Funen (Fyn in Danish) is Denmark's proverbial middle child. Lacking Zealand's capital-city pull or Jutland's geographic dominance, it's often overlooked by visitors, who rarely do more than make a whistle-stop visit to Hans Christian Andersen's birthplace, Odense.
Certainly the master of fairy tales makes a worthy favourite son and Odense is a lively cultural and commercial centre. But there is much more to Funen. Thatched farmhouses, picture-book coastal towns and grand Renaissance castles dot the island’s patchwork of fields and woodlands. There's a remarkable Viking-era ship grave near Kerteminde. Rolling southern pastures and orchards grow some of the country's best produce. Curiously minimalist shelters are set up for cyclists and kayakers. And handsome harbour towns give access to a yacht-filled archipelago of idyllic seafaring islands. All in all, if you take the trouble to explore, you'll find Funen is a microcosm of the very best of Denmark.
These are our favorite local haunts, touristy spots, and hidden gems throughout Funen.
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Complete with moat and drawbridge, Egeskov Slot is a magnificent example of the lavish castles that sprang up during Denmark’s 'Golden Age'. Though still lived in, you can look inside many of the furnished rooms and/or explore the beautiful 15 hectares of garden, sections of which have a vast range of family friendly activities, a treetop walk of shaky bridges with push-button birdsong and several museums displaying a remarkable collection of antique vehicles.
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Wind back the clock to the 1850s at this delightful open-air museum, a landscaped 'village' of over two dozen furnished old buildings transplanted from around Funen. The scene comes complete with farmyard animals, a duck pond and a windmill, while daily in summer (plus on some other weekends) costumed ‘peasants’ tend to the geese, while children in knickerbockers play with hoops and sticks.
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Lying amid the seemingly miniaturised streets of the former poor quarter is the sparse little cottage where Hans Christian Andersen was born. Visiting it is a small part of a much bigger, modern museum experience that gives a thorough, lively account of Andersen’s extraordinary life. His achievements are put into interesting historical context and leavened by some engaging audiovisual material and quirky exhibits.
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Built in 1952–53, this complex of gun emplacements dug into the Langeland fields was designed to delay an assumed Warsaw Pact invasion if the Cold War turned hot. Themed exhibitions within various bunkers add context: those on spying and shell-loading are especially gripping. Adding to the experience, you can board Denmark's last submarine (decommissioned in 2004 and now sitting in a field), explore a minesweeper and peep inside fighter planes, comparing a Soviet MiG-23 with a NATO Draken A-005.
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For train buffs, this fabulous video-rich museum is almost reason enough to come to Denmark. The core collection of over 30 engines and wagons, ranging from 1868 to 1981, includes an 1869 snow plough, a double-decker carriage and Christian IX's plush 1900 royal saloon car. There are also model trains and ships, and, upstairs, extensive exhibitions on signalling, tunnels and disasters. The 1970s InterRail exhibit is likely to be gushingly nostalgic for any 50-something visitor. Plenty for kids too.
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This highly thought-provoking 'welfare museum' is housed in Svendborg's old poorhouse, within which paupers lived segregated by sex, as virtual prisoners during its century of operation (from 1872). They became forced labourers making rope-matting or doing mindless chores like packing bundles of ice-lolly sticks.
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In a still-active mini ship-repair yard with century-old boats on the rear slipways, this memorable hands-on activities experience lets you hammer your name in runes into recycled copper, weave rope, catch crabs by hand and learn how to work a blacksmith's forge.
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Sejlskibsbroen is a jetty lined with splendidly preserved wooden sailing ships, including some multimasted schooners, all seaworthy and making regular sorties, along with a plethora of yachts from the adjoining marina.
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Ideal as a boat-trip excursion from Svendborg, this lavish palace is crammed with antique furniture, Venetian glass, 17th-century Gobelin tapestries and little eccentricities like a toilet hidden in a window frame, a secret ammo store and Niels Juel's sea chest pasted with engravings. In the attic, the Jagt & Trofæmuseet (www.bhfnaturskole.dk) displays a grisly horde of hunting trophies.