Day Trip from Hamburg to Denmark

Hamburg to Copenhagen is five hours each way by train, so not practical as a day trip. I don't know if there is anywhere in southern Denmark worth visiting.

Is there anything particular you want to see or do you have any specific interests? Or is it just to tick of Denmark on you list of countries?

I'd like to see Denmark but figured Copenhagen was too much for a day trip and since I'd also like to spend some time at a beach, I figured to combine the interests. Hamburg seems close enough to Denmark for a 2-3 hr train ride.

Hi,

No problem getting to a destination after a 2-3 hrs train ride, eg, Berlin to Dresden, it depends on your priority, how desperate you are in seeking out a specific site, how much time you have, and returning late to Hamburg.

If you just want to go to a beach, there is plenty of coastline near Hamburg and you can't really tell if a beach is in Denmark or Germany. Just getting to the Danish border is going to take at least 2 hours and it seems like a lot of travel time, when you don't even have a specific destination in mind.

The train would give us a chance to see the countryside but I'm not sure what coastal towns in Denmark (or on the German side) have easy access to the shore from a train stop or what towns on Western Denmark may be of interest for a visit.

There are not a lot of towns on the south west coast, that have access to the beach from a train station, since the train lines are further inland. The coast from Esbjerg in the north all the way down to Holland is made of shallow tidal flats, so it's not wide, sandy beaches, but quite interesting. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wadden_Sea
The most interesting town in south Denmark is Ribe https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ribe, but it's 4 hours by train and bus.

Not in Denmark, but with a sandy beach is Travemünde. You have to change trains in Lübeck anyway, so it makes an excellent combination of beach and city. There is an hourly connection from Hamburg, taking less than 1,5 hrs.

Thanks - I'll look into the Lubeck and Travemunde stops for our day trip!

Yes, enjoy Lübeck! A beautiful Hanseatic town with much of the atmosphere of an old Scandinavian shipping port, plus a fair amount of history (does the name Buxtehude mean anything to you?)

I guess I have to do some research! Thanks for the suggestion