The City of Solvang, a Santa Ynez Valley town spilling over with Danish charm, wine, and windmills, was named “Best Small Town in the West” this week by USA Today.
The national newspaper’s readers voted Solvang as number one in that category of its annual 10Best Readers’ Choice Travel Awards. Solvang also received the number five spot in the category of “Best Small Town Food Scene.”
“Now you know why Denmark wants to buy California,” joked Solvang Mayor David Brown, referencing the country’s tongue-in-cheek political campaign in opposition to President Donald Trump’s proposed acquisition of Greenland.
Known as the “Danish Capital of America,” the city is characterized by Danish-American architecture, pastries and bakeries, and wine tasting rooms. A group of Danish-Americans founded the city in 1911, creating what the city calls “a taste of Denmark in Southern California.” It hosts charmingly cliche Scandinavian eateries and wooden windmills, and little pockets of Danish history, including the Elverhøj Museum of History & Art.
Although the town’s allure may be in its Danish heritage, “The charm comes from the people that are here,” Brown said. “It’s the atmosphere; the smell of cinnamon floating out of the bakeries. It’s safe, it’s clean, it’s everything you could want in a vacation spot or a place to live.”
Solvang beat out nine other nominees — including second-place winner Astoria, Oregon, and third-place winner, Healdsburg, California — to score the award. All the nominees are first selected by a “panel of experts” and the 10Best editorial team, and following 28 days of digital voting by readers, winners are awarded a badge of recognition in April.
“We’re very humbled,” Brown said. “There was some very tough competition, and we’re happy to be among that elite crowd.”
This is not the first year Solvang has placed in USA Today’s top ten lists. In past years, it placed in categories including “Best Historic Small Town” and “Best Small Town Cultural Scene,” and, in 2017, was named as one of “10 great places to enjoy global Christmas traditions in the USA.” In 2024, Solvang scored second in the same “Best Small Town in the West” category.
Brown attributed Solvang’s repeated success to a team effort led by the city’s staff.
“We’re kind of running on all cylinders. It’s pretty cool,” he noted.
But despite its award-winning Danish appeal, the city’s values have not always matched those of its overseas counterparts.
In 2023, the Lord Mayor of Copenhagen sent a letter to former Solvang mayor Mark Infanti urging him and the city council to give their full support to their local LGBTQ community.
Sophie Hæstorp Andersen’s letter was in response to the city council denying a proposal to hang rainbow banners and paint crosswalks in celebration of Pride Month that June. She also referenced the theft and burning of Pride flags in the area that occurred a few months prior.
“Your city’s status as ‘the Danish capital of America’ is something that you rightly cherish,” wrote Andersen. “This opposition to Pride does not reflect the genuine warmth and acceptance to Pride that can be seen across Denmark and especially in Copenhagen.”
However, following Andersen’s letter and other backlash, the town later reversed course and approved the Pride banners. Members of Santa Ynez Valley Pride also got a once-in-a-lifetime invitation that year from Lord Mayor Andersen herself to participate in Copenhagen Pride Week, one of the largest LGBTQ festivals in the world.
Mayor Brown said that the city is now looking to move on and focus on the present.
“We’re past that; it’s in the rearview mirror,” he said. “I think this award helps confirm that as well.”
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