Attractions – Storkesøen Ribe

Attractions in Ribe and Surroundings

Here in Ribe, we will offer you the perfect holiday. Besides the beautiful setting of our accommodation facility, many are the activities and places to see if you like nature, culture and history.

CULTURE AND HISTORY:

Ribe – The oldest town of Denmark:
This beautiful town, situated in the western part of Denmark was founded in 700 A.D. and it attracts each year visitors from all over the world.

Ribe is not only the oldest town in Denmark, but it was also recognized by web-users as the “Europe best big-time small destination” in 2014.

Ribe has a very well preserved medieval city centre, with many beautiful and typical buildings and fascinating sights. Take a walk through one of the small side roads, you will suddenly find yourself on a different dimension, where time stopped long ago in the past. The centre is a thriving and lively commercial centre, with lots of speciality shops.

Below you can see a selction of popular attractions and sights in Ribe

The Vikings

Back in the 8th century, the Vikings established a marketplace on a river in Southern Jutland, which after 1300 years of history, evolved in Ribe, the oldest town of Denmark.

Therefore here in Ribe you will have a unique opportunity to learn more about the fascinating history of the Vikings, their culture and habits and why not, maybe meet some of them. All this can be experienced in two different places, “The Museum Ribes Vikinger” and “Ribe VikingeCenter”

“The Museum Ribes Vikinger”

The museum, located in Ribe centre and overlooking the river Ribe Å, displays the history of Ribe from its beginning in the 8th century to the 18th century. There you will find several finds from the excavations in the area, which confirm the Viking settlements and their tradings in Europe.

For more information click here

“Ribe VikingeCenter”

At the VikingeCenter, the Viking age has been reconstructed and brought to life, so that visitors can truly experience Viking’s life.

Take the chance and be a Viking for a day with all the activities proposed.

For more information click here

Museums

Hex

Witches, witch fear and witch hunts

The museum tells the grim story of the ‘witch fear’ that took serious hold in Denmark and the rest of Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries. This led to the infamous witch trials and their dreadful consequences.

Ribe was at the centre of the Danish witch trials, the most famous of which, involving tailor’s wife Maren Spliids, who was burnt at the stake in 1641, was played out in the streets surrounding the museum. Some of the buildings from that time survive to this day, creating an authentic backdrop to the museum’s gripping tale.

Why did ordinary people believe that witches could steal a person’s happiness? Why was it women who were usually found guilty?

For more information click here

In the same building as HEX! you will also find the Jacob A. Riis Museum – with an exciting story about the photographer and reformer Jacob A. Riis, who emigrated from Ribe to America. We have created a combi ticket which gives access to both HEX! and the Jacob A. Riis Museum.

Jacob A. Riis

US President Roosevelt called him New York’s most useful citizen – in Denmark he is almost unknown.

The Jacob A. Riis Museum shows the fascinating story of the Ribe boy who emigrated to America in 1870. About the man who, through his hard-hitting articles and photos from New York’s raw and rough slums, opened the eyes of the bourgeoisie. And about his falling in love with Elisabeth, which thanks to his stubbornness he eventually got.

The story of Jacob A. Riis is the story of almost perishing in New York’s worst neighborhoods and the story of how hard work, determination to create a better society and belief in himself turned the Ribe boy into what the president called “the ideal American”.

For more information click here

Ribe Kunstmuseum

Ribe Kunstmuseum houses a collection of Danish art from 1750 to 1950. The exclusive range includes a number of highlights.

From the late 18th century, you can see works by the portrait painter, Juel and the court painter, Nicolai Abildgaard. The Danish Golden Age painters from the first half of the 19th century include: C.W. Eckersberg, Christen Købke, J.Th. Lundbye and Martinus Rørbye.

You can see works by the Skagen painters, Anna and Michael Ancher, and P.S. Krøyer, and artworks from the Modern Breakthrough by L.A. Ring and Vilhelm Hammershøi. Fritz Syberg and Peter Hansen belonged to the group of Funen Painters of the early 20th century, while early Modernism is featured in works by William Scharff, Olaf Rude and Edvard Weie.

The Museum’s collection is rounded off with landscapes by Sigurd and Christine Swane, and Oluf Høst, and with mask paintings by the CoBrA painter, Egill Jacobsen.

For more informations click here

Ribe Cathedral

The Cathedral functions both as a parish church for local people and as the main Evangelical-Lutheran church for what is geographically the largest diocese in the country. There has been a church on this site since the mid ninth century. The oldest sections of the present complex were built around 1150 -1225, with further additions until the beginning of the 14th century. This makes Ribe Cathedral Denmark’s most significant Romanesque building.

The Ribe Cathedral parish was established shortly after the Reformation in 1536 and is today the smaller of Ribe’s two parishes, with approximately 3,200 members of the National Church of Denmark. The Cathedral is at the core of the life of the parish, with about 60 annual services and about the same number of funerals, plus weddings, christenings and many other activities.

For more information click here

Night Watchman

Follow the Night Watchman, listen to his songs and stories as he walks his traditional round through Ribe’s historic streets, every day from May to October. The Night Watchmen of Ribe manage to create a very special atmosphere, and you feel like you go back in time.

The Night Watchman starts his round in front of Restaurant Weis Stue.
From May to the end of October at 20.00 (in June, July and August also at 22.00). Also on Fridays and Saturdays at 16.00 in the weekends leading up to Christmas.
Duration approx. 45 minutes.
The tour will be in Danish and English.
The tour is free of charge and it is not possible to sign up for the tour in advance.

For more information click here

Riplay, the largest playground in Denmark

Here you find experiences for children of all ages and their adults. Here there is room for movement, play, learning and development.

The children can go exploring in Riberhus Castle, climb the Stormflodspillar, soar like the birds in the Wadden Sea area, eat brought cake or packed lunches in the Viking houses and then climb the Galgebakken. Or how about a trip on one of the park’s 20 slides.

Northern Europe’s longest stand-alone play universe is also found here, which is an obstacle course of 107 metres.

All the activities are surrounded by a 400 meter running track, just as there are walking paths around the park.

The park is built from sustainable materials, such as the fall base and running path, among other things, made from 24,000 recycled sports shoes.

For more information click here

NATURE:

Wadden Sea National Park
The Wadden Sea, recently appointed as UNESCO World Heritage Site, is one of the world’s most important tidal flats. It is a large and unique nature reserve, where stunning landscapes and vibrant wildlife can be found.

Four times a day, powerful natural forces move a billion cubic meters of water through the Wadden Sea, transforming it from sea to mudflats and sandflats, where you can drive and even walk on.

In addition to admiring the breath-taking views offered by the Wadden Sea, several are the activities for everybody offered by the “Wadden Sea Centre” (Vadehavscentret).

To mention some, you can take part in exciting Oyster safaris, where you will walk in rubber boots through the mussels banks to pick up oysters (oysters for dinner? Yummy), tide activities or even Seal safaris on the island Mandø, which you will reach by an unusual tractor-bus ride. All the activities are organised by the centre, and are suitable for everyone: from families with kids to adults and companies.

For more information, prices and time schedules of the events, please vadehavscentret.dk

Mandø
The pearl of the Wadden Sea

Mandø is one of the islands of the Wadden sea, which can be reached from the mainland at Vester Vedsted (only 10 minutes by car from Storkesoen) by car (be careful and always check the tidal table) or by tractor bus. For more information click here.

Despite its size, 8km and the only 35 people living on the island, many are the exciting experiences for all your senses you can have on Mandø, starting from the unusual tractor-bus drive to get there.

Take a walk in the nature of the island and feel its uniqueness, power, silence and sense of peace and tranquillity.