Middelfart

Middelfart sits at the narrowest point of the Little Belt, where the current runs hard between Funen and Jutland, and that current is why harbour porpoises gather here in the largest concentration in Danish waters, feeding in the turbulence. The town hunted them until the 1950s, a trade covered by the local museum, and now runs boat trips to watch them instead, with sightings common in summer. Two bridges cross the belt here, the 1935 Old Little Belt Bridge and the 1970 motorway crossing, and the older one carries a footpath. The waterfront has been rebuilt with a curving housing scheme and a promenade, and the belt itself is a proposed marine national park.

What you actually see

• Harbour porpoises in the narrows - the densest concentration in Danish waters.
• The Old Little Belt Bridge - the 1935 crossing, walkable.
• The porpoise-hunting museum - the trade the town lived on until the 1950s.
• The curving waterfront quarter - the new housing scheme along the belt.

When to go

May to September for porpoise trips, which run in the warmer months and depend on weather. Half a day. Sightings are best in calm conditions. The bridge walk works year round.

Honest expectations

Porpoise sightings are not guaranteed and the animals are small and undemonstrative compared with dolphins; expect brief glimpses of fins. Boat trips cancel in wind. The town itself is ordinary. The new waterfront is residential rather than public.

Nearby

The Little Belt bridges cross to Jutland; Odense lies east across Funen.