The main gymnasium of the town, Skagen Kultur- og Fritidscenter, opened in 1972, and was later expanded with an aquatic centre and a number of smaller training facilities.

In 1413, Erik of Pommern granted Skagen the status of market town with the result that for a time it became Vendsyssel's largest community with up to 2,000 inhabitants.

In 1775, accumulations of drifting sand made it difficult to access St Lawrence's Church, finally leading to its closure and partial demolition in 1795.

Many of the town's typical yellow-plastered houses with red roofs that grew up along Sankt Laurentii Vej from 1890 to 1930 were designed by Ulrik Plesner.

Designed by Ulrik Plesner, with furniture provided by Marie Krøyer, the villa was inaugurated on 11 April 1914, with the town celebrating the royal opening with many flags.

[13] Composer Carl Nielsen also frequented Skagen in his youth, and he purchased a plot of land on Vestre Strandvej at Vesterby in 1918 with his sculptor wife Anne Marie Carl-Nielsen, using one of the two small half-timbered houses there as a residence and studio.

In 1931, the residents of Skagen and their famous friends campaigned for a monument to be established on the square in the town, commemorating the fishermen and lifeboatmen of Jutland.

Anne Marie Carl-Nielsen was commissioned to erect a 3 metres (9.8 ft) bronze statue of a lifeboatman in garb, holding a lifeline.

[14] The monument was showcased at the Free Exhibition Hall in Copenhagen in the spring of 1931, before fundraising enabled it to be brought by sea to Skagen on 10 November 1932.

They were attracted by the scenery, the fishermen and the social community of their fellow artists who encouraged them to paint en plein air following the example of the French Impressionists while sometimes adopting the Realist approach of the Barbizon School.

The painters included the Swedes Oscar Björck and Johan Krouthén, the Norwegians Christian Krohg and Eilif Peterssen, and the Danes Karl Madsen, Laurits Tuxen, Marie Triepcke Krøyer Alfvén, Carl Locher, Viggo Johansen and Thorvald Niss.

The group also included the writers Holger Drachmann, Georg Brandes and Henrik Pontoppidan and the Swedish composer Hugo Alfvén.

[17] Anna and Michael Ancher, Krøyer and Tuxen continued to paint in Skagen until well into the 20th century and were occasionally joined by their earlier friends.

Problems with moving dunes and desertification were subsequently brought under control in the latter 19th and early 20th centuries by establishing large plantations of grasses, bushes and fir trees.

(2017)[23][24] Year round the area around Skagen, especially Grenen, is visited by hundreds of birdwatchers from all over Denmark, particularly in April–May and the beginning of June and to a lesser degree in August–November.

Other well-visited locations for birdwatchers are Ellekrattet, Nordstrand (near Batterivej), Skagen Harbour, Flagbakken southwest of the town as well as horse fields and brushwood near Fyrvej, Bøjlevejen and Buttervej.

Initially attracted by its associations with the Skagen Painters, well-to-do visitors sought to benefit from its special light, colour and its fishermen.

[33] Skagen now attracts some 2 million visitors a year to its hotels, restaurants, shops and galleries, making tourism a major source of income and employment.

[35][36] The largest campsite in the Skagen area is Grenen Camping, situated about 1.5 kilometres (0.93 mi) northeast of the centre, adjacent to the beach.

[44] In addition to its arts and crafts stores, the town has a wide range of shops,[45] including jewellery, clothes and shoes, handbags, souvenirs, flowers and gardening equipment.

[51] These frequent losses combined with the town's strategic location as the gateway to the Baltic led to Skagen being the site of one of Denmark's earliest lighthouses, Vippefyr, a lever light constructed in 1627.

[4] A highlight of the year is the celebration of Midsummer Eve or St. John's Evening (Sankt Hans Aften) on the beach with blazing bonfire and song.

[56] Towards the end of the 19th century, Skagen became the summer venue of a group of artists who were attracted by the way of life in the fishing village and by the opportunities for painting the fishermen and surrounding landscapes.

Saxild House hosts exhibitions and a museum café[59] Drachmanns Hus on Hans Baghs Vej in the west of the town is a large property built in 1829.

[60] Now a museum, it is dedicated to the writer and marine painter Holger Drachmann who lived in the house from 1902 until his death in a sanatorium in Hornbæk in January 1908.

Every year, the house hosts a "Drachmann evening" in which enthusiasts gather together to hear readings, oral presentations and music related to the writer's life and works.

[64] The Skagen Odde Nature Centre located close to the northern tip of the peninsula is a museum specially built to allow visitors to see, hear and understand more about the area's sand, water, wind and light.

There is an old life-saving station, a smithy, an old Dutch windmill, pictures of ships in distress and related nautical artefacts as well as a collection of items illustrating the town's history over various periods.

From Hirtshals, there are ferries to Stavanger, Bergen, Larvik, Faroe Islands and Langesund Aalborg Airport with flights to and from destinations across Europe is located some 100 km (62 mi) southwest of Skagen.

As in other Danish cities, cycling is popular, and Skagen Cykeludlejning, to the west of the train station, and Pedersen on Kappelborgvej rent out bikes to tourists.