Kronborg Castle is situated near the town of Elsinore (Danish Helsingør) on the extreme tip of Zealand at the narrowest point of the Oresund (Danish Øresund), the sound between Denmark and Sweden. In this part, the sound is only four kilometres wide, hence the strategic importance of maintaining a fortress at this location. The castle has for centuries been one of the most important Renaissance castles in Northern Europe and was added to UNESCO's World Heritage Sites list on November 30, 2000.

The castle's story dates back to a fortress, Krogen, built in the 1420s by the Danish king, Eric of Pomerania. The king insisted on the payment of sound dues by all ships wishing to enter or leave the Baltic; to help enforce his demands, he built a powerful fortress controlling the sound. It then consisted of a number of buildings inside a surrounding wall.

Kronborg is known by many also as "Elsinore," the setting for much of William Shakespeare's famous tragedy Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Hamlet was performed in the actual castle for the first time to mark the 200th anniversary of the death of William Shakespeare, with a cast consisting of soldiers from the castle garrison. The stage was in the telegraph tower in the southwest corner of the castle. The play has since been performed several times in the courtyard and at various locations on the fortifications.

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