Jorvik Viking Centre York

Jorvik Viking Centre York. If you are only going to do one museum while you are visiting the city of York then make sure it is the Jorvik Museum. In our opinion, this is the best York museum. Although in my mind the National Railway Museum comes a close second for very different reasons. When we visited with the boys they were aged 9 and 5. I did wonder if there would be enough to keep Harry entertained. He is most definitely not a museum kid. So I was a little sceptical. On their website, the Jorvik York suggest that you need about an hour and a half to see everything. So I figured that if it went disastrously wrong I could leave Charlie and the husband and take Harry for a sweet treat somewhere. But the Jorvik Viking Cente nailed it. Completely.

Where is the Jorvik Viking Centre York?

Jorvik York is located right in the city centre, in the Coppergate shopping centre. Which means it is very easy to find and get to. In fact, it is opposite the wizarding mini-golf venue The Hole in the Wand, something else we tried while visiting York. An easy walk from the Shambles and many other attractions. But if you are driving then the nearest car park is Piccadilly (use postcode YO1 9NX). To reach Jorvik Viking Centre York you can use the following address – 19 Coppergate Walk, York YO1 9WT. It is not hard to spot as it is very popular and there is 

Is the Jorvik triple ticket worth it?

Like many of the other attractions in York you will need to book tickets in advance. All three are popular visitor attractions so I would suggest you do this as soon as possible. When you buy tickets online you are given th option of buying for the attraction singularly or as part of a ticket with another attraction. Barley Hall and DIG are the two others, these are also part of York archaeological trust. We opted to buy the triple ticket which meant we call visit all three attractions, as a family of four for £50 (at the time of writing). This means each attraction costs us circa £16.65.

As part of th booking process, you can select your date and time of entry for each attraction. So it is possible to spread them over several days or even weekends if you live locally. Not only that but you get free returns for 12 months. I think the triple ticket is definitely worth it. We enjoyed visiting all three although the Jorvik Viking Centre and DIG were our favourites. 

What to expect at Jorvik York

Be prepared to queue for entry. You will not be allowed to join the queue until the time on your ticket. Once you are through you will go into a large glass floor room. This is where the only toilet is and it is popular. We had a little wait which meant we missed some of the descriptions of the room. However, there are lots of staff on hand to help. They are all very passionate about Jorvik and happy to explain areas and answer questions. We found this throughout the York Museum. 

We were there for about an hour and a half and saw everything we wanted to. Spending time in each area and making the most of our visit. That includes some time in the gift shop which is on the way out. So you can not avoid it! This makes it a great museum for children of all ages. Including those who like Harry are likely to get a bit bored once their attention span starts to wain. 

What is there to do at Jorvik Viking Centre York

The actual dig site

So Jorvik York has nailed it. Split into three distinct areas. The first part you will come across is a huge glass floor. There is a friendly Viking hosts (curator) in the middle explaining what you are looking at. But it is basically the dig site of the Coppergate excavations. As the York museum is built upon it. You can see pieces of wood that are over 1000 years old. Understand how the Vikings lived and the layout of a house. It was very interesting. 

The ride.. Jorvik musuem

From here, you are led into a little room where you get onto a hanging carriage. The ride would not look out of place in Alton Towers. You sit in a carriage and in the front there is a little touch screen that shows images of different things that have been found in the area. You have then transported back in time to Jorvik York, 10th century York. The ride shows you Viking story of York and how the city would have been during that time. Riding over the backyards of the Viking-age city of Jorvik. There is a guide that explains what you are seeing and some of the characters you come across. It is very cleverly done. The boys could not help to be engaged in the whole process. Especially the smells of the Viking age which were a bit stinky at times as you can probably imagine. It was very interesting and you can t help but wonder why not all museums are built in this way!

Inside the Jorvik museum room

Once you have gone around the dwellings you leave the carriage and enter into a room that is more like a traditional museum. In here there are glass cabinets of rare Viking artefacts. Including delegate glass beads and delicate earrings. All have been dug up in the exploration of the Coppergate dig It is very interesting. But to bring it to life for younger visitors there is a show and tell area in one corner. Here we were shown some of the real artefacts and told all about them. The bys had the opportunity to ask questions and got very involved. 

There was also a man playing a traditional Viking instrument. And another person striking coins which you could have done for an additional £1. Of course, the boys wanted one each. But it was interesting to hear about how currency worked. The man doing it was very good with the boys keeping them engaged. 

Jorvik DIG

As part of the triple ticket, we visited Jorvik DIG after we had been to the Jorvik Museum. I think doing it this way round really helped the boys understand more about the activities at Jorvik DIG. Slots are timed and you do the activities with three other families. Initially, we were given a talk about modern archaeology and how it works, what people look for and how to identify what you have found. They showed us some old artefacts they have found including fossilised Viking poo. The archaeologist giving the talk was very engaging and asked a lot of questions which got the kids talking. 

Then you are moved into the DIG area. Where you get to search for finds in four different locations. Each location has been recreated based on a dig site in York. You have little trowels and move around pieces of sand-coloured rubber to unearth what was underneath. The boys absolutely loved it. And got very excited every time they found something. After we had worked our way around the four different areas we were free to explore the rest of the museum. It is not large with just a couple of small rooms explaining some of the projects that have taken place in York. We were there for about an hour in total. It is located very close to the heart of York and the Shambles so you could easily tie it in with some of the other tourist attractions. 

Barley Hall

Barley Hall is also included in the triple ticket. This was our least favourite of the three attractions. I think this is because of the boy’s ages. We spent about forty-five minutes walking around the reconstructed medieval townhouse. The dining hall is very impressive. But many of the other rooms have exhibits that require a lot of reading. For the boy’s ages, they need to be more interactive.

Useful Information

• You need to book tickets in advance, visitor numbers are still being restricted for social distancing measures.
• We booked ours via the Jorvik museum website. Although you can buy the triple ticket online on all three of the attraction’s websites. For a family of four, it now costs £60. A family of 5 £70. It is also possible to buy individual triple tickets.
• You need to book your times and dates at the time of purchase

We had a wonderful stay in York and really enjoyed our time at the Jorvik Museum and Jorvik DIG. Discovering Viking life in the centre of York it was the boy’s first experience of archaeology and it did not disappoint. An ideal attraction for the school holidays. If you are visiting York then you may find some of these other articles interesting.

Things to do in York with Kids – 3 Day Itinerary

Free Things to do in York with Kids 

Visting York Minster with Kids

Our Harry Potter inspired trip to York

Wizard Golf in York a Review of Hole in the Wand

Review The National Railway Museum 

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