Viking Homelands

Arrive into Aarhus and meet your Expert Guide Lecturer and fellow travellers at your hotel, stopping en route to explore the UNESCO World Heritage sites of Hedeby and Danevirke. These important Viking trading towns are situated on the Schleswig isthmus, the narrowest strip of land between the Baltic and the North Sea, and they once secured the border area between Scandinavia and Central Europe. Excavations at both sites have revealed the Vikings' international links.

Meals: Lunch, Dinner

Accommodation: Comwell Hotel Aarhus, Aarhus

Our first visit this morning is to Ribe, another flourishing Viking settlement and Denmark’s oldest town, with remains dating back to the 8th century AD. We continue to Baekka and view the evocative stone ship setting where standing stones trace the outline of a 45m ship, placed between two Bronze Age barrows. A local chieftain erected the monument in commemoration of his late mother, Vibrog. In the afternoon, we visit Jelling, a UNESCO World Heritage site and one of the most extraordinary archaeological sites in Denmark. We see Gorm’s Stone and Harald’s Stone, both decorated and inscribed with runes and with two substantial burial mounds with a church between them. The Kongernes Jelling Visitor Centre provides a splendid view of the whole monument complex from its roof terrace. We end our site visits at Ravning Enge, where excavations have revealed the remains of a huge bridge, a considerable feat of Viking engineering.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Accommodation: Comwell Hotel Aarhus, Aarhus

This morning, we visit Fyrkat Fort, one of five Viking fortresses constructed in the late 10th century during the reign of King Harald Bluetooth. An earthen rampart marks the area where the fort once surrounded the original 16 farmhouses. The locations of these houses are now indicated by white stones. We also visit the Viking Centre, where the reconstructed village gives a real feel for everyday Viking life. After lunch, we drive to Lindholm Hoje, an expansive Viking and Iron Age grave site which contains nearly 700 graves. These burials span an impressive 500-year period, primarily dating from the 8th to 10th centuries. Most are cremation burials, distinctively marked by stone arrangements in triangular, oval and ship-shaped formations. Excavations have yielded numerous grave goods, including personal possessions and everyday items. Some artefacts show evidence of being imported from distant lands, highlighting the site's connection to a broader trade network.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner 

Accommodation: Copenhagen Strand Hotel, Copenhagen

We travel west to visit the famous Ladby ship burial, which has been preserved in situ beneath a reconstructed mound. Nothing of the timber has survived, but like Sutton Hoo, the clenching rivets remained in place, with an impression in the earth of the planking. The burial had been plundered but the skeletons of eleven horses, three or four dogs and many other grave goods escaped the robbers. It is thought to have been a rowing boat for 32 oarsmen and dates to about 850-950 AD. We conclude our visit with the Ladby Museum before crossing the Great Belt Bridge to Zeeland and our site visit at Trelleborg. Our tour coincides with the annual Viking Festival when ‘The Battle of Trelleborg’ takes place, fought by around 250 armed Viking warriors. Here we see the ring fortress, one of several extraordinary, well-planned circular forts built at the time of King Harald Bluetooth in the 10th century.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner 

Accommodation: Copenhagen Strand Hotel, Copenhagen

This morning, we visit Gammel Lejre, the site of a prosperous manor owned by the Danish crown in the Middle Ages. Its association with important literary material, including Beowulf, shows us that this was a particularly important Iron Age and Viking-period royal centre. We continue to Roskilde, where the Viking Ship Museum displays one of the best-preserved groups of Viking period ships from the Scandinavian world. They were excavated from Roskilde fjord, and they survived because they were deliberately sunk to block access, presumably to the harbour here. There is also an opportunity to sail in a replica Viking ship before we visit the cathedral, the burial place of Danish royalty.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner 

Accommodation: Copenhagen Strand Hotel, Copenhagen

On our last morning in Denmark, we visit the excellent National Museum in Copenhagen with prehistoric and Viking artefacts, including the Gundestrup cauldron, the Trundholm chariot, an amazing series of Bronze Age coffined burials and a magnificent Bronze Age lur (a long natural blowing horn). This afternoon may either be spent at leisure or on an optional walk around Copenhagen’s historic centre.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner 

Accommodation: Hotel Kung Carl, Stockholm

We leave Copenhagen this morning and take the train to Stockholm. The route takes over the impressive Øresund Bridge, a magnificent engineering marvel that connects Denmark and Sweden across the Øresund Strait. This combined railway and motorway bridge transitions into a tunnel, offering unique views of the Baltic Sea. Throughout the journey, we see the landscape transform from rolling countryside, characterised by traditional red farmhouses, to deep pine forests and lakes. The journey takes around six hours and we arrive in Stockholm in the late afternoon.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner 

Accommodation: Hotel Kung Carl

Venturing out of the capital city, we head to Anundshög, the largest royal burial mound in Sweden, where standing stones are arranged to represent two ships and a rune stone. Next, we move to Gamla Uppsala to view three huge royal burial mounds that legend attributes to kings Aun, Egil and Adlis. The beautiful Gamla Uppsala kyrka (church) stands over the site of a great temple, where it is believed that sacrifices to the Norse gods Thor, Frey and Odin took place. Legend and history intertwine as we visit tinghög (parliament hill) and the Gamla Uppsala Historical Centre, which displays the artefacts from the excavated mounds.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Accommodation: Hotel Kung Carl

Today we drive to the shores of Lake Mälaren, where we visit the old Swedish capital of Sigtuna. Founded in AD 980 by Erik the Victorious, this charming town boasts a remarkably well-preserved main street – 'Stora Gatan' – which still runs along its original route and its Viking heritage is everywhere to be seen. Returning to Stockholm after lunch, we explore the Historik Museum. Highlights here include the Gold Room, which displays an impressive collection of gold and silver artefacts dating from the Stone Age to the Middle Ages and the Viking exhibition, showcasing important archaeological finds that illuminate this fascinating period of Scandinavian history.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

We take a boat to the island of Björkö (meaning ‘Birch Island’) to explore the UNESCO-listed Viking town of Birka. Founded in the year 750, it benefited from its strategic location and became an important Viking trading centre until 975, when Gotland and Sigtuna took over the Russia-Byzantine trade. A silver ring from a Viking-era grave in Birka is the first with an Arabic inscription from that era to be found in Scandinavia’s centre. 700 people lived at Birka when it was at its largest, and 3,000 graves have been found.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

We visit the amazingly complex Vasa warship before taking a walk around Gamla Stan, the Old Town, which occupies the island of Stadsholmen. It is not a Viking Age town, since it dates from the 13th century, but it retains its medieval street pattern with numerous narrow alleyways and streets leading to the commercial waterfront. Later, depart for the airport or continue your trip at leisure.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch