The area is extremely picturesque, and distinguished by its low, yellow houses with red tile roofs nestled into the beach areas. The impressive and wild landscape was largely formed by a severe process of desertification that hit the area in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Problems with moving dunes and desertification were brought under control in the latter 19th and early 20th centuries by large-scale plantations of grasses, bushes and fir trees. Two significant migratory dunes remain in the area, including the enormous Råbjerg Mile.

The area is closely associated with the Skagen Painters, a community of artists (artist colony), who flocked to this picturesque, and then unspoiled, area in the late (...)

The area is extremely picturesque, and distinguished by its low, yellow houses with red tile roofs nestled into the beach areas. The impressive and wild landscape was largely formed by a severe process of desertification that hit the area in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Problems with moving dunes and desertification were brought under control in the latter 19th and early 20th centuries by large-scale plantations of grasses, bushes and fir trees. Two significant migratory dunes remain in the area, including the enormous Råbjerg Mile.

The area is closely associated with the Skagen Painters, a community of artists (artist colony), who flocked to this picturesque, and then unspoiled, area in the late 1800s to escape the city and to record artistically a way of life they realized was soon to disappear.

The area continues to be a popular tourist destination visited by many people each year. A highlight of the year is the celebration of Midsummer Eve or St. John's Evening (Sankt Hans Aften) on the beach with blazing bonfire and song.

The headland at Grenen, the northernmost point of Denmark, is a spectacular setting where the two parts of the North Sea, the Kattegat and the Skagerrak meet. This makes for turbulent seas and strandings - beachings and shipwreckings are not uncommon. The frequent shipping losses and the strategic location as the gateway to the Baltic led to Skagen being the site of one of Denmark's earliest lighthouses, the Vippefyr, constructed in the 15th century. A reconstruction of the lighthouse is located to the north of the town of Skagen.

The lighthouse was originally built and funded by the late Medieval Danish state with the proceeds of the "sound dues", and was superseded by the "white lighthouse" or hvidefyr in the 17th century, and then the far taller "grey lighthouse" or gråfyr of the 1850s.

The desertification that hit the area in the 18th and 19th centuries led to the abandonment of the old parish church to the migrating sands - the famous Buried Church (Den tilsandende Kirke). The tower of the church remains protruding from the dunes, as it was left as a sea marker when the church was abandoned at the close of the 18th century.