Vikings takes place mainly in the city of Kattegat, but is it a real place? Created by Michael Hirst, Vikings debuted on History Channel in 2013 and was originally planned to be a miniseries. As the first season was very well received, there was a change of plans and it was renewed for a second one, allowing viewers to keep exploring the stories of Ragnar, Lagertha, Rollo, Floki, and more.

Vikings initially focused on legendary Norse figure Ragnar Lothbrok (Travis Fimmel) and his travels and raids alongside his Viking brothers, among those his real brother, Rollo (Clive Standen), and his best friend Floki (Gustaf Skarsgård). The series gradually shifted its focus to Ragnar’s sons – Bjorn, Ubbe, Hvitserk, Sigurd, and Ivar – and their own journeys, as Ragnar’s days were counted. Ragnar met his fate in season 4, and his sons have since been leading the series, especially Bjorn and Ivar. Vikings is now on its sixth and final season, with fans waiting for the final batch of episodes to be released.

Part 2 of Vikings season 6 doesn’t have a release date yet, but in the meantime, many fans are taking a look back at the series and searching for answers to some of their biggest questions about it. Among those is whether the city of Kattegat is real or not, as it has served as the main setting for the series. Kattegat was once ruled by Ragnar, with Bjorn now on the throne, so it will continue to be an important place until the series ends – but is Kattegat a real place or was it created for the series?


As it turns out, Kattegat does exist but not as the series has presented it. In Vikings, Kattegat is a city located in Norway, but in real-life, Kattegat is a completely different place, but still in the Scandinavian area. Kattegat is actually a sea area located between Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. The area is bounded by the Jutlandic peninsula (part of Denmark and Germany) in the west, the Danish Straits islands of Denmark to the south, and the provinces of Västergötland, Scania, Halland, and Bohusländ in Sweden to the east. Kattegat has major ports in it, among those Gothenburg, Aarhus, Aalborg, Halmstad, and Frederikshavn. Because of this, Vikings’ Kattegat was filmed in Lough Tay, County Wicklow, Ireland, which gives the appearance the production was looking for.

Although Vikings takes many elements from Norse mythology and history, it’s not completely accurate, changing many things to better fit the story it wants to tell, but it also takes inspiration from real-life places, such as Kattegat. Given the importance of the city not only in Ragnar and Lagertha’s story but in the series in general, it has a special place in the hearts of Vikings fans, and its fate remains to be seen after that cliffhanger in part 1 of season 6.