The Hans Christian Andersen Museum occupies the upper floor of the Book Loft bookshop in the heart of Solvang's Danish quarter. Andersen — the author of The Little Mermaid, Thumbelina, The Ugly Duckling, and dozens of other fairy tales — is the most internationally famous Dane, and this small museum presents his life and work through photographs, illustrated editions of his stories, personal items, and dioramas representing his tales.
The museum is modest in scale but well-assembled, and the half-timbered building it occupies is one of the more convincingly Danish pieces of architecture in town. Worth a stop if you have children or any interest in 19th-century literature and illustration. The bookshop below is one of the better independent bookshops on the Central Coast and is worth browsing in its own right.
1680 Mission Drive, Solvang. Open daily.