The island most travellers cross at 110 km/h on their way from Zealand to Jutland. We think they've missed the gentlest part of the country — the birthplace of Andersen, the best-preserved Renaissance moated castle in Europe, and an archipelago of 90 islands that feels like a different century.
Last updated ·Verified 2026-05-25
Funen is Denmark's second-largest island — half a million people on a green, gently rolling landscape that the Danes, without irony, call Danmarks have: the garden of Denmark. It sits between Zealand and Jutland, which is precisely the problem. Most travellers cross the Storebælt bridge from Copenhagen, glance at Funen out the car window, and keep driving west. They are missing the most quietly beautiful part of the country, the birthplace of Hans Christian Andersen, the best-preserved Renaissance moated castle in Europe, and an archipelago of 90 islands that feels like a different century. This is the case for stopping.
It is geography, mostly. Funen is the bridge in the middle. The Storebælt crossing dumps drivers at Nyborg on the east coast and the Lillebælt bridge takes them out at Middelfart on the west, with a smooth motorway in between that takes 45 minutes and shows you almost nothing. The two famous Danish tourist images — Nyhavn in Copenhagen, the yellow houses of Skagen — pull in the opposite directions. Funen has no equivalent single icon. What it has instead is a kind of gentle, lived-in prettiness that the bigger destinations have either polished away or never had. If you have already done Copenhagen and want to see a Denmark that is not a postcard, this is it.
Odense is Denmark's third-largest city, ~180,000 people, and the single reason most foreign visitors come to Funen. Hans Christian Andersen was born here in 1805 to a shoemaker and a washerwoman, in a tiny house that still stands in what is now the Andersen Quarter. He died in Copenhagen in 1875 having written 156 fairy tales — The Little Mermaid, The Snow Queen, The Ugly Duckling, The Steadfast Tin Soldier, The Emperor's New Clothes — that have outlived every other Dane who has ever picked up a pen.
The big one. The new H.C. Andersen Museum opened in 2021, designed by Japanese architect Kengo Kuma. It is largely underground — the visible part above the gardens is restrained, almost shy — and inside it is dark, atmospheric, more an immersive meditation than a traditional museum. You wander through chambers that evoke specific tales: a forest, a mirror room, a sea space. The exhibits assume you already know the stories. Allow 3–4 hours. Adult ticket ~200 DKK, combined ticket with the original birth-house ~250 DKK. Book ahead in summer.
The old town is walkable in an afternoon. The cathedral (Sankt Knuds Kirke) is the city's spiritual centre and holds the remains of King Canute IV. The Brandts arts quarter — an old textile factory converted into galleries and cinemas — is the best neighbourhood for coffee and modern Danish design shopping. Walk Vestergade for the pedestrian shopping spine, then duck into the Andersen Quarter (a few preserved 18th-century streets around the birth house) for the prettiest blocks. For an evening, Restaurant Den Gamle Kro does classical Danish in a 17th-century courtyard; Restaurant Sortebro Kro holds a Michelin Bib Gourmand for modern bistro at half the city-centre prices.
An hour south of Odense, Egeskov is the second great reason to come to Funen — and arguably the better one. It is Europe's best-preserved Renaissance moated castle, built in 1554, and it sits on a small lake on oak pilings driven into the lakebed. The local legend is that an entire forest of mature oaks was felled to build the foundations, which is roughly how the castle got its name (eg = oak, skov = forest).
“Andersen would have called Egeskov 'a fairy tale, but with rain in it.' The moat is real, the dolls are real, the squeak in the attic floor is real. That is the trick of the place.”
— Blazenka & Bo
The castle is still privately owned by the same family. The interior tour shows armour collections, period rooms and a famous attic doll — locals say the family must leave it where it is, or the castle will sink into the moat. The gardens are the largest of their kind in Northern Europe and unfold across Renaissance, Baroque and Modern sections. On the grounds there is also a vintage car museum with around 300 historic vehicles, an airplane collection (the Klitsø collection of early Danish aviation), a 150-metre treetop walk suspended above the forest floor, and a hedge maze plus a bamboo maze for the children. Adult ticket ~250 DKK. Allow a full day in summer. Book ahead for summer weekends — it sells out.
Tickets and guided tours: Egeskov experiences on GetYourGuide.
This is the part of the island most travellers do not see, and the part the Danes themselves go to when they want a slow weekend. From Faaborg and Svendborg on the south coast, ferries run out to a scattered archipelago of 90 islands. Three of them matter for visitors.
One hour by ferry from Svendborg. Ærø is the picture-book island — Ærøskøbing, its main town, is a UNESCO-listed grid of cobbled streets and 18th-century shipmasters' houses painted in soft yellows and reds. There are old shipyards, working sailmakers, a Maritime museum, and a slow-cycling loop around the whole island that takes a day. Best for photography, romantic getaways, and the kind of holiday where you read a novel in the afternoon. Hotel Ærøhus is the obvious town hotel; B&Bs are everywhere. Plan 1–2 nights minimum — day trips do not do it justice.
