Los Angeles is greater than 5,500 miles from Copenhagen — however for these searching for some hygge this vacation season, a heat and comfortable resolution is a mere three-hour drive up the coast.
Town of Solvang — often known as the “The Danish Capital of America” — is within the Santa Ynez Valley, making the group of half-timbered buildings and windmills a straightforward day- or weekend-trip vacation spot for Southern California vacationers. What’s extra, Solvang’s six-week-long Julefest kicked off final weekend, which suggests it’s a good time to go to the quaint Central California metropolis.
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On this version of Escapes, you’ll discover ideas for benefiting from a December go to to Solvang. The place are you heading this December? Ship in your journey plans and proposals, and I’ll move them alongside in a future version of Escapes.
Expertise one of the best of Julefest
Solvang shops adorned for Julefest.
(Central Coast Footage / SolvangUSA.com)
What precisely is Julefest? And what units it aside from different vacation celebrations?
The annual occasion, pronounced “yule-fest,” contains all of the time-honored trappings of different winter vacation celebrations — colourful lights, photographs with Santa Claus and Christmas music performances — plus a beneficiant serving to of Scandinavian aptitude.
Listed below are among the highlights you possibly can catch over the following few weeks:
- Tree-lighting ceremony: Up for a last-minute journey? The ceremony, which incorporates dance and music performances, will likely be held from 5 to six:30 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 2.
- Julefest parade: Floats, automobiles, horses and dancers will take over downtown Solvang from 11a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 3.
- Candlelight excursions: Guides in Danish people gown lead strolling excursions of downtown Solvang all through the vacation season. Join right here.
Journey again in time at Solvang’s historical past museum
Vacationers should buy handmade Danish clothes at Elna’s Gown Store in Solvang.
(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Instances)
How did the Danish Capital of America find yourself within the golden countryside of the Santa Ynez Valley?
You’ll be taught this and extra on a go to to the Elverhøj Museum of Historical past & Artwork in Solvang. Devoted to sharing the story of Solvang’s founding and improvement, in addition to details about the Danish immigrant expertise in the USA, the museum is a useful cease for vacationers visiting the city.
Should you go, take a detailed have a look at the constructing itself: It was constructed by Viggo Brandt-Erichsen and Martha Mott, a husband-and-wife artist duo whose inventive touches may be seen in particulars just like the carved redwood door and painted by hand panels. The couple took inspiration from Scandinavian structure, significantly the 18th century farmhouses of Jutland, in northern Denmark.
Hoping to sort out some vacation buying whereas in Solvang? On Dec. 10 and 17 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., the museum will host a Makers Market, with handmade items obtainable for buy from native crafters and artists (and in the event you want to put on your historical past, cease by Elna’s Gown Store, proven above).
The Elverhøj Museum of Historical past & Artwork is open Thursday by way of Monday from 11 a.m. to five p.m. Entry is free.
Solvang has a shocking variety of museums for a metropolis of its measurement. The Hans Christian Andersen Museum and Wilding Museum of Artwork and Nature are additionally open for guests this vacation season.
Snack your approach throughout Solvang
Bent Olsen, proprietor of Olsen’s Danish Village Bakery, has been promoting pastries in Solvang since 1970.
(Genaro Molina /Los Angeles Instances)
Vaniljekranse (spherical vanilla butter cookies). Aebleskiver (spherical pastries product of fried batter). Kransekage (a marzipan ring cake).
You could find these desserts — and lots of extra — at Solvang’s Danish and Danish-inspired bakeries.
“[G]oing to Solvang is the following smartest thing to going house,” a Instances reader wrote in 2015. “For me and for a lot of different Danish People, it’s the solely place to seek out and revel in the actual and precise Danish pastry.”
On a go to to Solvang, I like to recommend beginning your day with a wholesome urge for food and a plan to hit just a few bakeries in a row, attempting a special Scandinavian deal with at every cease.
Listed below are just a few to attempt:
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Probably the most hygge-forward keep in Solvang?
It’s not each day you get a view of a windmill out of your patio.
I got here throughout this Airbnb itemizing whereas researching a visit to Solvang final 12 months and was instantly impressed by the sheer variety of “hyggelig” and Danish-inspired touches sprinkled all through the area — amongst them, a big piece of paintings depicting the colourful homes of Nyhavn (a well-liked vacationer vacation spot in Copenhagen) and fuzzy throw blankets draped throughout Scandinavian-style furnishings.
Oh, and it’s positioned in a duplicate of the Rundetaarn, a particular spherical tower in Copenhagen.
The Airbnb in downtown Solvang, which sleeps 4 individuals, remains to be obtainable on particular dates in December. It prices $550 per night time (plus charges), with a two-night minimal.
Give again this vacation season
Spending the vacations in L.A.? There are many worthwhile issues to do that December with out leaving city. The perfect of all: volunteering your time to a significant trigger.
My colleague Jessica Benda lately rounded up an inventory of 26 methods to volunteer through the holidays in Los Angeles. It contains prepping meals, handing out toys, strolling shelter canine and planting native species. Check out the checklist right here.
🎸Street track
“Shield My Power,” by Little Simz. The vacations is usually a difficult time, to say the least. Let this track be a reminder to care for your self this December.
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