The Western Australian version of Denmark is a small coastal town located in the Great Southern region, about a 5 hour drive from Perth. Denmark makes a good change of scenery from the usual haunts of Yallingup and Margaret River in the South West.
Denmark feels less touristy, having retained much more of its small town feel. And they produce some cracker wines. Here’s how to spend a long weekend in Denmark and the Great Southern region, including what to do, eat and of course, drink!
Things to Do in Denmark
Drink Craft Beer at Boston Brewing Co.
Top of the list, because one of the main reasons for this trip was to go to one of our favourite breweries, Boston Brewing. They have an awesome spot just of the South Coast Highway, 5 minutes out of Denmark town.
Come here for a beer or wine and stay for the yummy food. And more beers!
They have seating both inside and out, we parked ourselves outside on a picnic bench in the sun. It’s a family friendly spot with a playground and dogs are allowed on leash.
Monkey Rock hike
Dane and I hiked up to Monkey Rock during our first visit to Denmark.
Following part of the Bibbulum Track takes you up to a large rock formation with an amazing 360 degree view of surrounding Denmark and the coast. It took us about 30 minutes to get up there and was a nice moderate hike through the forest before reaching the rock.
Get some exercise in before a big day of wine tasting and feasting!
Greens Pool & Elephant Rocks (William Bay National Park)
Visiting this spot will be on the top of your (and most visitors) to do list.
On the right you have the stairs leading down to Greens Pool, a beautiful long, sheltered beach with the odd large rock jutting out of the water’s surface. Head down the path to the left and you will soon reach the top of the Elephant Rocks.
I love this spot! As the name suggests, these large, smooth rocks look like a herd of elephants from above. After taking some photos from the top, you can follow the stairs down a small gap between two rocks to reach the beach.
The water is crystal clear and so refreshing! I wish I had a drone when I came back here, as I’ve seen some stunning shots of this spot from above.
Albany Day Trip
We hiked Bluff Knoll and then drove through Albany afterwards before heading on home to Denmark.
First stop was to check out the art silos, as I had recently visited the Northam ones and were keen to check out the rest of the series. In Albany, they have painted a big red sea dragon on the side that can been seen across from across the bay! It certainly made for an unusual sight.
From here, we checked out the weekend markets down at the port. A few handmade items for sale and some food options, we passed on eating as we had plans for lunch at a café near town. After a lunch stop to fuel up after the big hike at Vancouver Café in town, we headed on to visit the Gap and Natural Bridge. Two attractions in the same spot, but you’ll need to pay for parking as it is part of the Torndirrup National Park.
TIP – save your national park pass if you have come from Bluff Knoll – we could reuse our ticket from earlier in the day and save paying again 😊
We had ran out of time, but if we had more time and hadn’t just done a 3 hour hike up Bluff Knoll, I would have loved to check out the Bald Head walking trail in this area too.
Also on the list was to visit the Albany wind farm but again we had run out of time – next trip!
Valley of the Giants Treetop Walk
About a 40 minute drive west out of Denmark town you will find the Valley of the Giants Tree Top Walk. You literally walk around the tree tops of the regions tingle trees, suspended in air by a metal walkway.
Warning – the walkway sways a lot! You can the descend to ground level and walk around (and through!) some of the giant trees. Some of these have been around for hundreds of years and can only be found in this region in Australia’s south west.
We paid just over $20 for an entry ticket each and spent around an hour exploring amongst these majestic giants.
Stop in for a Wine Tasting
It wouldn’t be a visit to Denmark without stopping by at a winery or three. This trip, we mostly visited small, natural winemakers that operate on appointment only, but have some favourites from the last trip which are open to the public.
Freehand Natural Wine
Freehand used to have a small cellar door in town, but now run by appointment only out of a winery shed.
Matt and Dani make some awesome wines, all preservative free and natural. They also have some of the coolest label art we’ve seen. We tried (and bought) way too many wines here after spending an afternoon talking all things wine with Matt in the shed.
Singlefile
Singlefile was a favourite from our first trip so we made sure to revisit this second time. They have a beautiful estate, with a long driveway over a small lake with geese roaming the property.
My favourite wines from here are the riesling and chardonnay, and after doing a tasting you can buy a glass of your favourite and sit out on one of the picnic benches on the lawn and enjoy your wine in the sunshine.
Lake House
Close by to Singlefile is the Lake House Denmark, which is a winery and restaurant with a beautiful lake on the property. Somehow we always manage to run out of time before making it here, but it has been recommended to us on many occasions!
Other Food Recommendations in Denmark
Castelli Estate
Castelli Estate – we tried their wines over a delicious meal, the reds here were awesome. The restaurant was closed for renovations when we visited in October so check hopefully its back open now.
Bartholomews Meadery
We actually visited here for the honey icecream not the mead! They also have a range of natural and local made products, including honey wine, oils, jams and a variety of gifts.
Elephant Rock Cidery
The Elephant Rock Cidery is also a Toffee Factory, which also makes bangin’ burgers as well as a range of ciders! We worked our way through the tasting paddle of ciders, they had a big range of different ciders and flavours, including a chilli cider! This place was really family friendly too with a big playground.
Accomodation in Denmark
We stayed in a studio chalet on a farm! We woke up every morning to cows outside our fence and could walk across the paddock to a little connected island in a small lake.
We had the cosiest stay here, the owners also provided us with breakfast, including fresh home made bread!
This spot was about 10 minutes out of town and super close to Singlefile and the other wineries – perfect for us!
That almost wraps up our long weekend in Denmark and surrounds, but on the way home we visited another favourite winemaker, Ryan, at Express Wines in Mt Barker.
We proceeded to drink the rainbow before jumping on the road home – lucky for Dane I was designated driver so he enjoyed the wines to the full extent!
We made our way home tired, but content, and in a car with a VERY full boot of wines!
Denmark, we’ll back again soon!