4 Best Sights in Funen and the Central Islands, Denmark

Occupying a former textile factory, this four-story artist compound houses the Museet for Fotokunst (Museum of Photographic Art), Denmarks Mediemuseum (Danish Media Museum), and Kunsthallen (Art Gallery). National and international exhibits shown here vary widely, but the photography museum and the art gallery gravitate toward especially experimental work.

In Hans Christian Andersen's childhood home, where he lived in the early 1800s, the young boy and his parents lived in three tiny rooms. The rooms are outfitted with rustic, period furnishings (chairs, lamps, a table) and little else. Ticket price includes one-day admission to five Hans Christian Andersen attractions.

The village of Ladby, 16 km (10 miles) east of Odense, is best known as the home of the 1,100-year-old remains of this ship, which belonged to a Viking chieftain. He was buried along with the hunting dogs and horses he would need for Valhalla—the afterlife.

Constructed between the 13th and 15th century, this is Denmark's only purely Gothic cathedral. The intricate wooden altar covered with gold leaf was carved by German sculptor Claus Berg. Beneath the sepulcher are the bones of St. (King) Knud, killed during a farmers' uprising in 1086, and his brother.