"Roskilde - More than a cathedral" Top 5 Page for this destination Roskilde by Andreja86

Roskilde Travel Guide: 210 reviews and 692 photos

Roskilde - The centre of Zealand

Roskilde is the largest city on Zealand besides the capital area, ranking 10th nationwide with almost 50.000 citizens. It is located 30 km east from Copenhagen and the train station is considered as a nerve center connecting Copenhagen with the rest of Denmark.

In region Zealand Roskilde is the largest city and is also the center of education.
The university of Roskilde, Roskilde University, was established in 1972 was based on group work, group exams, interdisciplinarity and project work. Today near 10.000 people with all kinds of nationalities and origin is being educated at Roskilde University.

Roskilde station is the oldest railway station in Denmark(1847) and was also the fundament for the first railway in Denmark. The original station still stand and was preserved by law in 1964. The station is very central in Roskilde and is very important since 12-15 % of the population in Roskilde uses trains to reach their work or study, primary in Copenhagen.
From the station you can find the center of the extensive bus network in Roskilde but the distances in tourist-Roskilde are rather small so it's not designed for turists.

Roskilde is a pleasant city which should be discovered at a sunny day. The colourfull houses in the old streets of Roskilde indicates that Roskilde is an ancient city. The pedestrian street of Algade lies close to the station and it leads to the other pedestrian street of Roskilde, Skomagergade, which makes up the heart of Roskilde. At these streets you'll discover plenty of shops, cafés and restaurants. If shopping is essential a rather new shopping center(2000), Ro's Torv, is placed just 500 meter from Algade and has more than 90 and was in 2005 and 2007 elected as Danmarks most beautiful shopping center.

Roskilde - The old capital of Denmark

Based on knowledge from the first danish history books written by Saxo, Roskilde was founded in the 980's by Harald Blåtand which was the danish king at the time. Harald Blåtand builded a church at the very place where Roskilde Domkirke is located today, named 'The Trinity Church' and became bishop of Zealand residence in 1020. Later, in 1090, the rebuilding of Roskilde Domkirke, Roskilde Cathedral, began and it was finish in 1175. Since then monarchs of Denmark has been buried primary in Roskilde.
The reasons were many and in 1995 Roskilde Cathedral was included in the UNSCO World Heritage List.

At the time after Roskilde Cathedral was build Roskilde was the center of Zealand. From the high grounds intruders from the fjord could be seen. A couple vikingship was sunken in the fjord preventing enemies reaching the shore. Today these ships are the basis for the vikingshipmuseum which can be visited at the habour where some of the ships have been rebuild with the same resources as they used back then.

Today there are still clear indications of Roskilde as a city with a great history! - Take a look at some of my suggested trips!

Roskilde - The town of music

In the summer of 1971 two high school students created a rock festival, Roskilde Festival!
The festival started with only 10.000 attendees and a main performance by danish Gasolin. Later it should become the second largest festival in Europe with 110.000 attendees with concert by U2, Oasis, Coldplay, Metallica, Phil Collins, Bob Dylan, Iron Maiden, Nirvana, Aerosmith, Rage Against the Machine, Pearl Jam, R.E.M, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Guns N' Roses and a lot more!

The festival is from thursday - sunday every first week of July and 180 bands plays at 7 stages. The last sunday in June "warm up" starts and continues until the start of the festival. These days are for some more important than the festival itself.
The bands plays everything from heavy metal to house music, but the main concept is stille rock even though more electronic music and rap is more common nowadays.

If you say Roskilde Festival you have to say atmosphere. In the young days the attendees was hippies but now Roskilde festival is more mainstream. The festival is however still famous for it's equality among attendees and there is space for everyone. It is a great place to meet people from other countries and it is rather easy since people usually are open minded.

Pros and Cons

Pros:Great history and great atmosphere
Cons:Some trips require car
In a nutshell:If you are have any questions about Roskilde, feel free to contact me!

Intro Updated Mar 23, 2010
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Reviews (17)

Internet Café Favorites (2)

There is only one internet café in Roskilde. It is placed very central, in Algade. It has a lot of computers with a lot... more travel advice

Tourist office Favorites (2)

First of all I want everyone to know that there are some tips on VT with the wrong address of Roskilde Tourist... more travel advice

Golfing in Roskilde Sports & Outdoors (2)

If you are interested in golfing there is a good golf course in Roskilde. This course is though not worth the travel but... more travel advice

Fitness in Roskilde Sports & Outdoors (2)

If you need a place to work out on your vacation in Roskilde there is plenty of options. Fysiocenter: Københavnsvej... more travel advice

Shopping (2)
See All Best icecream ever!
Tourist Traps (1)
Market place
Transportation (1)
Rent a bike in Roskilde
Off The Beaten Path (1)
Boserup Skov
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Comments (5)

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slothtraveller Mar 27, 2011 at 2:50 PM

Interseting page on Roskilde. Perhaps a good place for a day trip from Copenhagen.
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Faiza-Ifrah Feb 21, 2011 at 4:51 PM

i liked you home page. nice tips and great pictures. i will be looking forward to many new pages on Denmark.
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alancollins Sep 12, 2010 at 9:10 AM

The shop selling ice cream & chocolate sounds a good place to stop for a treat. Alan
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riorich55 Apr 29, 2010 at 10:54 AM

Nice start on your pages. Keep up the good work.
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mindcrime Mar 22, 2010 at 1:04 AM

it would be nice to attend this festival some day, is the weather good during the festival or the rain spoils the atmosphere a bit?