Hiking through a Viking World Heritage Site — Schlei Baltic Sea Fjord

Traders, thieves and conquerors – this is how the Vikings are often described. Many lived on the Schlei Baltic Sea fjord from the 8th to the 11th century, traded there and went out to conquer new lands and treasures. Haithabu, on the Schleswiger Landenge, high in northern Germany, was an important trading centre for the Vikings and a central transport hub in northern Europe. Situated at the narrowest point between the North Sea and the Baltic, it was not only a border post between Scandinavia and the European mainland but it also facilitated intensive trade and exchange between the regions.
Naturally, such an important and busy region caught the interest of other nations and had to be protected from the south by a massive border fortification. Rulers over the following centuries also recognised the value of this powerful barrier and continued to expand it until the end of the 19th century. The roughly 30-kilometre-long (19 mi) rampart is called the Danewerk and, together with Haithabu, has been part of Schleswig-Holstein's third UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2018, alongside Lübeck's Old Town and the Wadden Sea of the North Sea.
In this Collection, we’ve put together three walking and hiking Tours that will show you this extraordinary World Heritage Site, open a window into the past and reveal its history. These Tours are ideal for families as well.

On the 3-kilometre (1.8 mi) walk through the Archaeological Park, you’ll get to know the impressive Danewerk earthworks with Waldemar's brick wall, the mysterious Thyraburg barrier and the reconstructed 19th-century redoubt 14 fortification. On the 6-kilometre (3.7 mi) circular walk around Haddeby Noor, you’ll get a great insight into the Vikings’ medieval way of life in the Haithabu Museum and in the reconstructed Viking houses. The approximately 11-kilometre (6.8 km) circuit from the Danewerk Museum gives you a brilliant impression of the wall and ditch system of this vast fortification.

So, what's so special about it? In what was once the largest early medieval trading centre in Northern Europe, history and stunning landscapes come together. Three walks through fascinating history and a magnificent natural landscape await you.

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