What an idyll: 400 inhabitants, two fishermen, the baker is 82 years old. There are hardly any cars, only 1800 bicycles, they are all rented out on Midsummer Night. It takes an hour and a half to cover the 13 kilometers around the island of Ven between Denmark and Sweden. The campsite is located not far from the ferry port on a river bank where you can see the Danish castle where Hamlet lives in the play. Camping is true, there are a few tents on the shore, but mostly log cabins and glamping tents. The manager of the campsite sleeps in it himself twice a year, he says: because of the birdsong, the wind and the gentle drumming of the raindrops.
The campsite manager is also a restaurant owner: if you think you can’t eat well in Sweden, go to the “House of Ven”, a German cooks here, Kathrin Baake, studied philosophy, came to Malmö because of love, has Swedish star restaurants learned, she went to the island because you can really cook regionally here: with green asparagus, salads, Jerusalem artichoke, semolina, even figs and apricots – the island climate is one degree warmer than on the mainland, the soil eight percent more productive, the Hares and deer lack natural enemies, and there are more fish than anywhere else in Øresund.
Tycho Brahe left an observatory on the island. A museum commemorates the Danish astronomer. Actually, the whole island is a museum. Open all year round like the campsite.
Camp Ven
Husviksvagen, 26195 Sankt Ibb, Ven, Sweden, Tel. 0046/418/725 50
Prices for two people: log cabin 95 euros/night, glamping tent incl. breakfast 190 euros/night