For centuries Marstal vessels have sailed the seven seas, and even today the town is the home port for a considerable number of coasters.

Carl Rasmussen, a maritime artist who usually specialized in the motifs of Greenland, painted the 1881 altarpiece, depicting Christ stilling a storm.

In the old churchyard are memorials and tombstones honoring the sailors of Marstal who died at sea during two world wars.

The town did not grow around a square or a church, its houses were simply erected along the paths leading upwards from the jetties.

As the town grew transverse ring-roads were added, and the narrowness of the settlement often meant that the houses were placed somewhat coincidentally.

Eriks Hale, a strip that jots into the sea south of the town, is home to a beach often used for swimming and bathing.