Ærøskøbing Lystbådehavn

Ærøskøbing Lystbådehavn lies on the north coast of Ærø in the South Funen Archipelago, and is the western of the town's two harbour basins. The old harbour — the warehouse quay, where boats lie alongside several abreast and the Svendborg ferry berths — is a few hundred metres to the east. The yacht harbour is the modern of the two, with service buildings, a playground, grill huts and an angling area with cabins and drying racks.

The approach runs through Møllegab, between Dejrø and Bjerget on Urehoved, and the marks must be followed closely: there are large stones off Bjerget. The channel up to the harbour is marked with withies, and the mole light leads in through the summer half of the year. Once inside, the harbour lies well sheltered behind Dejrø and Urehoved and is protected in almost any weather. The speed limit inside is three knots.

Visitors are directed by the red-and-green sign system on the pontoons. A green sign means the berth may be used, with the berth-holder's expected return written on it. Red means taken.

Ærøskøbing probably received market-town status in the second half of the 15th century, and the privileges of 1522 concentrated all trade on the island here — something the town then had to defend against illegal landing places and later against Marstal. The harbour itself was built in the 18th century and, unlike most Danish market-town harbours, was only marginally improved through the 19th. A light was installed in 1850 to lead vessels in. The turn from seafaring town to tourist town came in 1931, when the town built a ferry and yacht harbour.

On the mole in the old harbour stands the Kogehus of 1810 — the cookhouse. Sailing-ship crews cooked in it because open fire was forbidden aboard wooden vessels. The building is still there and serves today as a grill hut. The same basin holds Det Gamle Værft, still restoring steel ships and training young people, and home port of the three-masted schooner Fylla of 1922.

Harbour life is everyday and urban, because the harbour sits almost in the middle of town. Large wooden ships typically come in during the evening, a fishing boat calls now and then, and passenger vessels anchor outside and land their passengers. A fishmonger on the harbour front sells fresh and smoked fish, to eat on the spot or take aboard.

The town behind the harbour is why many set course here. Ærøskøbing is often called Denmark's best-preserved 18th-century town; the whole centre falls under a conservation plan and many of the houses are listed. In 2002 the town received the Europa Nostra award for its state of preservation. From the harbour it is a few minutes' walk to the square, the church, the historic town pumps, Hammerichs Hus and the bottle-ship collection left by "Bottle Peter". Vesterstrand with its brightly painted bathing huts is just as close, and buses across Ærø are free.

Out in the approach lies Dejrø, uninhabited and only six metres high. In the 1970s marine archaeologists from the Langeland Museum surveyed a well-preserved Stone Age settlement off its shore — the island was considerably larger then than it is now.