Coming into Grenaa after the quieter stretches of eastern Djursland felt like a sudden change of scale. It is still a relatively small Danish town, but here the landscape becomes much more active: ferries, fishing boats, yachts and commercial ships share the waterfront, while only a short distance inland the harbour gives way to an old market-town centre.
Grenaa has been a market town since 1445 and today remains the main commercial centre of Djursland. The heart of the old town is Torvet, where several pedestrian streets meet around Grenaa Church. The church itself is considerably older than the market-town charter: construction began around 1300, with its tower and porch added roughly a century later.
Looking for the right place with the motorhome
Grenaa was one of those towns where we tried several possibilities before deciding what actually worked for us.
Some of the most tempting spaces near the coast had an excellent location but were simply too small for a proper motorhome. At Klitten, for example, we found the position very convenient, but the marked bays were so short and narrow that they were much better suited to small vans.
We found a similar situation near Færgevej. Again, the location was excellent, particularly for the harbour and ferry area, but the individual parking spaces were not really designed for a motorhome of our size. Signs also warned of a DKK 940 charge for parking outside the marked spaces or occupying more than one bay, so trying to squeeze in simply was not worth the risk.
It was a useful reminder that a parking place can look perfect on a map and still be completely unsuitable once you actually arrive.
A marina with plenty of character
The most attractive harbour option we saw was Grenaa Marina at Skakkes Holm.
It is a very photogenic place, surrounded by boats and low harbour buildings, with some older houses adding considerably more character than we expected from a modern marina. It is also conveniently placed for the ferry terminal, including the route towards Halmstad in Sweden.
There were only four motorhome pitches with a proper view over the boats. The remaining spaces were on a large open gravel area farther back. At the time of our visit the overnight charge was DKK 210, so it was certainly not the cheapest place we had encountered, but we thought the location itself was both pleasant and practical.
Grenaa Marina is built around two artificial islands immediately south of the commercial harbour. The contrast is interesting: pleasure boats and holiday traffic on one side, while ferries, cargo vessels and industrial port operations continue only a short distance away.
A harbour that is still very much alive
Grenaa is not one of those waterfront towns where the old harbour has been completely converted into restaurants and apartments. This is still a working port.
Its position directly on the Kattegat has made it an important connection between Djursland and the outside world. Ferries operate from here towards Anholt and Halmstad, while cargo vessels and specialised ships use the commercial harbour alongside the leisure traffic of the marina.
That mixture gave the waterfront much more atmosphere than we expected. There was nearly always something happening: a ferry arriving or departing, fishing activity, yachts moving through the marina or commercial ships farther out.
For us, that was much more interesting than a completely sanitised tourist harbour.
The older Grenaa behind the waterfront
The historic centre has a very different character.
Around Torvet and the pedestrian streets there are older merchants’ houses and traces of the town Grenaa was long before the modern harbour became so important. One of the most notable buildings is the former merchant’s yard dating from 1760, now occupied by Museum Østjylland.
Another surviving building, Aftenstjernen in Lillegade, tells a rather dramatic part of the town’s history. A major fire in 1751 destroyed roughly a quarter of Grenaa, and the merchant’s house that eventually became Aftenstjernen was built in the following century. It later served as an inn and today still functions as a pub and music venue.
Grenaa therefore has more historical depth than its modern outskirts initially suggest. You can move surprisingly quickly from supermarkets and ordinary modern streets into a centre shaped by several centuries of trading history.
The river that explains the town
Grenaa Å also helps explain why the town developed where it did.
The river reaches the Kattegat through the harbour, but historically the surrounding geography looked quite different. It once formed part of the water system connected with Kolindsund, a large body of water that penetrated deep into Djursland before it was drained.
The waterway once played an important role in access towards Grenaa. Today the river is modest compared with the harbour beside it, but it is one of those details that makes the town’s location suddenly make sense.
Then, finally, the quiet side of Grenaa
What we eventually liked most around Grenaa was not actually in the busiest part of the town.
On the following day we found a completely different place above the beach at Hjembækvej. There was very little around us, which was precisely the attraction. The parking area was spacious and more or less flat, and we had no difficulty fitting our 23-foot motorhome.
It was completely free, although signs limited stays to 24 hours.
More importantly, it was exceptionally quiet and peaceful. The sea was immediately below us and the view across the Kattegat was beautiful. After trying several more urban parking options, this felt like the opposite extreme: plenty of room, virtually no activity and nothing complicated about staying there.
There was not much to do immediately around the parking area, but in this case that did not matter. The view and the silence were enough.
One of Denmark’s great east-coast beaches
Grenaa Strand stretches south of the harbour and is considerably more attractive than the nearby industrial port might lead you to expect.
The beach is actually divided into two main sections by Polderrevet. Close to the harbour the water is shallow and the sand fine, making it particularly suitable for families. Farther south the surroundings become progressively quieter, until it is possible to walk for kilometres along the coast with very little around you except dunes, sand and the Kattegat.
In 2026 Grenaa Strand once again held Blue Flag status.
It is another example of the contrasts that define Grenaa: commercial harbour, ferry terminal and industry at one end, then within a surprisingly short distance a long sandy beach that can feel almost empty.
Grenaa was better than we expected
Grenaa was not a place where one spectacular monument defined our visit. What made it interesting was the combination.
We had the old market town around Torvet, a working commercial harbour, ferries linking Denmark with Sweden and Anholt, a very attractive marina, and then a completely different coastal landscape only a few minutes away.
Our search for somewhere to stop also became part of the experience. Several places looked promising but proved too small for the motorhome; the marina was attractive and practical but relatively expensive; and eventually the simple free parking above the beach gave us the peaceful overnight stop we had actually been looking for.
Grenaa therefore ended up being much more than a ferry town. It showed us several different sides of Djursland at once: historic Denmark in the centre, maritime Denmark around the harbour, and the quiet open Kattegat coast just beyond it.