Viking Centre (Jorvik)

My kids really enjoyed this, although it was a little expensive for how long we were in there.
Remember to Gift Aid your entry fee, and you can go back as often as you like for 12 months.
Recommended for a day trip to York.

Like a fairground ride. You pay £11 to ride around the attraction in a moving car to see how the Viking people lived. It's interesting but not long enough. For that reason I found it overpriced.

Historically speaking, this is pure Mickey Mouse! They people that run this place don’t know enough about Old Norse history, society and language to even get the meaning of the name “Coppergate” right! Originally they said it meant “barrel-makers street”, then they decided it meant “cup-makers street. Actually, Coppergate means “merchant” or “market” street from the Old Norse “kaupr” - merchant (cf Cooper Angus and Cupar, Fife). If they can’t get something as simple as this right, there’s little hope for the accuracy of the rest of it. The place both annoys and bores me because of it’s innacuracies, and lack of real information on exhibits and the real daily life of the Norse community here.

I visited this museum about 10yrs ago at school, amazing that it’s still going as popular as ever! As a child i found the place really exiting and the carriage journey seemed to last ages and be really action packed. I decided to visit again last year,but was a little dissapointed that it doesn’t really seem to have changed with the times. 10yrs ago it was quite hi-tech!now it seems a little dated.

I wish I’d visited the attraction as a kid. As an adult, the main event - the journey through time - was a bit of a disappointment. As a child, still filled with wonder and imagination and unsullied by the passage of time and life’s crushing disappointments, I feel I would have enjoyed the place much more. The trip around Viking-era York was quite interesting, but the rather low-tech waxworks involve mean it’s heavily reliant on the sense of smell. I wonder if that really was what it smelled like at the time?

Anyway, as I say, it’s geared more towards kids than adults. And I wonder if it’s “battley” enough for kids, to be honest. The staff there struck me as quite uninterested during the post-ride stroll about the museumy bit, but they are wearing the right gear and likely possess the knowledge to answer any questions kids would have.

When we went, the queue stretched fairly far back so it took a while go get in. The end of the whole shabang brings you out into the gift shop. The gift shop is pretty varied and interesting, if a bit expensive.

This is a very popular attraction in York and often in high season there is a long que outside! but actors dressed up as Vikings always seem to be outside entertaining those queuing. You are placed on a carriage which takes you round a viking street which is very good with all the sights and smells but the museum after is very formal and not very exciting for children.

Great entertainment for all the family, although the 'trip’ itself was over very quickly. Educational and interesting, holding the attention of 10-year-old for the full time.
I would recommend (1) pre-booking a timed pass, which enables you to 'fast-path’ the lengthy queues (2) using Tesco vouchers to pay in advance, as it is quite pricey. Also, the gift shop gets very busy so if you really must have scratch-n-sniff postcards, come back later in the day!

Gosh, I think that everyone that lives in within a 100 mile radius of York has been brought to the Jorvik viking centre on a school trip!

I think it has to be among York’s most famous attraction and you can tell how popular it is in the summer months when the queues stretch out right through coppergate. Luckily some clever vendors are on hand to keep you entertained and provide refreshments.

When you’re in, it really is worth the wait as it is a fascinating museum. At first you watch a film and the whole room shakes as you travel back through time - then you grab a seat on the infamous ride which takes you through the streets of Jorvik, authentic right down to the smell..

For adults and kids the Jorvik centre is a must when visiting York

The Jorvik centre is a great place to visit for any agegroup.
To start your journey you are transported back in time in a time machine to when the Vikings settled in York. Upon arrival in this age you are now taken on a journey through a Viking village in a car not unlike that you find in a funfair, on this ride you can have comentry and information through speekers in your car, there is also a chioce of languages. The village is a busteling place with a variety of wax characters getting on with their daily buisiness. Some of this can be quite amusing like the chap displaying the lack of sanitation. We are told that we are expeariencing the sigths, sounds and smells of the time.
When your time in the village is over you have the oppertunity to explore further the era with displays and information on artifacts found on the accual site of the building.
There is also a gift shop and the chance to make your own Viking coin.
Fun and educational, a great day out.

