Jorvik Viking Centre

I booked online so was given a time slot and avoided the queues. Fabulous! I hate queuing.
A friendly Viking let us in and we went through to a museum type exhibit. The floor was glass and underneath you can see the remains of 2 cottages. There’s a floor map to help you along or if you are rubbish at that ask the Viking staff any questions you like. These Vikings are much friendlier than those I learned about in school.
The ride takes you through the town. Loads to see and smell. The commentary was clear and easy to understand.
We then saw more exhibits and artifacts. There was a member of staff explaining what various items were. This made it all more real for me as there were comparisons and differences explained. Many of the children present thought it would be cool to be a child at that time but sharp changed their minds when they heard they’d have to get a job! Very funny.
Enjoy this museum, it’s interesting.

I thought that Jorvik Viking Center was a great way to get a sense of viking history in York.
The floor in the main room of the museum was glass so that you could see the ancient remnants of the viking village that was beneath the museum. That was
pretty cool.
The Museum had plenty of viking artifacts which had been found in York, and a ride that went through a reconstructed viking village. I liked the ride, since it showed you different aspects of daily life for the people who lived in Jorvik (the Viking name for York).
It did not take very long to see everything.

I thought it was well worth the 10 pound admission. I was pleasantly surprised by the animatronics part of the experience. I thought it was well-​done, maybe not quite Disneyeque, but still very good. the voiceover during the ride was interesting. I’m very glad to have experienced it. I saw lots of families and all the kids seemed to be enjoying the exhibits too.

The Jorvik Viking Centre let’s you immerse yourself in the sights, sounds and smells of the vikings. Yes, that’s right, I said smell. And no, that’s not a good thing…
Disregarding the smell though, this is a really fun narrated ride through a viking village. Before and after the ride you’ll see exhibits telling you about York’s viking history, and showing you a collection of artifacts found in the area. The centre is not terribly large, you’ll be done in 30 minutes, of which 12 minutes is the ride, but for the price we found it very reasonable, and a fun, immersive way to teach people about the Viking age in York.

Really enjoyed our trip, we went as it linked in well to our daughters Viking school project.

Interesting if you like to check out old artefacts, a huge fossilised poop and skeletons. I particularly liked the information provided by staff about the coins used and a demonstration of minting a coin.
Like a lot of places these days the artefacts are set in lit glass boxes with less lighting outside that seems to be used to discourage photography. In this way it could be considered the exhibition to be poorly lit as the type of lighting can make it harder to see, let alone take photos.
I wasn’t so enamoured with the theatrical ride through a «Viking village» and felt like an extra in a Jim Henson creation, expecting David Bowie to pop out in his striped pants and break into «dance magic dance.» I didn’t like the use of real stuffed animals (mostly dogs) in the sets and found it a bit distasteful. The conversations between the guide and the characters seemed a bit odd, but I guess without the translation from the guide I wouldn’t know what was being said.
The smells were a nice touch until reaching the final animatronic busy «dropping the kids off at the pool» complete with farting sounds, stench and the visual of his screwed up face. Bizarrely the guide interacts with him while he’s relieving himself!

Weird. Or I suppose «wyrd» since we’re talking about vikings here. But then again we’re talking about illiterate vikings who didn’t leave us any written records but were good enough to leave a bunch of trash for us to dig up later (and, yes, the famous poop).
We’d been warned about the weirdness but were still pleasantly taken off-​guard. The animatronic norsemen and women are creepily life-​like, in large part because their eyes follow you. They simulate or maybe pipe in smells in a few areas too – fortunately not when you pass the poor gent at the end who seems to have had a bit too much moldy cabbage the day before.

If you have absolutely nothing better to do…
I paid, I saw, I shrugged. Not even Viking poo could sway my opinion.
(looking to score my 1^st English ROTD)

Fantasticlly knowledgable staff!
I learnt the following just from chatting to the staff here on me visit:
They are in the possesion of the world’s largest viking poo, the remaining parts of which are safe to touch
Not only can you learn about their diet from a dead person’s poo, but also their environment flora and overall health
Horn made flagons are no good for tea because, unlike plastic, horn gets very flexible when heated
Victorians swallowed worms to lose weight and then persuaded them to crawl back up and out of their throat when had lost enough
You can estimate the age of a skeleton based on the wear of its joints
Cheap grindstones lead to cheap flour full of stones which is such an ordeal to eat it actually wear’s down one’s teeth

This is an extremely popular and very successful tourist attraction in York. Located in Coppergate Shopping centre, this is one of the most hands on let’s-travel-back-in-time museums I can think of. It gets very busy, particularly during Viking Festival week and you can guarantee a lot of children so if you want to avoid a long wait I would suggest booking online. Susan D. has a very accurate description below and it will fascinate both adults and children. The exhibition was recently renovated (within the past 4 years I think) and it is over the infamous Coppergate excavations, which initially were only thought to be trivial (with an estimated time of excavation of about 6 months) but once the impressive Viking settlement was found turned into a much much longer project!

This was one of the most amazing museums Rick and I visited during our entire trip to the U.K. We went back in time in a sense. The remains of 1,000 year old houses are beneath. The Jorvik is the site of one of the largest archaeology digs in history. It took them five years (1976 – 81) to find the houses, workshops and backyards of the Viking-​Age city of Jorvik.
At Jorvik, you get to travel through the ancient city and see how the Vikings lived. You ride in a tram car like you would an attraction at Disney* (but believe me, this is no Disneyfield attraction). Along the way you’ll visit the riverfront, the leather stall, the cesspit, new homes being built, a Viking house interior, etc. You’ll see all the local folk like the antler worker, the blacksmith, the fishmonger, the gossipping lady, and the arguing couple.
There are also exhibits outside the ride. My favorites were «Unearthed», showing life, death, battle, and disease through excavations and «Artifacts Alive» in which Viking «ghosts» show you artifacts and give you a first hand accounts of their lives.
So yeah, the Jorvik Viking Centre is a little touristy, but hey, Rick and I were tourists, right? But this is a really fine attraction at that. We learned all about the Vikings – who they were, how they lived, what their connections to us are, etc. For my fellow Americans whose only concept of Vikings is a certain football team in Minnesota, this is well worth it.
*I apologize for the Disney comparison. I realize it might be heresy but it was the only one I could think of.

This centre has been in York for quite some time now but I suppose being the tourist centre it is I have never I repeat never gone past this museum without their being queues of people waiting to get in. I have also been quite daunted whenever I have nearly go to the front as a pre booked school party arrives and causes a hold upoh well the luck of the draw!
One inside you enter a small car with a voice describing your journey as you travel, you can also have language translation. The journey takes you through the old streets of York, you look inside peoples houses and hear and SMELL the sound of Viking York! This is the best part of the trip I find!
Once this part has finished there are opportunites for your children to dress up as a viking child. You then have an opportunity to look around the museum at all the artefacts found during the digs at York
Well worth a visit!

This was a disappointing museum. Although it tracked the history of the Viking’s in York, completely with sounds and smells, the exhibitions weren’t as exciting as I had imagined and the queues were very, very long.