10 Best Sights in Denmark

Prehistory might not sound exciting to all, but at Moesgaard Museum it’s presented in a way that’s anything but dusty and dated. The exhibitions are created with care and creativity, but the architectural and natural settings are so stunning that you have to force yourself to focus on the exhibits rather than the forest and sea surrounding the remarkable museum.

This museum chronicles the working class from 1870 to the present, with evocative life-size "day in the life of" exhibits, among them reconstructions of a city street and re-creations of apartments, including the home of a brewery worker, his wife, and eight children. Changing exhibits focusing on Danish and international social issues are often excellent. The exhibitions have explanatory texts in English. The museum also has a 19th-century-style café and beer hall serving old-fashioned Danish specialties and a 1950s-style coffee shop.

In a wing of Det Kongelige Bibliotek (Royal Library), this national center of Jewish culture, art, and history holds objects of both secular and religious interest, including paintings, prints, jewelry, scrapbooks, and films. The site was designed by the famed architect Daniel Libeskind. The museum also gives extensive coverage to the Danish resistance movement, whose work during World War II helped bring nearly all of Denmark's 7,000 Jews to safety in Sweden. The museum has information in English.

Evocative, often moving displays commemorate the heroic Danish resistance movement, which saved 7,000 Jews from the Nazis by hiding and then smuggling them to Sweden. The homemade tank outside was used to spread the news of the Nazi surrender after World War II. The displays have information in English. The museum was recently renovated.

This Renaissance structure—built by King Christian IV and one of central Copenhagen's oldest—contains impressive displays of uniforms, weapons, and armor in a 600-foot-long arched hall, exploring Denmark's military history. Children usually like this museum, but it's very much a look-but-don't-touch place. Each artifact has a label in English.

While most of Odense's attractions are dedicated to the city's most famous son, Hans Christian Andersen, this museum explores the history of the city itself. The museum consists of several buildings, most of them quaint old half-timbered houses, as well as an atmospheric cobblestoned courtyard. There are permanent as well as changing exhibitions, all dedicated to Odense's and Funen's history and art scene.

The Ribe Viking Museum chronicles Viking history with conventional exhibits of household goods, tools, and clothing. There's a multimedia room with an interactive computer screen where you can search for more Viking information in the form of text, pictures, and videos.

Its location in the south Baltic has drawn settlers and traders to Bornholm since prehistoric days, and much of that 10,000-year history is recorded and displayed at this centrally located museum. It pays special attention to the island's clock-making past and its role during the occupation by Germany and the Soviet Union in World War II. The museum also manages three other historical sights within Ronne: a 19th-century farmhouse with attached flower and herb garden, a farm museum, and a ceramics factory.

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 and is now the centerpiece of the Viking Museum. The chieftain was buried here, along with the hunting dogs and horses he would need for Valhalla—the afterlife.

Less than 1 km (½ mile) north of the cathedral, on the fjord, is the modern Viking Ship Museum, containing five Viking ships sunk in the fjord 1,000 years ago. Submerged to block the passage of enemy ships, they were discovered in 1957. The painstaking recovery involved building a watertight dam and then draining the water from that section of the fjord. The splinters of wreckage were then preserved and reassembled. A deep-sea trader, warship, ferry, merchant ship, and fierce 92½-foot man-of-war attest to the Vikings' sophisticated and artful boat-making skills. The museum café serves excellent Nordic Viking-inspired meals.