Sagnlandet Lejre, Land of Legends, is an amazing place! You truly feel as though you’ve stepped back in time from the moment you arrive and are greeted with a view down into a grassy valley full of families, each clustered around their own fire, smoke wisping up picturesquely into the sky.

Whilst the Vikings are always intrinsically linked with Denmark in most people’s minds (and that’s what drew us to visit), this place also shows what life was like in the Stone Age, the Iron Age and 1800s with the aid of meticulously reconstructed environments and actors from each era. There is SO much to do that you probably can’t do it justice in a day. Here are our top 10 experiences in no particular order:

Marvel at the King’s Hall

Arguably the most famous and certainly the most impressive part of the attraction is the 10m tall Viking King’s Hall, where Denmark’s first kings, accompanied by their wives, would have gathered with their warriors. Looking very much like an upturned Viking ship, it’s a reconstruction of the largest royal hall ever found in Denmark, in Old Lejre, 3km away. Vast and intricately-carved wooden doors invite you inside where the atmospheric inner chamber immediately transports you back in time. Children can try on costumes and sit upon the throne. As well as actors bringing the hall to life by performing tasks around the hall such as winding yarn or doing crafts, there are also talks at certain times of day. You’ll also find different kinds of Viking dwellings dotted around the outside of the hall. Near to the entrance of the whole attraction, there’s a room where you can watch a video about the research and building process which was an interesting start to our day.

Visit an 1850s Smallholder House

You can wander around the house of an 1850s smallholder and hear from an actor about how they and their children lived. We were initially a little confused to enter the living area and see a little Danish girl huddled up in a bed, stroking a cat. It later emerged that I think she and her mother were dressed up and enjoying an immersive holiday in the house (however I can’t see any information about this on the website so I might be wrong)! Playing with her (despite the language barrier) was Small’s absolute highlight of the day. The actor was also performing household duties like preparing food and feeding the ducks, whilst answering questions too. There were activities for the children like a little egg-and-spoon obstacle course too. 

Meet the Expert Craftspeople

At specific times, you can try your hands at weaving (we did) or pottery (we missed) and also see (and buy) what the experts have made. They’re good opportunities to ask questions and learn about artefacts from throughout the ages.

Go Rowing

This was an unexpected treat and the only thing there was a little bit of a queue for. Stone Age dugout canoes and more traditional rowing boats from 1900s (plus life jackets) were available to borrow. It was so lovely and peaceful taking a turn around the little boating lake.

Spot Wild Boar 

New at the time of our visit was a beautiful winding wooden walkway through the trees. Interesting artworks along the path depict the significance of wild boar in arts and literature throughout the ages whilst down below you can spot the boar themselves, snuffling about or rolling in the mud! There are also a few sheltered seating areas along the route making good spots for a little snack break.

Play

There’s an amazing carved wooden climbing trail, some bowling lanes and something involving pulling ropes to lift heavy weights!

Visit the Iron Age

We met an Iron Age man who was whittling a whistle and was very happy to chat and answer the girls’ many and sometimes odd questions without breaking character. You can also explore the reconstructed village and see inside their houses. There’s a similar experience to be had over in the Stone Age camp but that was a bit further out and we ran out of time to visit them. There were lots of frogs in the pond there too!

Hike to the Viking ‘Stone Ship’

It’s 83 metres long and replicates an original Viking Age grave marker located 3km away. Its vast scale and hilltop setting make it a good goal for a short hike which you can extend into a longer hike if your kids aren’t hot and wanting lunch!

Pan for Gold

We had a great time panning for treasure. I found some chain mail pieces and there were various other bits and bobs posted into the collection box to have a look at.

Cook Snobrød

We finished our day by making snobrød over a fire. It’s a simple twisted bonfire bread and you purchase the dough from the café. There was popcorn too but they’d run out by the time we tried to get some. You stretch the dough out, twist it round a big stick, light your fire from another lit one, then settle down on a log to toast it into bread! Once it’s cooked through, you just eat it straight off the stick. Such a fun activity and definitely a highlight for us. You can also do a longer activity of grinding flour and making flatbreads to cook on the fire but we didn’t have the time to do this.

Other things which we didn’t do: it’d be more or less impossible to get to every talk, activity and demonstration so choose the activities you like the sound of best. At times there is archery and spear throwing which I don’t think was on when we visited. You can also meet smallholder farmers and feed the sheep and goats. When we were there, there was also an archaeology dig with experts where you could also examine historic finds. Exactly which activities are on, on any given day, are shared on the website. You don’t need to book or pay extra for anything except the dough as far as we know.

It was genuinely such a unique and wonderfully immersive experience, so different to anything we’ve done before. Well worth a visit! 

Key Information: we went mid-August and read that it’s a good idea to book ahead so we did although in reality I think we’d have got in anyway; adult tickets are £29 / 255 DKK / €34 and children (3-11) are £18 / 160 DKK / €21; it’s hard to do everything in one day but tickets are valid for a full year; there’s a café and lovely gift shop too; download the app for guided walks and trails; plenty of picnic benches; a lot of it is pramable, with the exception of the hiking trails; their website FAQ is very helpful!

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Sagnlandet Lejre was just one stop in our 2.5 week road trip from Derbyshire (UK) to Copenhagen in Denmark. The full itinerary, using our own car, is below. I’ll come back and link in future blog posts as I write them. It was a great trip but, if we did it again, we’d add another night on the way up north to break the journey up, and possibly the same again on the way back down.

Day 1: home to Folkestone for our LeShuttle crossing; drive to Bailleul, France (or similar for 1 night) (a long travel day but broken up so it didn’t feel too bad)

Day 2: long travel day #1 – breakfast in France, lunch in Belgium at Chateau d’Hélécine (free bouncy castles and amazing playgrounds next to a lake and café) and dinner in Germany (stay 2 nights in Weilerswist or similar or stay in Cologne if preferred)

GERMANY

Day 3: visit Cologne

Day 4: long travel day #2 – Cologne to Fleckby (or similar for 1 night) via Bremen Rhododendron Park (playgrounds, walks and a pricey/busy café so maybe bring a picnic) 

DENMARK

Day 5: travel to Svendborg (4 nights) and visit Odense

Day 6: visit Ærø island by passenger ferry

Day 7: visit Egeskov Castle

Day 8: visit Langeland island (self-drive tour)

Day 9: visit Sagnlandet Lejre (Land of Legends) then travel to Roskilde (or similar or stay in Copenhagen if preferred for 2 nights)

Day 10: visit Copenhagen

Day 11: visit Lisleje Beach; travel to Askeby (or similar for 2 nights)

Day 12: visit Møn island (self-drive tour)

Day 13: long travel day #3 – Askeby to Lübeck (2 nights) via a stop in Heiligenhafen Pier

GERMANY

Day 14: visit Lübeck

Day 15: long travel day #4 – Lübeck to Oberhausen (or similar for 1 night) via a stop in Celle

BELGIUM

Day 16: visit Ghent, Belgium (stay 2 nights in Wingene or similar or in Ghent/Bruges if preferred)

Day 17: visit Bruges

Day 18: Bruges to home

All information is correct at the time of posting. Follow us on Instagram @four_go_exploring for more independent family adventures.