Horsens has more going on than its size suggests. The former state prison is the centre of cultural life — concerts, festivals, and a crime museum all occupy its forbidding 19th-century walls. The fjord is accessible for kayaking and cycling along the shores, and the surrounding countryside of East Jutland offers easy day trips to Iron Age sites and manor houses.
The town centre is compact and walkable. The cathedral, pedestrian shopping streets, and several good museums can be covered in a day.