4.9 kmNysø Bathing Lake
A short drive from Varde to a bathing lake and a forest walk with a break in nature.
Arnbjerg Park is located in Varde town centre, but it is more than a patch of grass between the streets. Here, a short walk can quickly take several directions: toward the stage, toward the pavilion, toward the memorial grove or toward the small version of the old market town.
The park serves as a local gathering place, and this is especially noticeable when the outdoor stage is in use. On quiet days, it is instead the layers of the area that make the park interesting: the green urban park, the old traces of the park grounds and the cultural sites that still draw people in among the trees.
Varde Mini Town is located in the park and shows the market town in miniature, with houses built after the original buildings. It is a concrete way to spot Varde's old streets before you may encounter them in full size in the town.
The outdoor stage is used for Varde Summer Play during the summer season, and Arnbjerg Pavilion stands as a prominent building in the middle of the park, functioning as a hotel, restaurant, venue and cultural house.
Arnbjerg Park is part of the area Skansen in Varde. The name is linked to the memorial stone for Wallenstein's soldiers and the fort that was established here. Therefore, an ordinary park path in Arnbjerg Park can also feel like a small detour through Varde's older military history.
Varde Miniature Town is located in Arnbjergparken, a few minutes’ walk from the town centre, and depicts the market town as it looked around 1866. The houses are replicas at a scale of 1:10, and the site contains more than 300 buildings.
What makes it special is the level of detail: the street layout largely follows Varde’s old structure, and the buildings are based on old drawings, photographs and fire insurance assessments. It also includes Sct. Nicolai Church, which no longer stands in full size in Varde.
Varde Open-Air Theatre is located in Arnbjerg Park as an amphitheatre surrounded by large beech trees. Varde Summer Play has been performed here every year since 1978, with Teatret 7-kanten behind the productions.
The stage is also used for Varde Open Air in week 30. On ordinary days the place is calmer, but the shape is still clear: a green theatre hall in the park, where the audience sits under the beech crowns.
Arnbjerg Pavilion was built in 1899, with Varde Municipality as the client and architect E. Fleischer from Aarhus as the designer. According to municipal planning material, the idea was quite straightforward: Varde should have its own place of amusement, so that the town’s people would not go to Esbjerg to have fun.
Today the pavilion is part of Hotel Arnbjerg and is used for hotel, restaurant, and events. The old pleasure pavilion thus still stands as the park’s more decorative answer to a municipal countermeasure against Esbjerg.
At the easternmost end of Arnbjergparken, behind the cemetery, lies Mindelunden, a small semicircular site. Here, Anker Hoffmann's granite sculpture Frihedsmonumentet from 1946 stands on a raised platform, with the memorial stones placed below.
The site commemorates seven resistance members from Varde who lost their lives during the Occupation of 1940-1945. The sculpture depicts a freedom fighter kneeling in a cornfield with his hands bound with rope; a solemn motif amid the park's everyday greenery.
