Ærøskøbing municipality

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Ærøskøbing municipality, is a former municipality (Danish, kommune) in Funen County on the island of Ærø in southern Denmark. Since January 1, 2006, it has been a part of Ærø municipality The municipality covered an area of 74 km², and had a total population of 3,731 (2005). Its last mayor was Jørgen Otto Jørgensen, a member of the Social Democrats (Socialdemokraterne) political party.

The main town and site of its municipal council was the town of Ærøskøbing.

The municipality was located on the western portion of the island of Ærø. Its neighboring municipality Marstal occupied the eastern portion of the island. To the north and west are the waters of the Little Belt. To the south is the Baltic Sea, and to the southeast are the waters of Marstal Bay (Marstal Bugt).

Several ferry services connect the Ærøskøbing area to the rest of Denmark. One route links Ærøskøbing to the town of Svendborg, other routes connect Søby on the western part of the island to Faaborg on Funen, and to Mommark on the island of Als.

On January 1, 2006 Ærøskøbing municipality ceased to exist as the result of Kommunalreformen ("The Municipal Reform" of 2007), when Ærøskøbing merged with Marstal municipality and formed the new Ærø municipality. The result is a municipality with an area of 91 km² and a total population of 6,939 (2005). The new municipality belongs to Funen County in 2006 and will belong to the new Region Syddanmark ("South Denmark Region") from January 1, 2007.