Endelave Mini-Kanino Hiking Trail – Hiking Denmark

Reaching the starting point

You can only reach Endelave by ferry from Snaptun, a small village 10 kilometres southeast of Horsens. The ferry usually has three departures every day – book your ticket in advance here. If you are coming by car to the ferry, like we did, you can park your car quite close to the harbor free of charge. Always pay attention to the signage, though, as parking might be time-limited in some areas. Park your car accordingly, and be ready to board the ferry at least 15 minutes before departure. There is a small cafeteria on the ferry, where you can buy refreshments and snacks. You can also come to the Snaptun harbor by public transport as bus 104 stops a hundred meters from the ferry; plan your travel on Rejseplanen.dk.

Trail

The trail starts at the Endelave harbor, where there is also a small public toilet. We first headed up to the information table which is about 400 meters directly south of the ferry landing. From here, we followed the paved road called Kongevejen (“King’s Road”) towards east for about 200 meters until we reached Endelave Strandvej, which starts out as paved but quickly turns into a dirt road, that runs closely to the beach for the first 1.5 kilometers. The landscape here is almost completely flat and dominated by slightly boggy grassland for livestock. The dirt road runs more or less east for the first two kilometers, then it takes a turn towards northeast. Three kilometers down the dirt road, it intersects with the paved Kongevejen (which is the island’s longest road) and there should be a water post with drinking water close by, but we didn’t look for it as we had enough water with us.

After the crossroad, the dirt road is called Øvre (instead of Endelave Strandvej) and runs north, while the vegetation becomes taller and more diverse. It was also at this time that the weather cleared up, and the sun started to show itself. The vegetation turned into a small forest, and once out of it, quite close to the tip of Endelave, we decided to take a lunch break in the hopes of getting the little one to sleep afterwards. We had walked 5.5 kilometers altogether at that point, but luckily found some old tree trunks to sit on while we ate our packed lunch in proximity to grazing sheep. We then continued on the trail, which bends towards south as one gets closer to the tip and then follows the eastern shore of Endelave. After walking 7.5 kilometers altogether, the Mini-Kanino trail diverges from the main Kanino path as it turns southwest, back towards the village and the ferry harbor, while the main Kanino keeps following the eastern shore.

For the first 1.5 kilometers you are still walking on a dirt road surrounded by forest and nature, but then the road turns abruptly towards west, and soon you are walking on the paved Kongevejen towards south, and the landscape becomes more agricultural once again. Nevertheless, it was actually while walking on the paved road that we saw the first and only rabbit on the hike! We followed Kongevejen for two kilometers, and then made an emergency stop as the little one had woken up in the backpack. Luckily, we had just reached a picnic stop for hikers, and we managed to make her continue her nap (pheww!) on the sunny lawn tucked into my arms and our sleeping bag. There is, however, also a wooden pavilion and a primitive toilet at this picnic stop, so we could also seek shelter in case of rain. But the weather stayed sunny, and thus we stayed put till the little one woke up as we had plenty of time before the ferry departure.

Once MK was awake, we continued on Kongevejen towards west but after a bit more than a kilometer, we turned right on a dirt road towards Endelave Camping site in the hopes of buying some refreshments. It turned out that the camping site both had a small bar/restaurant and a small kiosk with all kinds of snacks and necessities. After buying a soda from the very friendly owner, we continued north on the small dirt road and found ourselves back at the beginning of Endelave Strandvej. We then simply followed Endelave Strandvej back towards the ferry harbor, well in time before the ferry departure.

Ombraz Classic Sunglasses on Endelave Trail

The sunglasses from Ombraz have become a favorite of mine for low-altitude hikes like this one. The sunglasses are super comfortable to wear due to the armless design, yet the cord holds them nicely in place. The category 3 lenses block out 89% of the visible light and as they are polarized, they also eliminate glare from the sea and other glistening phenomena. Read the full review of the Ombraz sunglasses here.