Why Visit Solvang, California? Discover Its Danish Charm

You might have read about our travel plans for the holidays that didn’t quite work out. Since my husband had some time off from work, we really wanted to do something after Christmas before heading back home from his family’s place. We had all kinds of alternatives, but they all fell apart for one reason or another.

Our drive to Southern California before Christmas was long and slow. I can’t remember the last time there was so much traffic on that route as this trip. And since we were driving with a little baby, we had to do some extra stops to feed her.

I was completely tired of the drive when we got to our destination, and I started looking for a place to stop on our way back home, so we wouldn’t have to do the whole drive at once. I remembered that there is a little town called Solvang about half way home if we would take a different route back.

What is Solvang?

Solvang was established by a group of Danish immigrants in 1911, and it is located about 230 kilometres from Los Angeles in the Santa Barbara Mountains. Until then, the area was inhabited by American Indians and Spanish missionaries, and the mission remains close to downtown.

While getting to Solvang, we drove through the Chumash Indian reservation which has about 250 residents. They also run one of the most popular casinos in the United States. 

Solvang itself is lovely with it’s Scandinavian style houses and windmills. The downtown is full of hotels, restaurants and bakeries, and they all are in the cutest little buildings.

Many businesses and streets have Danish names, and there are even replicas of famous Danish landmarks like the Little Mermaid statue and Rundetaarn (round tower).

One of the must do things in Solvang is of course to stop in a bakery to get some fresh Danishes.

Even though Solvang feels almost unreal to be an actual city, there are about 6000 inhabitants. Around town we saw many horse ranches, and also Michael Jackson’s Neverland is close by in Los Olivos.

What to see and do in Solvang

Bakeries, cafes

Eat some Danishes

Sights (tower)

Try out some aebleskivers

Visit Old Mission Santa Ines

Candy making and in Ontario.

Visit Flag is Up Farm

For horse lovers…

for those who are interested, I should say that I have visited the horse whisperer Monty Roberts’ Flag is Up Farm in Solvang some years ago.

The weather in Solvang is warm, but not too hot all year round, which also brings a lot of people over there. It must have been all the wild fires close by that scared the tourists, since we felt like it wasn’t crowded at all. Even the locals told us that it typically is full of visitors at this time of year. Well, we got to enjoy our stay in Solvang with no crowds. We plan to return to Solvang someday again!

How long should you stay in Solvang?

Solvang is not huge so you will definitely be able to stroll around the downtown in one or two days.

However, if you want to include things in the surrounding areas like Michael Jackson

Best hotels to stay at in Solvang

Our hotel, Royal Copenhagen Inn was also quite lovely. The rooms were almost like small townhouses. Every room had a door that was a different color and our room had two beds, one downstairs and the other in a loft.

The hotel was located right by the main road, so it was easy to go out for dinner or just a little stroll. Their office reminded me of a church so it was always easy to spot even from further away. We really liked this hotel.

Also their breakfast was great. They had a nice variety of goods, and of course, plenty of fresh danishes.

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