Viking Ship Museum
Viking Ship Museum
4.5
Speciality MuseumsShipsHistory Museums
10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Monday
10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Tuesday
10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Wednesday
10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Thursday
10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Friday
10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Saturday
10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Sunday
10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
About
Warships await you at the Viking Ship Museum. Don't worry, they won't open fire. This museum is dedicated to education about boat building, archaeology and Viking life. It's a favorite among kids, and visitors of all ages can take to the water in traditional vessels. Open 10 a.m.-4 p.m. seven days a week, until 5 p.m. in summer months.
Duration: 2-3 hours
Suggest edits to improve what we show.
Improve this listing
Tours & experiences
Explore different ways to experience this place.
What is Travellers’ Choice?
Tripadvisor gives a Travellers’ Choice award to accommodations, attractions and restaurants that consistently earn great reviews from travellers and are ranked within the top 10% of properties on Tripadvisor.
Revenue impacts the experiences featured on this page, learn more.

Top ways to experience Viking Ship Museum and nearby attractions

See what travellers are saying
  • MAM
    352 contributions
    4.0 of 5 bubbles
    How to get to know the Vikings
    Visited here with family and a friend on our two week tour of Denmark. I had been here numerous times in the past. Great place to take a new person for easy to understand history of the Vikings and a close up of Viking ships. Spent most of our time inside since it was raining. Did a quick tour of outside in boatyard. English translations in the museum were perfect.
    Visited October 2023
    Travelled with family
    Written 15 October 2023
  • Shadow P
    15 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Visit beautiful Roskilde and come face to face with real viking boats
    To see these iconic ships which were recovered from the ocean floor is moving. The purpose built museum is really attractive and the other boats re-created to historical designs are beautiful. Historic Danish capital Roskilde is itself gorgeous and an absolute must if you are visiting Copenhagen for more than a couple of days
    Visited October 2023
    Travelled solo
    Written 18 October 2023
  • garry_kneller
    Eastleigh, United Kingdom13 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    A rewarding experience
    A fascinating insight to Viking history, with the human factor. By that the museum is not just about exhibits, titles, pictures and displays. Instead their are demonstrations of skills required to build authentic Viking ship replicas, hands on opportunities for visitors to work with tools and wood, chances to sail on replica boats, and play in Viking games with actors, wearing costume. Family tickets are available to lessen costs, and places to eat. However as with most Scandinavian countries it can be costly. Parking can also be a problem on popular weekend days, so if possible, plan a week day visit, and plenty of time to walk and participate. There is a lot of walking involved, so be aware, as the exhibits, craft demonstrations, and main long boat hall, despite being well planned, are spread across the main site.
    Visited September 2023
    Travelled with family
    Written 19 October 2023
  • Hitheroadwithlila
    Lenexa, Kansas2,220 contributions
    4.0 of 5 bubbles
    A Viking Experience
    From the Roskilde Cathedral, we moved to another site in Roskilde, the Viking Ship Museum. The ground, still wet from the previous rain, along with grey skies, and dense clouds, gave the site an ominous feel. Once the group departed the tour bus, we weaved between buildings and areas that during the spring and summer would have been buzzing with tourists, guides, and local workers. Instead, we viewed partly constructed sailing Viking ships in the museum’s boatyard freely. I peeked into the windows of a rope making shop as well as other buildings as our group made its way to the museum. As we approached the museum, there were a few people on the grounds, working on ship replicas. Inside the museum, to gain knowledge about the five original, excavated Viking vessels (Skuldelev ships) from 1962, a film, Five Viking Ships from Skuldelev played in a small theatre downstairs. Upstairs, the haunting view of the 11th century ships are on display. Striking and poignant, to view these ships that were buried for years would make one wish that they could talk and reveal their history for all to hear. Overall: There is a chance to board a traditional Nordic boat that allows passengers to take part in rowing and other jobs to have an idea what it was like to be a Viking. Check the website for availability starting in May to September.
