The city of Århus (from time to time the old spelling, Aarhus, is still used as in the name of the university) is located on the eastern shore of the Jutland peninsula (see map to the left), and is the second largest city in Denmark with approximately 280,000 inhabitants (including suburbs). Århus is both a metropolis and a village: it offers cultural activities, shopping, and commerce, but you can still reach the countryside within twenty minutes from the city centre. Click on the map to get a larger picture.

The University of Aarhus is the second largest university in Denmark with approximately 16,000 students (600 in the Department of Computer Science). The university is located on a campus (see surrounding pictures) approximately 1 km north of the city centre of Århus. Click at the map to the left to get a detailed pdf map of Århus. The university is located in the middle of the top of the map.

BRICS is situated in buildings 530, 540 and 090. Building 530 and 540 can be seen in the middle a bit to the left of the campus map, whereas building 090 is a bit to the right below the Steno Museum. For further information about the environment, please see sightseeing below and the PhD School description of the Environment.

Travelling to Århus

By plane

Århus Airport/Tirstrup, located 40 km north of the city, offers direct international flights to Amsterdam, Gothenburg, London (Stansted), Oslo and Stockholm.
Busses from Tirstrup depart every 20 minutes after each arrival of a plane to Aarhus Airport, an airport bus is leaving outside the main entrance. The fare is about 60 DKK which you pay to the driver in cash and it takes about 45-50 min. to reach the railway-station in Aarhus.

Billund Airport, 100 km south of Århus, has direct international flight connections to Amsterdam, Bergen, Berlin, Birmingham, Brussels, Dublin, Frankfurt, London, Manchester, Milan, Oslo, Paris, Riga, Stavanger and Stockholm.
There is a bus service from Billund to Århus. The travel time from Billund Airport to Århus City is approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes. Tickets are sold on the bus for about 130 DKK.

By train

By ferry

By car

From Aarhus Railway-station to the Department

Local Transportation

Sightseeing

Århus also offers a wide range of museums. Among these is the open air museum "Den Gamle By" (The Old Town) with 75 old houses collected from all around Denmark showing how the Danes lived and worked 100 - 200 years ago. The open air museum is located in the Botanical Gardens on the way downtown from the university campus. Located on campus is the Steno Museum, the Danish museum for the History of Science and Medicine, as well as the Århus Art Museum.

Århus is located by the sea and a short walk from the city centre you find the harbour which besides being a busy heavy cargo harbour also contains small fishing boats and yachts. North and south of the city the beaches are nice to visit for a walk or even for a swim if the weather permits. Along the beaches you also find some good windsurfing spots. Adjoining the beaches are woods also worth visiting.

For more information about Århus take a look at The DAIMI guide to Århus written by two employees at the Department of Computer Science in connection with conferences held at the department in 1995. Among other things the guide contains an excellent description of the many cafes, bars, pubs and restaurants in Århus. Other useful sources of information are the unofficial VR Aarhus (360° panoramic images from Aarhus + a number of links to info about Aarhus), Aarhus Convention or the information on Århus maintained by the University of Aarhus. You can also contact the Tourist Information Office at the following address:

Tourist Århus
Raadhuset
8000 Århus C
Denmark
Tel: +45 8940 6700

If you extend your stay a couple of days you could for example take the bus and visit the town of Silkeborg located 30 km west of Århus. One way to enjoy the beautiful countryside surrounding Silkeborg is to take the old paddle-steamer "Hjejlen" for a trip on the Silkeborg lakes and visit one of Denmark's highest points, the 147 m high "Himmelbjerget" which translated means "The mountain of the sky". You could also take the bus to Billund 100 km south west of Århus and visit Legoland, where famous buildings and landscapes from all around the world are rebuilt in small scale using only Lego bricks. Another popular attraction is the northernmost town in Jutland named Skagen. It is famous for its art museums, fishing harbour and the northernmost tip of Jutland, Grenen, where two seas meet. Skagen is reached by a combination of bus and train.

If you are travelling to Århus via Copenhagen it could be delightful to spend a couple of days in the capital of Denmark visiting among other things "Den Lille Havfrue" (The Little Mermaid), the Queen's palace Amalienborg or the old amusement park "Tivoli". If you decide to travel from Copenhagen to Århus by train then make a stop in Odense and visit the birthplace of the famous Danish fairy tale writer H. C. Andersen. For more information about Denmark take a look at the pages provided by the Royal Danish Embassy in Washington D.C.

Climate