Gamla Uppsala Viking Festival 2027: dates, tickets and how to get there
The Gamla Uppsala Viking Festival is held in mid-June at the royal burial mounds outside Uppsala, 45 minutes north of Stockholm by train. It is Sweden's largest Viking Age festival, with reenactors from several countries camping beside the mounds and around 3,000 visitors over the weekend.
Quick facts
To be announced- Dates
- Mid June 2027, dates not announced
- Hours
- Not confirmed
- Where
- Gamla Uppsala museum and the royal mounds, Uppsala, Sweden
- Nearest airport
- Stockholm Arlanda (ARN), about 25 min
- From Stockholm
- 1 h by train to Uppsala, then bus 2
- From Uppsala
- 15 min by bus 2 from the city center
- Organizer
- Upplandsmuseet, Gamla Uppsala museum
- Admission
- Museum admission is low by Swedish standards; the mounds themselves are free and open.
- Payment
- Cards and Swish.
- Kids
- Yes. Children's activities at the museum and in the camp.
- Dogs
- Not confirmed
- Camping
- Not confirmed
- Accessibility
- Not confirmed
- Language
- English spoken. Guided tours in English.
What happens
Three great burial mounds from the sixth century and a museum mark the old pagan center of Sweden. The festival sets up a camp and market at their feet, with crafts, battles, music, lectures and food. It is close to Arlanda Airport, which makes it one of the easiest Swedish Viking events to reach for international visitors.
What visitors say
The festival is young compared with Foteviken or Ribe, and the written record is thinner. What exists is positive about the setting: a reenactor camp and market laid out directly beneath the royal mounds, with lectures and guided tours from the museum’s own staff. The organizer reported around 2,800 visitors for the previous edition, one in six of them from abroad, which tells you it is a real event but not a crowded one.
The museum itself gets mixed reviews outside the festival. Several visitors describe it as pitched at families, noisy and closer to an indoor play space than a history museum, while others praise it as good value with a low ticket price. Nobody disputes the mounds, which are the reason to come.
Our take
Gamla Uppsala is the easiest Viking festival in Sweden to reach, 18 minutes by train from Arlanda and under an hour from Stockholm, and it happens in the one place in Sweden that every Viking Age source talks about. That combination makes it the obvious first stop for a visitor with a weekend in Stockholm in mid-June.
Set expectations for size. It is a few hundred reenactors and a market, not a city. Come for the mounds, the lectures and the camp, and treat the museum as optional. If you want scale, go to Foteviken two weeks later.
Our take is based on visitor reviews, reenactor forums and the organizer’s own program, not on a visit. We say so because we think you should know.
Getting there
Trains from Stockholm Central to Uppsala take under 40 minutes; from Uppsala station take bus 2 to Gamla Uppsala. From Arlanda Airport, Uppsala is 18 minutes by train.
Combine with
Birka Viking Weeks in July, and Uppsala’s cathedral and Gustavianum museum in town.
Sources
The organizer’s festival page and press release, visitor reviews of the museum on Tripadvisor, and Destination Uppsala.
Past editions
- June 12–14, 2026
Last checked 2026-09-05 against the organizer's website: Upplandsmuseet, Gamla Uppsala museum. Dates can change; confirm before you travel. Back to Sweden, near Stockholm or the full calendar.