During this beautiful Sail & Bike trip on the “tall ship” Antigua or Mare-Frisum, you’ll discover beautiful cities, small villages and islands around and in the Øresund – the strait between Denmark and Sweden. The narrow Øresund is an ancient trade route, like the Strait of Gibraltar and the Bosphorus, a strait of great strategic and economic importance for centuries. Charming old harbors and fortified towns lie along its shores. The journey starts in Copenhagen and ends in Malmö: two of the most bicycle-friendly cities in Europe.
Your first bike ride takes you from the mooring in Copenhagen past the Kastellet and the Little Mermaid mostly along the water and through small villages to Helsingør, dominated by Kronborg Castle, the setting for Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Helsingør, at the narrowest part of the Øresund, was founded as early as 1420. The second day of cycling leads you along the coast of the “Danish Riviera” with its long sandy beaches, then land inward through the slightly hilly landscape of Nordsjælland (North Zealand). During dinner, the ship will sail to Helsingborg on the Swedish side of the strait.
From Helsingborg, you cycle along the coast of the province of Skåne (Scania) to the fortified town of Landskrona. Here you take the ferry to the idyllic island of Ven, which rises out of the sea like a plateau. It is only 7.5 square kilometers (3 square miles) in size and has fewer than 400 permanent inhabitants. The steep limestone cliffs, the beautiful farmhouses and the observatory of the 17th century astronomer Tycho Brahe are fascinating. Nowadays, many artists and craftsmen live and work on Ven, which gives the small island a very special atmosphere. At the end of the day, the crew picks you up by dinghy and you spend the night on board the ship, which is anchored not far off the coast of Ven.
From Ven, you sail south for a whole day. Depending on the wind, swell and weather conditions, the ship heads for the port of Køge or anchors near Rødvig. Both places are located in a sparsely populated area, so that the starry sky can sometimes shine particularly brightly on clear nights. Your next cycling day is – again depending on the weather conditions – a round trip to and from Køge or a cycle tour from Rødvig to Køge. In both cases, you will visit the majestic steep white limestone cliffs (UNESCO World Heritage Site) of Stevns Klint. In the late afternoon, the ship leaves the medieval town of Køge and sails under the Öresund Bridge to Malmö.
In Malmö, Sweden’s third largest city, the ship will be moored near the historic city center. Enjoy the unique combination of modern architecture and the old town with Malmöhus Castle and the 14th-century St. Peter’s Church. On your last cycling day, you have the option to take a half day’s tour in and around Malmö or make a full day tour land inward to the vibrant university city of Lund to visit the medieval city center and the magnificent cathedral. Ride back along the coast to Malmö, where you will enjoy the captain’s farewell dinner on board.
The ship – your floating hotel
In between cycling routes, you’ll sail along with the large sailingship, which goes to a new destination every day. You’ll dine, sleep and eat breakfast on board. Every day, you’ll receive a packed lunch and you’ll be offered one or two beautiful pre-planned bike routes. There are rental touring bikes and e-bikes on board. If you want to skip cycling for a day, you can stay on board and sail along with the ship. If you wish, you can also help with navigating and hoisting the sails – with instructions from the experienced crew, of course: no sailing experience is needed. Or you might prefer to just relax and enjoy sailing and take in the view from the ship.
What’s special about the tours with the Antigua and Mare-Frisum is that in a few places you’ll be taken ashore by the crew using a rubber dinghy (a motorized open tender) and/or picked up again – depending if the ship’s draft is too deep in the water to moor dockside, in which case it drops anchor offshore. The crew will ensure your safety, of course, but it’s also a bit exciting. During this trip, this happens at the island of Ven and near Rødvig.
Guided cycling
Accompanied by two experienced tour leaders, you and the group will visit interesting places and sights on the daily cycling tours. During the briefings and along the way you’ll hear everything about the route and the sights. You can also choose to cycle the tours independently and at your own pace using the free Ride with GPS navigation app and our BBT cycle map (available on board). The bike rides during this trip are not long in themselves, but they do have some elevation changes: some short stretches can be tough, and some short distances lead over semi-paved gravel paths. This is why we’ve rated this tour as difficulty level 3. Obviously, using an e-bike makes the cycling somewhat easier.
What’s special about a sail and bike tour on sea
During all sailing tours, weather conditions play an important role. But safety and comfort of passengers and crew are always paramount. The wind direction and strength, but also waves and swell determine how fast and via which course the ship can sail to the next destination. For this reason, it is never possible to say in advance exactly how long a specific sailing leg will take. During a sail and bike tour at sea it is therefore possible that, depending on the weather forecast, the various stages will be sailed in a different order. Also, the captain may have to decide to change or skip one destination and replace it with another. Therefore, during such a vacation, be assured that you are in the hands of a skilled and experienced crew, but also expect a little touch of adventure.
