Otterup offers different ways to experience culture and nature: the town’s history spans everything from a 19th-century gun factory to a Viking settlement in a museum. There is also church art, marked trails and wildlife watching at Otterup Andedam. This lets you choose your own focus during your stay, rather than trying to fit every experience into one set itinerary.
Industrial history and everyday life in times gone by
The HistorieCenter Otterup explores the history and production of Schultz & Larsen, the Otterup Geværfabrik and A/S Dansk Ammunitionsfabrik. The center offers guided tours and talks on these topics. It is located in the old gun factory, on the first floor in the rooms where assembly work used to take place. The Otterup Geværfabrik was founded in 1889 by marksman Hans Schultz. Every visitor, regardless of age, needs an admission ticket to enter the halls of the Geværfabrik.
Through historic rooms, stories about people and crafts, and tales of everyday life, the Otterup Museum shows how people used to live in Otterup. It also features a unique Viking settlement, or Viking dwelling, where the Otterup Viking lived. Another historical landmark lies west of the town: Galgedil was a Viking Age cemetery in the 9th century, where the dead were buried.
Church art and public art
Otterup Kirke was originally built in 1150 and extended during the Middle Ages. The old walls were taken down to make way for a larger church. The interior features fine craftsmanship: the Romanesque baptismal font belongs to the Mid-Funen type and is richly decorated with vine-scroll ornamentation. The richly carved wooden pulpit and its canopy date from 1616. Both bear the coats of arms of Johan Nielsen Friis and his wife Karen Krabbe.
MidgĂĄrdsormen stands in the market square in the center of Otterup. The sculpture depicts Thor fighting a serpent. Its nine humps have a meaning of their own: they symbolize the nine parishes that together made up the former municipality of Otterup. The artwork thus combines a mythological scene with the former municipal boundaries.
Trails for different interests
Otterup offers several different options for walks. Kærlighedsstien follows the route of a former beet railway and runs between the old railway station and the former estate of Nislevgaard. The trail in Otterup Byskov is two kilometers long and leads through the forest and around the bog, beneath tall beech trees. These two trails differ both in their historical character and in their landscapes.
You can walk, run or cycle on all four signposted Kløver routes. Signs and a small cloverleaf mark the routes. The 30-kilometer Glavendrup Route offers a longer outing: it passes through Otterup before returning to the town. The Hasmark Route passes through North Funen landscapes, along Odense Fjord, by Hasmark Strand and along the Kattegat coast; old roads lead back to Otterup. This gives you a choice of everything from woodland trails to routes that take in different coastal and fjord landscapes.
Wildlife watching and getting there
At Otterup Andedam, you can watch black swans, ducks and other birds. The enclosures are also home to silkies, peacocks and various pheasants. This gives you another way to make wildlife watching part of your stay, alongside the town’s historical and artistic attractions.
Bus route 200A connects Otterup with Odense; the journey takes about 20 minutes. Check the timetable before travelling. When choosing your activities, you can also take the specific trail lengths into account: the trail in Byskov is two kilometers long, while the Glavendrup Route is 30 kilometers. The other routes mentioned offer different points of reference, such as the markings on the Kløver routes or the course of the Hasmark Route.
Discover more destinations: Bårdesø, Morud, Søndersø, Bederslev, Askeby, Hasmark, Skåstrup, Veflinge
For the main travel overview: Nordfyns.
