JORVIK Viking Centre, York

The Jorvik Viking Centre is a must for families in Yorkshire! it is so much fun and very engaging for children. For a start you are taken back in time, in a time machine, where you take a ride through Viking York. Sights, sounds and smells await you! When on this ride, you have headphones to listen to commentary of what you are seeing. Not only does this commentary come in different languages, but there is a child oriented commentary too. Fantastic! When you get off the ride, there is a more 'traditional' museum set up to wander and see some interesting exhibits but there are also opportunities to get 'hands on' with the different interactives for the children in your party. A must visit!!!

We went to Jorvick for my 9 –year old son who was learning about Vikings in history at school. He loves all things Viking but decided this wasn’t the best attraction he had been to. The main reason was the horrendous smells which wafted at you throughout the ride which takes you past the various scenes of life in Viking times. Designed to make the experience as authentic as possible, the smells made both my children feel sick so they couldn’t wait to get out from the ride. We spent a fair bit of time in the museum, where there are quite a few hands on activities to do, including quizzes, drawing and colouring activities. This almost but not quite, made up for the bad smells!

The Jorvik Museum is well worth a visit if you have school age children who will inevitably study the Vikings at some point in their school life! Initially you travel on a small train around the museum and experience the sights and sounds of the Viking Era. This is appealing to preschoolers too and really helps you to appreciate what life was like in those days. With regards to the rest of the museum, it is perhaps slightly dated compared to many places that these days offer so much interactive experiences for children. But still well worth a visit in my opinion, particularly as it can easily be combined with other York attractions.

Went to the Yorvik Centre for the first time, even though we live in York. We pre-booked on line but there wasn’t much of a queue when we got there. We paid £17.25 for our family of three. Inside you are taken on a train ride past displays. There are many scenes showing what life was like then, including the smells, but in other museums we have been to, the video and interactive attractions were much better and entry was usually free! The shop was the biggest hit with our eldest who is doing a project on the Vikings. All in all though it was a bit of a disappointment.