If you're fascinated by Vikings, the Trelleborg Viking fortress, built by King Harald Bluetooth in 980 CE, is a mesmerizing site. It's one of the best-preserved Viking sites in Zealand, and the grounds are open 24/7. A large ring fortress, Trelleborg is essentially a perfectly circular raised earthwork, often covered in grazing sheep. The interior once contained 16 wooden longhouses, but only the foundations are indicated today. A king’s hall (closed for restoration at the time of research) and a small reconstructed Viking village are near the small museum, which mainly contains artifacts found on the site. Come in July for a week-long Viking festival full of enthusiastic reenactors in fancy period dress (admission is 150kr at this time). Getting here on public transportation is complicated.
Walking up onto the circular rampart you can readily grasp the strikingly precise geometric design of the fortress. Its grassy banks – 17m wide and 6m high – were originally topped by a wooden palisade. They 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.
