Fredensborg Palace, one of the official residences of the Danish Royal Family, with its extensive gardens, is situated on the southeast shore.

The work was led by Adolph von der Recke and carried out by local peasants, soldiers and forced labour workers.

The timber had to pass a 4-metre crater-like ramp called Væltningen, which connected the upper section of the canal to its lower part.

One of them, Storedam (Great Pond), was the site of a watermill which was first used as backup for the gunpowder mill in Frederiksværk during the English Wars and later for the manufacturing of textiles for the army.

The common goldeneye was formerly a rare breeding bird in Denmark, but after a determined effort involving artificial nests, the species is almost a signature of lake Esrum.

Other common birds here includes Eurasian coot, mallard, tufted duck, great crested grebe and mute swan.

Lake Esrum is part of a larger 7,400 ha Natura 2000 area, comprising Gribskov and a few smaller woodlands nearby.

Esrum Sø Bådfart also operates a café in Fendrikshus, a former forest worker's house in Gribskov on the other side of the lake.

Egon (Ove Sprogøe) and Kjeld (Morten Grunwald) are quarrelling with Lake Esrum as a backdrop (in Nødebo Holt) at 1:02:54 in the 1978 Olsen-banden film The Olsen Gang Sees Red.