River · Denmark
Gudenå
The Gudenå is the longest river in Denmark. It winds slowly through the lakes and low hills of central Jutland before reaching the sea through Randers Fjord in the Kattegat.
Picture credit: Carsten Wiehe (CC BY 3.0) · Carsten Wiehe (CC BY 3.0) · Nils Jepsen /user:Nico (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Wikimedia Commons
Where is the Gudenå?
The river starts here: Tinnet Krat woodland in central Jutland, Denmark.
It ends in the Randers Fjord, Kattegat.
Countries on the river: Denmark.
The story behind it
Denmark is a flat country, so the Gudenå never rushes; it glides. On its way it passes through a whole chain of lakes near the town of Silkeborg, where an old paddle steamer still carries passengers under the wooded slopes of Himmelbjerget hill. In summer thousands of people paddle canoes down the river, camping on the bank at night and listening to ducks and reed warblers. Otters have returned to the quiet stretches, kingfishers nest in sandy banks, and sea trout swim up from the Kattegat to lay their eggs in the gravel. Long ago Viking ships used the lower river to reach inland markets, and the town of Randers grew up at the crossing. Today wet meadows along the water are kept as nature reserves for wading birds.
Questions children ask
How long is the Gudenå?
The Gudenå is about 149 km long. Denmark has no mountains, so no river there can grow much longer than this one.
Which country does the Gudenå flow through?
The Gudenå flows only through Denmark, across the peninsula of Jutland. It touches several towns, among them Silkeborg and Randers.
Where does the Gudenå flow into the sea?
It empties into Randers Fjord, a long arm of the Kattegat. Salt and fresh water mix there, which makes the fjord rich in fish and birds.
Where these numbers come from
Every figure on this page was checked against public reference sources before publication. Where sources genuinely disagree, the text says so.
Last checked: