Sweden
EUROPE · 6 PLACES
Islands by the thousand, forests with no fences, and a culture that stops twice a day for coffee and a cinnamon bun.
Stockholm
Old-town lanes, an archipelago of 30,000 islands, design everywhere.
Gothenburg
Seafood, canals, and the west-coast archipelago.
Malmö
Falafel capital, canal parks and a bridge to Denmark.
Visby
Gotland's walled town — ruins, roses and Baltic beaches.
Abisko
The aurora sky, Lapporten, and the start of the Kungsleden.
Åre
Sweden's ski capital, with bikes and hikes in summer.
One month here
Stockholm · 8 nights
Fourteen islands, Gamla Stan, the Vasa ship, and the archipelago's 30,000 islands by ferry.
Gothenburg · 5 nights
Three hours west. Seafood, canals, Liseberg, and the bare-rock islands of the southern archipelago.
Malmö · 4 nights
Sweden's most international city, twenty minutes from Copenhagen over the bridge.
Visby & Gotland · 6 nights
A walled medieval Hansa town on an island, ringed by beaches and sea stacks.
Abisko & Åre · 7 nights
North for the aurora at Abisko's famously clear sky, or the ski slopes and summer hiking at Åre.
Three months here
Month 1 · Stockholm & the archipelago
Stockholm, Uppsala, Sigtuna and as many islands as the boat pass allows.
Month 2 · The south & the west
Gothenburg, Malmö, Skåne's castles and the Bohuslän coast. Cross to Copenhagen whenever you want a change.
Month 3 · Lapland
Abisko, Kiruna, the Icehotel and Sarek. Aurora in winter, midnight sun and hiking on the Kungsleden in summer.
Festivals worth flying for
Midsummer
Friday nearest June 24 — the country's real national day: flower crowns, herring, dancing round the pole. Cities empty for the countryside.
Lucia
December 13 — candlelit processions and singing at dawn, in every church and school.
Crayfish parties
August — paper hats, schnapps songs and kräftor across the country.
Way Out West · Gothenburg
August — Sweden's big summer music festival.
In an emergency
Emergency number
112 for everything; 1177 is the free medical-advice line (English available).
Health
Pharmacies ('apotek') handle minor issues; care is excellent. Allemansrätten (right to roam) lets you walk and camp almost anywhere — with responsibilities.
Before you go
EHIC/GHIC for EU visitors, insurance otherwise. Sweden is effectively cashless — bring a card, not krona.
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