Zealand

Viking Denmark: following the footsteps of ancient explorers

Were Vikings mead-swilling and pillaging hooligans, or civilising craftspeople, poets and merchants? Your preconceptions around Vikings will likely be challenged in Denmark, where a series of burial sites, rune stones, settlements and museums brings this age to life. The Vikings' gods and beliefs, their stupendous feats of navigation, their customs, their longships, their intricate jewellery, carvings and sagas - it's all here. Just forget the horned helmets - they didn't wear them.

Roskilde Rocks

Denmark’s answer to Glastonbury, Roskilde Festival is northern Europe’s largest music festival. This four-day-long binge of bands and booze rocks Roskilde every summer on the last weekend in June.

Since 1971, it has attracted the biggest and best international performers – some 170+ rock, techno and world-music bands play on seven stages. The promoters are astute at trend-spotting, so expect to see hot new bands who haven’t yet come into the spotlight alongside established alternative stars.