Very expensive (second most expensive attraction in York) and with a very short ride through Viking York. Fun for the kids maybe, but a little boring for the adults. See if you can spot the couple having a little too much fun and if you’re old enough, you’ll remember that one of the models is a Blue Peter presenter! The attraction is staffed by Vikings and there are additional events held in the square during school holidays.

Smells funny, but you can smell it outside without going in.

There’s a snack bar available outside (while you’re waiting in the queue) which does a nice cuppa cheaper than Starbucks opposite.

If you do go along do prebook and avoid the massive queues in Coppergate at weekends and holiday times. Can also pay in Tesco Deals vouchers.

This is a really great place in the centre of York for families and children will love it. It is all a bit gruesome and smelly, but that’s what kids love. I enjoyed it when I went. Its main attraction is that it has the real smells of the vikings, and some of them can be quite smelly. It really feels like you stepping back into a viking village. It’s a good educational trip out that will keep your kids interested. The actors are really good too. The gift shop is also good and you can stamp you own coins which we all enjoyed. Worth a visit!

I LOVE this place!!!

I hadn’t been for a few years but my friend and I took my daughter earlier this year and had a great time.

Yes the ride part is a little smelly in places but not anything awful. There’s a commentary in the pod with you and you can select different languages.

Theres lots of information available but its all broken down in to small chunks for you to read and it still all makes sense if you dont read it all.

My daughter especially liked the time machine part at the start and village part after the pod ride where she got a viking coin made (think it was £1 or 50p). She also enjoyed the small gift shop at the end to spend her pocket money.

As with all the Jorvick sites if you gift aid your entry you can come back as many times in 12 months as you want. They also do a fantastic range of events including the school holidays.

Having a keen interest in vikings (what? It’s not weird!), I was eager to experience Jorvik. The experience consists of stepping into a “time machine” where you watch a video (that is amusing to children, I guess?) of your “hosts” in different costumes as the machine takes you back through the centuries. After the video, you then leave the “time machine” room through another way, and embark upon the Jorvik experience.

You sit in a slow-moving waltzer car kind of thing as it takes you around a waxwork version of a viking-era town. The whole thing is very detailed, though everything is static. The smell is the main thing you’ll remember, though I don’t know how anyone knows whether it’s accurate or not. A flash of lightning then returns you to the present day and you leave the waltzer car and walk around the rest of the centre, where you can ask the viking-dressed staff about the various items on display.

I was a tad disappointed by Jorvik, as I was hoping for more on Norse mythology (there’s more on Norse mythology at York Dungeon than there is at Jorvik). But it’s a pretty thorough introduction to life in York during those times, and an historical look at the vikings.

freat place for all very interesting and the train was great just sit back and relax

When you’re ten it seems like a really great idea to queue for three hours in order to sit in a little electric train that goes very slowly past some waxworks of saxons having a poo. These waxworks don’t move, but they do smell, of rotten apples rather than ripe excrement. Later on in the exhibition you can see displays of real genuine saxon poo, carefully excavated from the bowels of york by dedicated adolescents. Perhaps the display has changed since I went and there are animatronic saxons, actually producing poo from their robot bottoms for our entertainment (cheaper than monkeys). I do know it’s a lot less busy than it used to be, because you only have to go once.

This is a great place
You get a discount if you are an english heritage centre
If you gift aid your ticket you get free entry for the next 12 months not the only musuem in york doing this
You get into seats that are like a level ski slope and go around the recreated streets of old
Yes the smells and sounds are great they show you the kives of people from children playing to couples arguing and lead you on to a arecholgial site and a skeleton
You can then go and try out dressing as a viking see the craftsmen that lived in vicking times and have a go at writing your name in runes make a coin or meet the ghost there is also a well stocked gift shop
A good time out for a family

Does every English school child get taken here on a trip I wonder? I’m pretty sure we did, and of course, everything smelled in Viking times. How do they actually know this I wonder?

Anyway, I remember it being a funny smell, nowhere near as bad as when my freezer defrosted and was left for a week recently… nowhere near at all…

That’s true, the most amazing thing about this museum is how they’ve managed to recreate the life of vikings. All your senses are aroused, particularly your sense of smell :-)

it is so good to visit and great for children!!! and its good for them!!!