Danish Island Ferries: Ærø & the South Funen Archipelago

South of the Danish island of Funen lies a scatter of low, green islands in a sheltered sea — the South Funen Archipelago, or Det Sydfynske Øhav. It's Denmark's gentlest island landscape, and the only way through it is by ferry: from the harbour towns of Svendborg and Faaborg out to beloved Ærø and a handful of tiny islands that a bridge will never reach.

The South Funen Archipelago

The archipelago is compact and calm — no dramatic cliffs, just meadows running down to the water, thatched farms and half-timbered harbour towns. Two mainland gateways serve it: Svendborg and Faaborg, both on southern Funen and both easy to reach by road. From them, car ferries and small passenger boats fan out across the Øhav. Browse every route on our South Funen region hub.

Getting to Ærø

The star of the archipelago is Ærø, a long, flat island of picture-book towns. Three car ferries reach it:

• Svendborg – Ærøskøbing — to Ærø's prettiest town, roughly an hour.
• Faaborg – Søby — to the island's northern harbour.
• Als (Fynshav) – Søby — the link from the Jutland side.

Crossings take about an hour, and in the summer high season the car deck fills up, so book a vehicle space ahead — foot passengers and cyclists have far more flexibility.

The E-ferry Ellen: the world's largest electric ferry

Ærø has quietly become a green-transport pioneer. The E-ferry Ellen, sailing the Søby–Fynshav route, was at its launch the largest all-electric ferry in the world, crossing on battery power alone. It's a fitting symbol for an island that aims to run on renewable energy — and a genuinely modern way to arrive.

The little islands

Beyond Ærø, small passenger ferries serve some of Denmark's tiniest island communities, several with only a handful of year-round residents:

• Lyø and Avernakø — reached from Faaborg, gentle islands of hedgerows and beaches.
• Skarø, Drejø and Hjortø — served from Svendborg, quiet dots in the Øhav.

These are foot-passenger boats to slow, car-light islands — the essence of the South Funen experience.

Cycling the islands

The Øhav is made for two wheels. Ærø in particular is flat, small and laced with quiet lanes, and most visitors bring a bike across as a foot passenger rather than a car. Our guide to taking a bicycle on a ferry covers the essentials, and it's the best way to link the harbour towns and beaches at island pace.

Beyond South Funen

Denmark's other domestic ferries are worth knowing too: the island of Samsø is reached by ferry from Jutland and Zealand, and over on Zealand, Copenhagen's electric harbour buses run as part of the city transit — see our Zealand ferry hub.