Bridged from Funen, so you can drive. Quieter than Ærø, more beaches, fewer tourists, the small Tranekær Slot in the centre. This is the island for cycling holidays and birdwatching — the south tip (Dovns Klint) is one of the best raptor-migration spots in Northern Europe in autumn.
The two south-coast towns themselves are worth a stop. Faaborg is hilly, old-port, with the excellent Faaborg Museum dedicated to the Funen impressionists — a circle of early-20th-century painters who turned the local pastoral landscape into a small art movement. Svendborg is the bigger maritime town and the practical ferry hub. Restaurant Plums in Faaborg does modern fine dining; Restaurant Falsled Kro, half an hour west of Faaborg, holds a Michelin star and is one of the prettiest country inns in Denmark.
North-west Funen, where the Lillebælt bridge crosses to Jutland. The new bridge views are dramatic, and Hindsgavl Slot — a small Renaissance manor turned country hotel — sits in a forest park looking out over the strait. If you are passing through on a road trip from Copenhagen to Jutland, an overnight at Hindsgavl breaks the drive at exactly the right point. For the practical side of that crossing — tolls, charging, where to break — our sister site has it covered.
Andersen is the famous one, but Denmark's most important composer, Carl Nielsen (1865–1931), was also born on Funen — at Sortelung, a village outside Odense. There is a Carl Nielsen Museum in central Odense and his birth house at Sortelung is open as a small heritage site. If you care about classical music, it is an easy add-on to an Andersen day; if you do not, skip without guilt.
The signature local thing is brunsviger — a soft yeast cake topped with a thick layer of melted brown sugar and butter, baked into a sticky brown crust. Every bakery on the island has one and they are all good. Beyond that: skipperlabskovs (sailor stew) in the port towns, smoked herring with rye in the archipelago, and the kind of unflashy old-Danish pastries in Odense bakeries that exist because every town needs a saint.
Compare: Odense hotels on Booking.com · Faaborg hotels · Ærø hotels.
For most international visitors, the easiest path is fly into Copenhagen or Billund, rent a car at the airport, do the loop across Funen on the way through. Billund is closer if Funen is your only stop; Copenhagen is more convenient if you are combining Funen with Zealand.
Funen is well-charged on the motorway corridor. Tesla Supercharger at Nyborg (the east entry, just after the Storebælt bridge), another at Odense, another at Middelfart on the west exit. Plenty of CCS alternatives along the E20. The Hotel Odeon basement chargers in central Odense are convenient if you are staying there. The south archipelago is a different story — chargers thin out, and once you are on the ferries to Ærø or Langeland you should consider yourself off-grid for charging. Top up before you board.
"To travel is to live," Andersen wrote, and he meant it — he travelled obsessively for a man of his era and his neuroses, kept detailed diaries, complained constantly about hotels. He would have liked it that you came. The line he is most often quoted on is the gentler one: "The whole world is a series of miracles, but we're so used to them we call them ordinary." Funen is a place that rewards taking that line literally for three days.
Yes — if your few days are not just Copenhagen. Funen is a 1.5-hour train from Copenhagen, so it works as a day trip to Odense. But Funen rewards 2–3 days: Odense + Egeskov + a south-archipelago island (Ærø) is the classic combination.
A bit. The new museum opened in 2021 and is designed for people who already love the fairy tales — it's more atmospheric meditation than encyclopedic. Re-read The Little Mermaid, The Snow Queen and The Ugly Duckling beforehand. Otherwise the symbolism passes you by.
Full day in summer. The castle interior is 60–90 minutes, the gardens another 90, then the car museum, airplane collection, treetop walk and mazes easily fill the rest. Half-day works in shoulder season if you skip the side-museums.
Ærø if you want pretty (Ærøskøbing is genuinely picture-book), Langeland if you want quiet. Ærø needs an overnight to be worth the ferry; Langeland is bridged from Funen and works as a day trip.
Odense yes — it's walkable and the museum, old town and station are within 10 minutes of each other. Egeskov and the south archipelago need a car or organised tour. Train + ferry combos to Ærø work but they double your travel time.
May and September. The gardens at Egeskov are open and beautiful, Ærø is quiet, ferries run a near-summer schedule, and the light is gentle. Avoid mid-July weekends — Ærøskøbing is booked solid.
The peninsula on the other side of the Lillebælt bridge — Vadehavet to Skagen in 7 days.
The two months that make Funen — and Denmark — at its best.
The slow-living concept that runs through every Funen kro and brunsviger bakery.