This trip was part of our 15 day trip of Denmark and Norway. 

Complete Itinerary was:

  • Copenhagen (Blog post here)
  • Odense and Ærø Island
  • Oslo
  • Fjords (Flam, Briksdalbreen glacier, Geiranger)
  • Alesund

Odense is about 1 hour 45 minutes by car from central Copenhagen.  The scenic drive takes you across the 18 km Storebælt bridge that was completed in 1998 to connect the island of Zealand (Copenhagen) to the Island of Funen.

Odense is the largest city on the island of Funen and third largest city in Denmark.  We stopped in Odense for the day en route to catching our fairy to Ærø Island primarily to visit the home and museum of fairy tale author, Hans Christian Andersen.  You’ll find the museum centrally located in the historic center of Odense.  The museum itself does not disappoint.  My kids loved the display of mattresses from the story Princess and the Pea  as well as many other displays.  The gift shop has a fantastic assortment of Hans Christian Andersen books, art, and much more.

In addition to the museum, Odense has a lovely pedestrian street for strolling and lots of meandering quaint side streets lined with quintessential Danish buildings.  We also stumbled upon the free Hans Christian Andersen parade, a local acting group that performs a charming show based on the stories of Hans Christian Andersen.  The kids absolutely loved this performance!  There is also an opportunity to take a river cruise through the well-known tales of Hans Christian Andersen (we did not do this, but it looked fun!).

After a whirlwind day in Odense (you could easily spend a night here, but we were crunched for time), we headed south about 40 minutes to the port town of Svendborg to catch the ferry to Ærø Island (Ferry Schedule).  Arrive in Svendborg an hour or so before the ferry departure time to find parking in Svendborg.  There is no need for a car on Ærø Island as you can walk or bike to everything.  Parking was a little confusing for us.  There are parking lots close to the ferry terminal that allow free overnight parking.

The ferry ride from Svenborg to the port town of Ærøskøbing is a little over an hour and is really beautiful. There is food and drinks on board.  I wished we would’ve planned ahead and brought a picnic on board – something to consider! IMG_5021

We stayed at Hotel Ærøhus.  The location was great, good breakfast, bikes onsite available for rent.  The room was quite basic.  In all honesty, I would probably stay elsewhere next time but try to stay in the same general area.  The town of Ærøskøbing is so ridiculously cute you won’t be able to stop taking pictures…. just picture perfect Danish colors, flowers, cobblestones, doors, etc… We spent a lot of time just strolling or biking around the town.

Per Rick Steves, we rented bikes from the local gas station bike rental shop run by Mrs. Hansen.  We needed a tagalong bike as well as adult bikes and we were able to reserve these in advance via phone and email.

We chose a relatively easy, short bike route as a family along the coast from Ærøskøbing to Marstal. The ride is basically flat in both directions and the scenery beautiful.

In Marstal, we parked the bikes and spent an hour or so checking out the town.  When we were ready to bike again, we stopped at the supermarket to grab a picnic lunch for the return ride.  As a family, we love to go to supermarkets while traveling in Europe.  It is fun for the kids to see all the different products and try the local food at a low price.  We typically piece together a picnic lunch consisting of fresh bread, deli meats and cheeses and local fruits and vegetables.   In typical Danish style, we also found local homes selling produce (mostly fresh strawberries) on the honor system at the end of their driveways!

There are many, many more biking possibilities on Ærø island and although our stay on Ærø island was short (2 nights), you really get a feel for the island by seeing it on bike.