Svanninge Hills and Mountains – The Funen Alps
North of Faaborg, you’ll find Svanninge Bakker and Bjerge – Funen’s most visited natural area. The Archipelago Trail, Riderute Sydfyn, and several cycling routes pass through this landscape, which boasts an extensive network of trails for hiking, cycling, and mountain biking. Don’t miss the chance to take a detour into this area – there’s so much to see.
Together with the rest of the Funen Alps, Svanninge Bakker and Bjerge form one of Funen’s most striking Ice Age landscapes. The rolling terminal moraine hills were created under pressure from a glacier advancing from the northeast at the end of the last Ice Age. Combined with unique wind conditions, this has shaped a rich and varied flora and fauna.
At the top of Lerbjerg (126 m) in the southern part of Svanninge Bjerge, you’ll enjoy sweeping views of the South Funen Archipelago. This is where locals proudly refer to the Funen Alps – a dramatic, hilly landscape unlike anywhere else on Funen. Sheep, goats, and cattle keep the sun-drenched hills open, ensuring uninterrupted views as far as the eye can see. Every hilltop reveals a new and even more breathtaking panorama than the last. Funen is Denmark’s garden – and here, the garden is at its most spectacular.
The hills hide many cultural treasures: ancient earth and stone dikes, ridge-and-furrow fields, hollow roads, house foundations, old wells, overgrown sand and gravel pits, and a water-filled clay pit from the long-closed Gærup Brickworks. Just north of Svanninge Bakker lies Funen’s largest lake, Arreskov Sø.
A tour of the area also takes you past the lookout tower with exhibitions about Svanninge Bakker, benches at scenic viewpoints – perfect for a well-earned break – and the troll Finn. Legend has it that Finn dug the hole where Arreskov Lake now lies and tossed the earth into the great mounds we call Svanninge Bakker.
Svanninge Bakker and Sollerup Forest are owned by the Danish Nature Agency, while Svanninge Bjerge is privately owned by the Bikuben Foundation, so different access rules apply.
MAMMOTH TRAIL
Ready for a unique historical adventure in the footsteps of mammoths? Take the 5 km Mammoth Trail, starting at the parking lot in Svanninge Bakker. It’s a mountain bike route, but designed so everyone can join. Along the way, you’ll pass some of Svanninge Bakker’s most magical viewpoints.
The route features listening stations that transport you back to the time when the first humans hunted in Denmark. Expect adrenaline and immersive storytelling as you ride where hunters once pursued the mighty mammoth. Listen here: Mammut Trail – Øhavsmuseet (ohavsmuseet.dk).
