Ladby Viking Museum: Denmark's only Viking ship grave

A chieftain was buried in his warship here around 925, and the ship is still in the ground where it was found, under a mound you walk into. Half an hour from Odense, and the only Viking ship grave in Denmark.

Why go

Every other Viking ship you can see in Scandinavia was dug up and moved into a hall. This one was not. Around 925 a chieftain was buried in his warship on the shore of Kerteminde Fjord, the ship was covered with a mound, and it is still there. You walk down into the mound and look at the imprint the hull left in the soil, with the iron rivets lying where the planks rotted away around them. It is dark, quiet and quite small, and it is the only Viking ship grave in Denmark.

The grave was robbed and wrecked in antiquity, probably deliberately, but what was left says plenty: eleven horses, several dogs, an anchor and the fittings of a rich man’s household. The bodies of the horses were piled in the stern.

What to see

The ship grave. A chamber built over the burial in the 1930s, reached by a short walk from the museum building. This is the reason to come. Allow twenty minutes inside; it is not large.

The museum. The finds from the grave, the story of who the Ladby king may have been, and the Ladby Tapestry, a seven meter embroidery of the burial made in modern times. A temporary exhibition on women’s lives in the Viking Age, Threads of Fate, runs until 12 June 2027.

The Ladbydragen. A full size sailing reconstruction of the Ladby ship, kept at the museum’s harbor. On selected Thursdays and Sundays in May and June the volunteer crew takes her out on Kerteminde Fjord, and in July and August she travels to Kerteminde and Munkebo for local festivals. Visitors cannot sail on her, so this is something to watch from the bank, not to book.

Practical

Open Tuesday to Sunday 10:00 to 16:00 from September through May, and daily 10:00 to 17:00 in June, July and August. Closed on Mondays outside summer, and closed 24, 25, 26 and 31 December and 1 January.

Adults 125 DKK in 2026, seniors 110, students 100, and free under 18. Cards. There is no restaurant: the shop sells hot and cold drinks and ice cream, and there are tables and benches looking over the fjord, so bring a packed lunch. Dogs are welcome on a leash outdoors.

Budget two hours for the museum, the mound and the walk between them.

Access

Disabled parking and a coach turning area sit right by the entrance. The museum building has a lift and an accessible toilet, and the mound entrance has a ramp and a low threshold. The catch is the ground in between: the mound is about 300 meters from the museum on gravel and dirt paths that are not level. There are benches along the way, and the museum lends a wheelchair.

Getting there

Ladby is at Vikingevej 123, five kilometers south of Kerteminde on the fjord. Half an hour by car from Odense, an hour and a quarter from Odense by bus and on foot, and about an hour and a half from Copenhagen by car across the Great Belt. Odense is the sensible base.

Combine with

Nordfyn Viking Market at the Glavendrup rune stone, forty minutes northwest, on the first weekend of September. Trelleborg on Zealand, with the largest Viking festival in Denmark in July, is an hour and a half east and makes an easy pairing on the way to or from Copenhagen.

Sources

Last updated 2026-09-08. Prices and opening hours change; check the venue before you go. Back to Plan your trip or the festival calendar.