denmark and Norway.

You will rarely see these stone bollards, which may be painted red at the top, near bicycle paths.

Denmark has an easy to learn road numbering system. They order their roads from east to west. 

Roads starting with the numbers 2 to 5 are grouped by region.

Roads starting with the number 1 can be found nationwide, but the second digit still follows a rough regional distribution. Notably, Bornholm only has roads starting with the number 1.

You can click on the image to enlarge it.

Ring roads are special highways near bigger cities, labelled from O1 up to O4. The number increases from the centre, and each fully or partially encircles the city.

These cities have ring roads: Copenhagen, Odense, Aarhus, Aalborg, Hillerød, Kolding, and Velje.

There are six regions in Denmark that each use a different bus transportation company. Each bus will have the brand written on the front, and have a unique colour scheme.

You can click on the image to enlarge it.

In addition, these regions each have their own bus stop sign.

You can click on the image to enlarge it.

Greenland is the world’s largest island country, and is a part of Denmark.

A separate Plonk It guide to Greenland can be found here.

The Faroe Islands is a group of united islands in the North Atlantic, and are an autonomous territory of Denmark.

A separate Plonk It guide to Faroe Islands can be found here.

The bus stops on the island of Bornholm have this unique green, red and white colour scheme.

These green bicycle signs are found on the island of Bornholm.

These traditional “seaweed roofs” are found on the island of Læsø. They are made from a type of seaweed known as eelgrass.

The island of Anholt only has Generation 2 coverage, with distinct gloomy, overcast weather. A large portion of coverage is recognizable due to the sandy dirt on the roadside.