Experience the best of Ærøskøbing

Ærøskøbing is one of the two main towns of Ærø, an island in the South Funen Archipelago, reached by ferry from Funen. Its centre is a tangle of cobbled lanes lined with low half-timbered houses in yellow, red and ochre, many from the eighteenth century, with roses climbing the walls. A small harbour and a market square give the place its tidy centre.

The island is about thirty kilometres long, and cycling is the way to see it. Marstal, the larger town, has a maritime museum and one of Denmark's biggest solar heating plants, and the cliffs of Voderup Klint rise above the sea. In Ærøskøbing itself, the former poorhouse displays a collection of ships in bottles made by a local man known as Bottle Peter.

Danish staples fill the menus, with open sandwiches on dark rye bread topped with herring, fried plaice with parsley sauce and rhubarb in dessert. Light lasts late on summer evenings, and winters bring wind off the sea.