    Visited January 2024
    Travelled with friends
    Written 19 February 2024
  • Lee H
    10 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Excellent Day Out Museum
    A great museum to visit as it is amazing to see exact replicas of the ships in the museum being built in the boat yard and tested on the Fjord so they can see how they function. The exhibits themselves are amazing to see, the fact that parts of the ships have survived is like a miracle. The museum has other exhibits apart from the five ships and all of the staff there were so helpful and friendly. From Roskilde station you can easily walk down to the museum in twenty minutes as its quite an easy walk. A must see if you want to see Danish history.
    Visited March 2024
    Travelled solo
    Written 22 March 2024
  • martinc201083
    Melrose, United Kingdom40 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Well worth a visit
    Excellent all round experience at this museum. From the working boat yard to the life size replicas in the water, the recovered Viking ships and the make your own woodwork shed. Great set up. Our only regret was that we didn’t go in season for a trip out on to the fjord on one of the long ships…next time!
    Visited October 2023
    Travelled as a couple
    Written 14 April 2024
  • TravelBoomerang
    Kendall, Florida1,958 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Amazing Experience
    To have a wooden Norse ship survive hundreds of years is something rather amazing. To have 5 is extraordinary! The Viking Ship museum gives visitors up close access to the ships found nearby and offers historical interpretation. The recreated ships near the entrance to the museum can help visitors understand how these ships worked and moved the Norse people. Well worth the visit
    Visited October 2023
    Travelled as a couple
    Written 22 April 2024
  • Ronald R
    Stromness, United Kingdom319 contributions
    4.0 of 5 bubbles
    Great Museum to visit, just a shame the Summer Boat trips weren't on the go when we visited.
    We visited this museum and were very impressed with the layout of the ships in the museum as it is quite small to hold these 5 ships and the other parts of the museum. We caught the film as well as we went back to it halfway through our walk around the museum. There are guided tours available in English and other languages at different times of the day. Unfortunately we didn't have time for one due to our rough schedule in Roskilde. Still the walk thro the 5 galleys and the displays on why they were needed to be sunk and the story of Roskilde's defense was very well done and informative. The is a interesting display after you have completed the Galley tour and it would be great fun for the kids sailing in their own galley! The shop was well laid out and lots of interesting items to purchase. After the museum you can walk over to the small Viking Harbour where the seagoing galleys are kept our in our case laid up for the winter due to the time of our April visit. Still it is a good reason for a revisit to get a sail on a Viking Galley. The is a coffee shop over here and other things to see before you leave here. It would have been 5 star trip if we had got a sail but not this time i'm afraid.
    Visited April 2024
    Travelled as a couple
    Written 12 May 2024
  • Geoff D
    Mississauga, Canada107 contributions
    4.0 of 5 bubbles
    Boatyard tour made this an interesting experience
    There is really not much left of the 5 sunken boats that were recovered. What made this a good experience was the boat yard tour. When the guide started and said it would take 45 minutes I groaned inside but a good guide makes all the difference and he made it interesting explaining the work they are doing in the boat yard. We commuted there from downtown Copenhagen: Metro, regional train, bus - so a bit of an ordeal but for something we will only do once I’d recommend
    Visited June 2024
    Travelled as a couple
    Written 4 June 2024
  • AlbertSalichs
    Manresa, Spain22,446 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Wonderful real Vikings ships!
    Viking Ship Museum is located in the harbour of Roskilde, the second city in Denmark. It is a wonderful museum, where you can see some real Vikings ships. Really awesome! Some of them are very well preserved (they are almost 1000 years old). The museum is very well built and you can walk around all ships. Also, in the museum you can see some information about these ships (they were found sunk in the Roskilde bay) and why these ships were her. Also, you can see a workshop, where some reproductions of Viking ships are done and a.place, where children can interact with Viking objects and sail a Viking boat. Excellent for adults and children. (See also Roskilde Havn)
    Visited August 2023
    Travelled with family
    Written 7 June 2024
These reviews are the subjective opinion of Tripadvisor members and not of TripAdvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.

Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.

Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as waiting time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.

Popular mentions

We perform checks on reviews.
Tripadvisor’s approach to reviews
Before posting, each Tripadvisor review goes through an automated tracking system, which collects information, answering the following questions: how, what, where and when. If the system detects something that potentially contradicts our community guidelines, the review is not published.
When the system detects a problem, a review may be automatically rejected, sent to the reviewer for validation, or manually reviewed by our team of content specialists, who work 24/7 to maintain the quality of the reviews on our site.
Our team checks each review posted on the site disputed by our community as not meeting our community guidelines.
Learn more about our review moderation.
4.5
4.5 of 5 bubbles2,021 reviews
Excellent
1,115
Very good
615
Average
201
Poor
66
Terrible
24

Darth Y
5 contributions
1.0 of 5 bubbles
Aug 2021
Sadly this Museum have become a bonified Turist trap. It cost nearly 250KD (33EURO) for Entrance and the whole outside area that used to be FREE admittance have been gobbled up by the Museum proper and you now have to pay to see the replica boats.. And to just rub salt in the wound WE Danes indirectly support this place through our TAXES as the Museum is primarily state funded. So I can't recommend this as it's to expensive and smells of nothing more then a trap for Turist.
Written 5 July 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Andy
Shoreham-by-Sea, UK27 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Aug 2022
The museum was definitely worth the trip from Copenhagen and is good value if you have the Copenhagen city card, as rail travel is included and museum entry. Roskilde itself is a really lovely town and the museum was about a 30 minute stroll from the train station. It was really easy to reach. The Viking ships were simply stunning, and their location overlooking the fjord really helped place them in context. Really evoked a sense of history. The living history and experimental marine archaeology aspect to the museum really adds an extra dimension to the place too. My 14 year old son and I had also prebooked the sailing trip on a replica Viking ship. That was great too. The museum staff were really helpful and knowledgeable, and we got to experience the rowing and the sailing.
Written 11 September 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Leah B
212 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Jan 2020 • Friends
This museum was so wonderful! At first I was a little underwhelmed by what was on display, however then we took the free tour and listened to all the history behind how the 5 ships came to be here!
Wow, I learnt so much this day!

In summer, the museum organised sailing trips on the recreated Viking ships. Which would have been amazing! But we were here in winter so this part of the museum wasn’t operational.

If in the area, this museum is definitely work the time! We spent at least 2 hours here!
Written 15 January 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Saldenryd
Aarhus, Denmark105 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
July 2020
But if you like vikings you must see it. Most interesting is to see and board the replicas eg the sea stallion long ship. And to visit and talk to the carpenters worling outside. The old museums with the original ships feels very outdated and needs more interactivity, eg like Mosgaard museum at Aarhus.
Written 27 July 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

jbg74
Saint Paul, MN1,099 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Sept 2021
This was an awesome museum. There are the remains of five old viking ships plus modern recreations of the ships. There are other recreations of klinker built ships too. You can even sail on the ships. This is one of the best museums to visit in Denmark. You definitely have to visit if you have kids. They will love rowing a Viking ship out of the harbor then setting sail in it. Reading and hearing all of the information on how Viking ships were built was also very interesting.
Written 6 September 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Jeff K
Pittsburgh, PA2,353 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
July 2023 • Couples
I wasn’t sure if I would like this visit but I found it very worthwhile. We were lucky to arrive when an English speaking outdoor tour was starting. They make boats at the museum following historical styles and processes, including Viking boats. The outdoor tour explains how and why the different types of boats were built. The tour lasted about an hour and is very informative. The guide was very good.

Once the outdoor tour ended we were able to join an English indoor tour of the museum. This tour was shorter but very good. It was just the right amount of detail for us.

We enjoyed our visit because of the tours. I don’t think it would be nearly as good if we had tried to visit on our own.

