A bit off the beaten path, but if you're visiting Fyn this museum and viking burial mound…read moredefinitely needs to be on your list. While the location is not obvious and it is a ways off the main roads around Kerteminde, there is decent signage and any decent GPS will get you there without an issue.
Once you find your way, the first thing you'll encounter is their ample parking (for such a small place) and then you step directly into the gift shop/lobby area. They have all kinds of information regarding tourism in and around Kerteminde, and indeed the rest of Fyn, along with a ton of awesome and unique gifts. Everything from jewelry to desk trinkets, books, toys and figurines, even viking-themed booze, you will almost certainly find something to take back with you or as a gift for friends/family back home. Prices range from mild to wild, but you would be hard pressed to not find something to suit your needs. The gift shop is also where you pay for admission, which is quite reasonable.
The friendly staff directed us first through the museum on the ground floor, which houses many artifacts as well as information on the history of the vikings themselves and the area in which the ship was found. You'll see examples of period hardware, tools and crafts, along with interesting murals, maps and a model of the ship. Once you've toured the museum proper, you can head downstairs to a re-creation of what the viking ship would have looked like at the time it was interred in the burial mound, complete with sacrificed horses, treasure and, of course, the dead viking chieftain. It's somewhat eerie, but also neat to see what it would have looked like, before you make your way to the actual mound itself.
To get to the burial mound, you go back upstairs into the gift shop and then proceed out the backdoor, which leads down a short trail, lined with trees, as it winds its way to a small hill. On the backside of that hill is the entrance to the burial mound itself, within which lies the original and now preserved viking ship. It's preserved inside a glass case, and the lighting is dim (purposely, as the operators which to enforce the notion that this is a burial mound, after all), but you can see everything you would want. Flash photography is forbidden, but with some creativity and a steady hand, you can still get decent shots because there is accent lighting throughout the display.
The ship itself is incredible to behold, both for the sheer scale as well as the craftsmanship that went into it. You can actually still see the skeletal remains, at least in part, of the horses that were sacrificed and interred with the chieftain. I have to say, it's somewhat surreal to be visiting a viking burial ground, and an ancient ship at that, from underneath a hill near the edge of the waterway.
If you happen to be in the area, and especially if you're already visiting Kerteminde, you simply cannot pass up the chance to visit this well preserved viking ship, in a well maintained museum that is run by friendly and helpful people. This was my second visit, as I returned to share the experience with family, and I was even more impressed than the first time. Highly recommended!
