Møns Klint is where the Baltic suddenly gets dramatic. Over a stretch of some six kilometres on the east coast of the island of Møn, chalk cliffs laid down in the late Cretaceous rise straight out of the sea, white and crumbling and streaked with grey flint, to a height of about a hundred metres and more. The highest point of the cliffs is the Dronningestolen, the Queen's Chair, reaching more than a hundred and twenty metres above the beach. Beech woods grow right to the edge, and in the green light under the trees the contrast with the chalk is a surprise.
The chalk was pushed up and tilted by the weight of the ice sheets in the last glaciation, and the layers are folded in a way that geologists love. Fossils turn up on the beach after storms, including sea urchins and the occasional shark tooth, and the woodland above is rich in orchids, which bloom in early summer. A visitor centre called GeoCenter Møns Klint tells the story. A long staircase leads down to the beach, and it is hard work on the way back up, so allow time, and take care of the loose chalk at the foot of the cliff, which does fall.
The ride to the cliffs is part of the pleasure. Møn is reached from Zealand over a long bridge, and the roads across the island are narrow, quiet and bordered by hedgerows, whitewashed churches with frescoes, and the occasional thatched farm. Cornering is gentle, the surface good, and the speed limits sensible. In July and August the cliffs get their crowds, so late afternoon, when the day-trippers leave and the light lies low across the sea, is the best time to arrive.
Stege, thirteen kilometres west, is the island's small town and has petrol, supermarkets and a few cafés beside the old town ramparts. Nothing is sold at the cliffs beyond a kiosk and the centre, so fill the tank before you come. Vordingborg, on the mainland side, is the nearest larger town. If the weather is wet, the cliffs turn a soapy grey and the beach path gets slippery, which is a bad bet; a clear spring day, with beech leaves just out, is hard to beat.