What to wear to a Viking festival (you do not need a costume)
Visitors wear normal clothes. Reenactors wear the historical kit, and that is the point. If you want to dress up you are welcome, and a few markets give you a discount for it, but nobody expects it.
The rule
Visitors wear ordinary clothes. Reenactors and traders wear the historical clothing, because they have spent years and a great deal of money getting it right. Nobody will look at you twice in jeans and a rain jacket. Most people at any Viking market are visitors in exactly that.
If you want to dress up
You are welcome to. A few markets encourage it: Gudahagen in Sweden gives half-price admission to anyone in historical dress. What matters is the spirit, not the accuracy. A plain wool or linen tunic and a belt will do. What reenactors quietly wince at is the fancy-dress version: horned helmets, fur bikinis, plastic axes. If you are going to dress up, skip those.
Children are a different matter. A cheap tunic and a wooden sword make the day for a six-year-old, and every market has stalls selling both.
What to actually pack
Layers. Nordic summer runs from 12 to 28 degrees Celsius (55 to 82 Fahrenheit) in the same week. A T-shirt, a warm layer and a rain shell cover it.
Shoes for grass and gravel. You will walk several kilometers on uneven ground. Trainers or light boots. Sandals are fine at the beach sites and miserable in a wet field.
Sun protection. The sun is low but long. Hat and sunscreen.
Rain gear. A shell, not an umbrella. Umbrellas do not work in a crowd watching a battle.
A bag for what you buy. Traders wrap things in paper, not plastic.
What not to bring
Nothing metal that looks like a weapon, even a replica. Some events have rules about it and you will want to buy one there anyway. Large backpacks are a nuisance in the trader street. Drones are banned at nearly every site.
Dogs
Allowed at some, not others, and we list it on each event page where we know. Where allowed, keep them on a lead and away from the camp: there are open fires, food and often horses.
Related events
Last updated 2026-09-06. Prices and opening hours change; check the venue before you go. Back to Guides or the festival calendar.