Strandby Lystbådehavn

Strandby Lystbådehavn lies in Ålbæk Bugt on the east coast of Vendsyssel, eight kilometres north of Frederikshavn and thirty-five south of Skagen. The marina is not a separate facility — it sits inside Strandby Havn, the largest and most active fishing port on the Kattegat coast, occupying the Sydhavn basin and the southern part of the inner forehaven, though the two are run by separate companies.

The working port is the point. The fish auction starts at seven in the morning and is open to visitors; most of the famous Frederikshavn plaice are landed and sold here, and the harbour has grills for cooking what you buy. The approach needs care: the channel in is about 1,600 metres long and five metres deep, but an easterly gale can throw up a bar with three metres over it outside the harbour, and persistent easterlies can significantly reduce the depth in the entrance and forehaven. The harbour is difficult to enter in a gale from east or north-east. Speed in the harbour and entrance is three knots, and a fog signal of one tone per minute sounds whenever the cutters are at sea in poor visibility.

In the middle of the harbour stands De Røde Huse, a cluster of red buildings deliberately shared by the port's two user groups: harbour office, washrooms, playground and payment terminal, with the lookout tower behind. The town's core dates from the 1700s; harbour construction began in 1879, was destroyed by a storm in 1882, and the first stage was completed in 1889. The marina itself opened in 2009. A seven-kilometre waymarked path runs from the harbour through the coastal landscape, with wide sandy beaches and protected coastal meadows on both sides.