Puttgarden ⇄ Rødby · 45 min · about 19 km
On board the Puttgarden Rødby ferry: food, shop, sun deck and where the ships are
Forty-five minutes is long enough for a coffee, a hot dog and a walk round the sun deck, and too short for much else, which is rather the point of this crossing. What follows is what the four Scandlines sister ferries have on board, as we found it on our own crossing in February 2025, plus what you can pay with, what the ships are and a live map showing which of them is sailing right now.
Check prices and book Car Standard: online from €61.10 · at the harbour from €111See the price example
Everything below we saw ourselves, on the crossing from Puttgarden to Rødby on 17 February 2025 on one of the four sister ferries, topped up with what Scandlines publishes about the ships. We did not note the prices on the menu boards that day, so this page tells you what is there, not what it costs.
Where is what: one passenger deck and a sun deck
You’ll find your way around within minutes. You park on the car deck, take the stairs up and come out on the passenger deck, which runs the length of the ship: Food Express with its seating at one end, the lounge with panorama windows and the coffee bar in the middle, the shop and the gaming machines further along. Stairs from the passenger deck lead to the open sun deck around the funnel. A deck plan with the safety instructions hangs at every stairwell, and there is a mosaic map of the Vogelfluglinie on the wall that tells you where you are.
Food and drink: Food Express and the coffee bar
Food Express is the self-service counter: Scandlines lists fish fillet, sandwiches, hot dogs and fries, with coffee and soft drinks, and says it is open on every sailing. Next to it is a buffet-style counter with cold dishes and a seating area with tables at the windows. There is no waiter-service restaurant and no cabins, the crossing is too short for either.
Scandlines Coffee is the coffee bar in the lounge, with Starbucks products, pastries and snacks. On a 45 minute crossing a coffee here and a hot dog from Food Express is about the size of it. The queue at Food Express is longest right after departure, when everyone comes up from the car deck at the same time; ten minutes later it has gone.
Scandlines publishes the menu and the opening hours as a PDF on its website, with prices in Danish kroner and euros. We did not photograph the price boards, so we cannot quote them here.
Shop and gaming machines
The on-board shop sells sweets, drinks and travel essentials: what you forgot, and something for the children. Cases of beer, wine and spirits? Wrong place. That is what the BorderShop next to the check-in lanes in Puttgarden is for, with a car park and prices aimed at Danish and Swedish customers. Shop there before you check in; once you are in the waiting lane there is no way back.
A row of gaming machines stands in its own corner away from the seating. They take coins and cards and are the loudest thing on the ship.
Sun deck and lounge: where to spend the 45 minutes
If it isn’t raining, head for the sun deck. The sun deck has a blue rubber floor, a few tall tables and stairs up to the top level beside the funnel. From there you see Fehmarn drop away behind you, the tunnel construction site off Rødbyhavn coming closer, and, about halfway, the sister ferry passing in the opposite direction, which happens on every crossing because the ships sail every half hour from both sides. Our crossing was the last one in daylight, and the sun went down over the Belt with the other ferry silhouetted against it.
Inside, the lounge has tables and panorama windows along both sides. Nobody reserves anything; even on a summer Saturday you will find a seat, perhaps not at the window. The ship is non-smoking inside; smoking is only allowed outside on deck.
Practical: paying, the car deck, dogs, arrival
- Paying. Prices on board are in Danish kroner and euros and you can pay in either, or by card. You do not need kroner for the crossing.
- Car deck. Closed while the ship is under way. Take your jacket, phone charger and anything the children need with you, because you are not going back down until the call before arrival.
- Dogs. Allowed on board in the areas Scandlines marks for them and on deck; the rules, and whether a dog can stay in the car, are on the page travelling with a dog.
- Weather. The Fehmarnbelt is open water, and in a strong westerly the 45 minutes can be lively. Scandlines rarely cancels; what happens in a storm is on the weather and sea state page.
- Arrival. The call to return to the vehicles comes a few minutes before the ship berths. The ferries are double-ended, so nobody turns round: you drive on at one end and off at the other. In Rødby you are on the E47 towards Copenhagen within minutes; in Puttgarden the road leads past the BorderShop straight onto the E47 towards Hamburg.
- What we did not check. Wi-Fi, a children’s corner and lifts between the decks. We did not need them on a 45 minute crossing and would rather say so than guess.
The four ferries: Prins Richard, Prinsesse Benedikte, Deutschland, Schleswig-Holstein
Puttgarden Rødby is worked by four sister ferries, all built in 1997 for this route: Prins Richard and Prinsesse Benedikte under the Danish flag, Deutschland and Schleswig-Holstein under the German flag. They are 142 metres long, take around 1,200 passengers and some 360 cars, and were built with rail tracks on the lower deck because the route carried trains until the end of 2019. Between 2013 and 2014 all four were converted to hybrid drive, with batteries beside the diesel engines; the green “Hybrid Ferry” lettering on the hull refers to that. Normally three of the four are in service and one is in reserve or in dock.
The ships are identical in layout, so it does not matter which one you get. After the Fehmarnbelt tunnel opens, Scandlines plans to keep sailing with three ferries and is converting two of them to plug-in hybrids.
Live map: where the ferries are right now
The map shows the ships’ own AIS positions between Puttgarden and Rødby. Useful when you are waiting in the lane and want to see the ferry that will take you come in, or when you want to know whether a sailing is running late.
The map opens centred on one ferry, with the line of its recent track. Switch to another ferry or to the whole crossing with the buttons. Other ships in the Fehmarnbelt stay visible; the Scandlines ferries carry their names as labels. Normally three of the four are sailing and one is in reserve or in dock.
Live map: Puttgarden to Rødby
The map comes from VesselFinder and shows ship positions sent by the ships themselves (AIS). It loads after you click, because VesselFinder then receives your IP address and may set cookies.
The four ferries on the route
On board the Puttgarden Rødby ferry: FAQ
Is there a restaurant on the Puttgarden Rødby ferry?
There is Food Express, a self-service counter with hot dishes, sandwiches, hot dogs and fries, a buffet-style counter beside it, and a coffee bar with Starbucks products. There is no waiter-service restaurant; the crossing is 45 minutes.
Can I pay in euros on board?
Yes. Prices are shown in Danish kroner and euros, and cards are accepted everywhere on board.
Can I stay in the car during the crossing?
No. The car deck is closed while the ship is under way, and everyone goes up to the passenger deck. Take what you need with you.
Is there a duty-free shop on board?
No. Germany and Denmark are both in the EU, so there is no duty-free. The on-board shop sells sweets, drinks and travel essentials; the big drinks store is the BorderShop in Puttgarden, on land, before check-in.
Which ferry will I be on?
One of four identical sister ships: Prins Richard, Prinsesse Benedikte, Deutschland or Schleswig-Holstein. The live map on this page shows which of them are sailing at the moment.
Can I bring my own food?
Nobody checks, and there are plenty of tables. On a fine day a sandwich on the sun deck is the best seat on the ship.