Lejre between the Viking Age, nature and hiking trails

Lejre was a center of power and probably a royal seat for more than 500 years during the Late Iron Age and the Viking Age. Lejre includes the villages of Gershøj, Kirke Hyllinge, Kisserup, Kyndeløse, Kirke Såby, Ordrup, Lejre and Kirke Hvalsø.

Culture and history

The Lejre Museum displays the unique silver figure from the Viking Age known as „Odin from Lejre“. Excavated royal halls are located west of Gl. Lejre; the largest is 62 metres long. These royal halls were used for feasts and ceremonies during the Iron Age and the Viking Age.

Harald Hildetand's Mound is a Neolithic dolmen that archaeologists date to around 3500 BC. Gl. Kongsgård is a 300-year-old former tenant farm with original furnishings and other belongings of its former residents; it has been a family farm since 1749.

Places to visit

The entire exhibition at the Lejre Museum is located on the ground floor and is easily accessible by wheelchair. There is a free car park directly next to the museum.

Sagnlandet Lejre covers 43 hectares of hills, forests, lakes and meadows. The site includes reconstructed environments from the Stone Age, the Iron Age, the Viking Age and the 19th century.

Sagnlandet Lejre offers hands-on activities such as grinding grain, baking bread and pastries, taking a ride in a Stone Age boat and archery. At Videsø, there are historic workshops for pottery and textile work.

Nature and landscape

The protected landscape around Gl. Lejre offers paths through fields, meadows and pastureland, as well as views of a landscape formed during the last Ice Age around 13,000 to 15,000 years ago. The Gl. Lejre area is home to pheasants, roe deer and hares, as well as various birds of prey throughout the year, including red kites and peregrine falcons.

Tadre Mølle is the last of a total of 13 former watermills in Elverdamsdalen and now serves as a fully operational cultural history museum and nature centre. At Tadre Mølle, paths lead along the millpond and around the meadows. The Kildekalksruten is a 1.4-kilometre circular route starting at Tadre Mølle and passing Denmark's only open spring limestone quarry.

Every year in July, a haymaking event takes place in the meadow at Tadre Mølle, organised by Tadre Mølles Venner, DN and the national park. Ejby Skrænter and Ejby Ådal offer an approximately 4.5-kilometre circular route with botanical experiences and expansive views over the Isefjord.

Hiking and cycling routes

The Skjoldungestien is approximately 50 kilometres long and runs between Roskilde, Lejre and Hvalsø through open countryside, forests and along the Roskilde Fjord. Gudernes Stræde is an approximately 64-kilometre hiking trail with Gl. Lejre as its centre and around 80 information boards.

The 390-kilometre Istidsruten connects the landscape shaped by the Ice Age with a cycling tour. The Lejre loop of the Istidsruten begins and ends at Lejre station, allowing the cycling tour to be combined with travel by train.

Getting around

Lejre station provides direct rail access to Skjoldungernes Land National Park; from there, royal halls, ship settings, burial mounds and museums can be reached directly. Bus 207 runs through the national park and stops at numerous excursion destinations; it can be taken at Lejre station or Roskilde station.

Ledreborg Palace Golf Club offers a challenging 18-hole golf course and modernised practice facilities in a natural setting. Ledreborg Allé can be followed south of Gl. Lejre on foot or by bicycle to Ledreborg Slot; there, a terraced Baroque garden lies beside the Ledreborg Å.

To the overarching travel overview: Zealand.