Fehmarn is an island in the southern Baltic Sea, belonging to Schleswig-Holstein, Germany.
Fehmarn is a flat island, separated by the Fehmarnbelt from Denmark and by the (much narrower) Fehmarnsund from the German mainland. The island is mostly made up by farmland, and has 12,000 permanent inhabitants. As the island lies along the shortest route between Hamburg and Copenhagen, there are plans to replace the ageing bridge across Fehmarnsund and build a new tunnel under Fehmarnbelt for both motorcars and trains. However, as of 2020, there is not much construction activity and the project is mired in litigation and NIMBY protests on the German side.
Fehmarn has a harbour, Puttgarden with very frequent ferries from Rødby in Denmark, operated by Scandlines. Sailings take 45 minutes and there are departures every half-hour both day and night.
The island is connected to mainland Germany by a road bridge.
The island lies along the shortest route from Hamburg to Copenhagen and trains used to be put on the ferry here. The Danish and German sides have agreed to build a bridge-tunnel across the Belt, but Germany is dragging its feet in upgrading the links from the mainland to Fehmarn on their side for the expected traffic. The current line is single track and not electrified for most stretches.
The railway is since autumn 2022 closed for all rail traffic, anticipating rebuilding into a faster electrified double track railway around 2029.
While the railway is being rebuilt, a bus service go between Lübeck and Puttgarden stopping at the stations. Tickets are sold by DB and nah.sh.
There are 5 lighthouses on Fehmarn.
Fehmarn has several so called border shops that are dedicated to selling consumer goods to tourists from Denmark and Sweden. The border shops are probably the best place in Germany to find candy, soda, cider, beer, liquor and other things produced in Denmark and Sweden at lower prices than in their home market. This is due to the lower excise taxes in Germany, even though the gap is closing in. The deposit-refund systems in the three EU-countries are not compatible, so a proforma export declaration must be submitted and photo-ID must be presented when buying beverages that normally have a deposit paid in Germany. These deposit-refund exempt beverages are only permitted for export to Denmark and Sweden and will not be sold to Germans.
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