Note that the tours are included in the price of admission and they have tours throughout the day. We joined the outdoor tour at noon and the indoor tour at 1:00. We had about 5 minutes to get from the outdoor tour to the indoor tour.
Written 4 July 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Hitheroadwithlila
Lenexa, KS2,220 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Jan 2024 • Friends
From the Roskilde Cathedral, we moved to another site in Roskilde, the Viking Ship Museum. The ground, still wet from the previous rain, along with grey skies, and dense clouds, gave the site an ominous feel.
Once the group departed the tour bus, we weaved between buildings and areas that during the spring and summer would have been buzzing with tourists, guides, and local workers. Instead, we viewed partly constructed sailing Viking ships in the museum’s boatyard freely. I peeked into the windows of a rope making shop as well as other buildings as our group made its way to the museum.
As we approached the museum, there were a few people on the grounds, working on ship replicas. Inside the museum, to gain knowledge about the five original, excavated Viking vessels (Skuldelev ships) from 1962, a film, Five Viking Ships from Skuldelev played in a small theatre downstairs.
Upstairs, the haunting view of the 11th century ships are on display. Striking and poignant, to view these ships that were buried for years would make one wish that they could talk and reveal their history for all to hear.
Overall: There is a chance to board a traditional Nordic boat that allows passengers to take part in rowing and other jobs to have an idea what it was like to be a Viking. Check the website for availability starting in May to September.
Written 20 February 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

HSUK_2011
West Haddon, UK599 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Aug 2022 • Couples
We visited on a sunny day and there were lots of outside activities as well as the visit into the museum to see the ships.
We also buy an extra ticket to sail on a boat. This was a disappointment. We all had to take part in rowing the boat but the trip lasted a very short time and the two young lads conducting the trip were not very inspiring. A total waste of money! The boat was rowed out into the harbour, sail risen and then the trip was over.
Written 24 August 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Sebastian Taro G
38 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Apr 2022 • Family
After years of wanting to go, my wife got us all to attend, a family of 4, including a 6 and a 10 year old girl. There was something for all of us. My wife is a history teacher and read about so many cool things to do with Roskilde, Vikings, historic boat building and sea defenses. I’m a Swede who thinks himself a bit of a Viking (beard, long hair, clearly rocked the dressing up options later) so I was happy to read up on some stuff but was really there for the massive reconstructed boats, the original ships, and the bit where you can touch old artifacts including 1,000 year old rope. Apparently it’s so common to find that they don’t even need to preserve it all and so it’s touchable for all of us. Daughter was equally impressed.

What really helped was that it was very well geared towards kids as well. We got one fact finding map which 10yo took and researched facts like what color sails, what rope was made if, and what goods Vikings traded. Meanwhile 6yo could run around quite freely and build her own paper boat, and draw her own ship and ships sail. At the end there is also a really cool reconstructed boat bit where you can dress up in Viking garb and play on the ship. Delightful.

It was a great visit for all, worth every penny, and would recommend to families very gladly!
Written 17 April 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Anne B
Milton Keynes, UK53 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
May 2022
Seeing a real Viking Ship was on my bucket list. This museum was the only one open on our trip and it was worth the short train journey from Copenhagen Central and walk through Roskilde, down to the harbour. The ships were well displayed and the information was comprehensive. Cafe a little disappointing, but perhaps it was too early in the season.
Written 1 June 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Showing results 1-10 of 1,228
Revenue impacts the experiences featured on this page, learn more.
Is this your Tripadvisor listing?
Own or manage this property? Claim your listing for free to respond to reviews, update your profile and much more.
Claim your listing

Viking Ship Museum - All You MUST Know Before You Go (2024)

All Roskilde HotelsRoskilde Hotel DealsLast Minute Hotels in Roskilde
All things to do in Roskilde
Theatre & Concerts in Roskilde
RestaurantsFlightsHoliday RentalsTravel StoriesCruisesRental Cars