Ærøskøbing – historic town and maritime experiences

Ærøskøbing is more than 750 years old and is considered Denmark’s best-preserved 18th-century town. Those weighing up historic streets, maritime culture and a stay near the water will find several clearly distinct points of reference here for planning their trip.

Town history in houses, church and museum

The church of Ærøskøbing was built between 1756 and 1758, replacing a dilapidated medieval church. It contains a baptismal font from the 13th century and a pulpit dating from 1634. The pulpit was donated by Duke Philip of Glücksborg. These two furnishings thus bring together different centuries within the same church interior.

The collection of the Flaskeskibsmuseet has been exhibited in Ærøskøbing’s former poorhouse since 1943. The collection is associated with Flaske-Peter, who lived from 1873 to 1960 and built more than 1,700 ships in bottles.

Hammerichs Hus is also one of the town’s notable historic addresses. The house was built in 1803 and is one of Ærøskøbing’s first holiday homes. More than 2,500 objects are still in the places designated by Gunnar Hammerich.

Finding your way between the town, Torvet and Vesterstrand

A guided town tour in Ærøskøbing can be booked all year round. This makes it possible to fit a historical exploration into different travel periods and daily itineraries.

Free buses run on Ærø all year round, with numerous stops between Søby, Ærøskøbing and Marstal. The stops are therefore spread across several places; orientation need not be limited to Ærøskøbing. This is helpful when you do not want to experience Ærø exclusively through a single attraction.

Torvet has shops, cafés, an ice-cream shop and benches for resting – a specific place to stop if you want to plan a break between visits. At Den Gamle Købmandsgaard on Ærø, you can buy Ærø salts, chocolate, beer, pickled goods, local sausages and Ærø whisky, as well as local food and handicrafts from Ærø.

Vesterstrand is a few minutes’ walk from Ærøskøbing marina. A guided tour of Vesterstrand’s bathing huts presents the history of Ærøskøbing’s iconic bathing huts and lasts about an hour. The approximately one-hour duration provides a manageable time frame for this themed part of the visit.

When looking for a hotel or accommodation in Ærøskøbing, you can use your preferred focus as a first guide: town history, what Torvet has to offer, maritime impressions at the marina or the bathing huts of Vesterstrand. This way, your choice of accommodation reflects the aspect of the place you want to shape your days.

For further orientation, you can also compare Marstal Marstal, Søby Ærø Søby Ærø, Skovby Skovby, Kragnæs Kragnæs, Dunkær Dunkær and Bro Bro.

For the overall travel overview: Ærø Municipality.