Denmark has 5 national parks under its National Parks Act, each created by an executive order: Thy, Mols Bjerge, Vadehavet, Skjoldungernes Land and Kongernes Nordsjælland. The first order came into force in 2008 and the latest in 2018. The year shown is when each park's founding order came into force.12
Which national parks are there under the Act?
Each park has an executive order titled Bekendtgørelse om Nationalpark, which says that it creates the park; later orders replaced some of them. We list the order that first created each park and the year it came into force.1
| National park (as the order names it) | Executive order that created it | Year that order came into force |
|---|---|---|
| Nationalpark Thy | BEK nr 840 af 18/08/20081 | 20081 |
| Nationalpark Mols Bjerge | BEK nr 789 af 21/08/20091 | 20091 |
| Nationalpark Vadehavet | BEK nr 1159 af 30/09/20101 | 20101 |
| Nationalpark Skjoldungernes Land | BEK nr 521 af 27/04/20151 | 20151 |
| Nationalpark Kongernes Nordsjælland | BEK nr 71 af 29/01/20181 | 20181 |
The Act is lov om nationalparker; we list only parks created under it.2
Can this list be reused?
Danish copyright law says laws, administrative regulations and similar official documents are not subject to copyright, so the names and dates in the orders can be reused. No credit is required; we name the source anyway.3
What this page cannot tell you
- No regions here. We have not added municipalities or regions.
- Only parks under the Act. We list only the parks created by executive orders under the National Parks Act.
Related: National parks around the world · National parks of Japan · Officially recognised places.
Key takeaways
- Denmark has 5 national parks under its National Parks Act.
- Each was created by its own executive order, the first in force in 2008.
- The year is when the founding order came into force.
- What we would skip: reading the list as a ranking or a travel guide. It records an official designation; it says nothing about opening, access or conditions, so check each park's own information before you go.
Sources
The parks and dates come from the executive orders on Retsinformation, the Danish state's legal information system, read on 1 October 2026. See how we research.
- Miljøministeriet, via Retsinformation, Bekendtgørelse om Nationalpark ... (the executive order creating each park, and the current orders). Read the order for Kongernes Nordsjælland on retsinformation.dk. Accessed 1 October 2026.
- Miljøministeriet, via Retsinformation, Bekendtgørelse af lov om nationalparker (LBK nr 685 af 26/05/2023). Read the Act on retsinformation.dk. Accessed 1 October 2026.
- Kulturministeriet, via Retsinformation, Bekendtgørelse af lov om ophavsret (LBK nr 1093 af 20/08/2023), § 9. Read the Copyright Act on retsinformation.dk. Accessed 1 October 2026.
Credit and licence. Source: Danish executive orders on national parks (Bekendtgørelse om Nationalpark ...), Miljøministeriet, via Retsinformation (retsinformation.dk). Not subject to copyright (ophavsretsloven § 9). Changes made. We took the park names, the founding order and the year it came into force from the orders and put them in a table. We use no logos or images from these sources. Gallivanting Gadabout is not connected with, or endorsed by, the Danish government.