Rønne: the gateway to Denmark's sunniest island

The main city of Bornholm, the Danish island with the most sunshine hours in the kingdom, Rønne preserves a timber-framed centre barely touched by Scandinavian mass tourism.

A car or bicycle remains the best way to explore the Danish sunshine island.

In the center of Rønne, colorful half-timbered houses of fishermen's quarters tell centuries of maritime history linked to the Baltic Sea.

Minutes away, the ruins of Hammershus Fortress, Northern Europe's largest medieval fortification, dominate a sheer cliff overlooking the sea.

Moving along the coast, one encounters the typical round churches of Bornholm, built in the Middle Ages also as defensive refuges against pirate raids.

As evening falls, the island's small fishing villages offer smoked herring according to a local tradition continuing for generations, often served still warm.

Bornholm receives more annual sunshine hours than the rest of Denmark—a microclimate that made the island a summer holiday destination for generations of Danes.

The round churches of Bornholm, unique throughout Scandinavia in this architectural form, often had an upper floor used as a weapons depot and shelter in case of attack.