Trelleborg

Zealand


One of Zealand's most important Viking Age sites, this large ring fortress dates to AD 980. It is essentially a perfectly circular raised earthwork, 300m beyond a museum that explains the context, though if you arrive outside the museum's opening hours, you can still visit the main site. Between the two you'll pass a very atmospheric, full-sized Viking wooden longhouse reconstruction.

On return, look to the left of the museum to find a mini 'village' of six thatch- and turf-roofed Viking building mock-ups. A week's festival in mid-July brings this site to life with costumed characters, craftsmen at work and various activities for kids.

Walking up onto the circular rampart you can readily grasp the strikingly precise geometric design of the fortress. Its grassy banks are 17m wide and 6m high, and were originally topped by a wooden palisade. The banks protect a central space where two streets once divided the circle into quarters. Each quarter contained a courtyard with four wooden longhouses, which have long since decayed away, but the post holes and gable ends have been identified and filled with cement to show the outlines of their foundations.

Sheep graze the site impervious to its history and the trickle of visitors, imbuing the scene with a timeless, peaceful aura.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Zealand attractions

1. Trelleborg Museum

0.27 MILES

The reception area acts as a small but informative museum explaining how the ring fort Trelleborg was built, occupied and abandoned. Displays include…

2. Løve Mølle

6.32 MILES

If you've been to Hell (Norway), Bum (Azerbaijan) and Silly (Belgium), why not get more positive and take a town-sign selfie with your beloved at Løve, in…

3. Korsør Isbådsmuseet

7.41 MILES

In the era of harsh winters, before the construction of the Great Belt bridges, ice-breakers were often needed to cut through floes blocking the Store…

4. Storebælts-forbindelsen

10.19 MILES

Some 18km long and incorporating a suspension bridge that's arguably as elegant as the Golden Gate, the Storebælt link is a remarkable piece of…

5. Ludvig Holberg Statue

11.59 MILES

Stroll Sorø Akademi's western gardens to find a tricorn-hatted bronze figure whose plinth rises above two toga-sporting thespian nymphs. The statue…

6. Ridehuset

11.68 MILES

Immediately west of Klosterporten, Ridehuset is one of the Sorø Akademi site's original buildings, first erected by Christian IV to stable the horses and…

7. Sorø Akademi

11.71 MILES

The town's historical and academic soul is shaded with tall oaks and throws together buildings old and new, pretty and banal, though it's nowhere near as…

8. Klosterporten

11.71 MILES

Klosterporten is said to be the oldest still-inhabited gatehouse in Denmark. Once the portal to the Sorø monastery and now the northern entrance to Sorø…

  • placement: superzone
  • path: Destinations/POIs/superzone
  • possible size: [970, 250], [970, 90], [728, 90], [1, 1],
  • targeting:
    {
      "url": "denmark/western-zealand/attractions/trelleborg/a/poi-sig/1438959/1342048",
      "destination": "Zealand",
      "continent": "Europe",
      "country": "Denmark",
      "region": "Zealand",
      "position": "superzone"
    }