Things to do in Sweden: top picks and hidden treasures

Think you know some things about Sweden? Sure, it’s celebrated for ABBA, flat-pack furniture, and a population made up of tall and impossibly attractive blonde folk. But what do you really know about this north European country? Picture medieval old towns, thousands of stunning island archipelagos, a deep, unhurried relationship with nature, and an intriguing north where the sun barely sets in summer and the sky performs for free in winter…

Three days is enough to explore the capital, Stockholm; give yourself a week and you can add the west coast or the south; two weeks or more opens the door to Lapland. Spend time uncovering the real Sweden and you’re going to fall in love with all of this beautiful and fascinating country. Here’s where to start, with our guide to the best things to do in Sweden.

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What this article covers:

• Discovering Stockholm, from its old town Gamla Stan to its distinctive neighborhoods
• Getting to know Gothenburg and the west coast, home to fishing villages loved by the locals
• Venturing into Swedish Lapland for the northern lights and midnight sun amid spectacular landscapes
• Experiencing southern Sweden‘s highlights away from the well-worn path
• Discovering Sweden’s best outdoor activities and cultural traditions, from outdoor swimming to Midsummer celebrations

The best things to do in Sweden: from highlights to hidden gems

Explore Stockholm: Sweden’s capital and archipelago

Stockholm makes a strong case for being one of the most beautiful capital cities in Europe. Yes, really! It’s built across 14 islands, which somehow makes it more surprising to discover the medieval old town of Gamla Stan, a wonderful tangle of cobbled lanes, ochre-colored buildings, and a Royal Palace, still the official residence of the Swedish monarch.

Exploring its different neighborhoods is the best way to combine things to see and do in Stockholm. Away from the old town and just across the water is the green island of Djurgården, largely pedestrianized and combining culture and nature in a way Sweden does best. Alongside well-known museums, you’ll find quiet walking trails and waterfront paths, which make it an excellent place to walk and cycle or take a picnic near the Skansen open-air museum tucked among the trees.

Södermalm, or SoFo, has become the city’s hippest quarter, with streets lined with independent boutiques, galleries and cafés; Östermalm and Vasastan, quieter and more residential, hold some of the city’s best restaurants and food halls; and Norrmalm, central and well-connected, is where many first-time visitors choose hotels to base themselves.

Sweden has the most islands of any country in the world, and exploring those closest to the capital is among the best things to do in Sweden. Fjäderholmarna is barely 20 minutes away by boat, known for artisan workshops and waterfront restaurants, while Vaxholm, Gustavsberg and the peninsula of Värmdö are easy day trips by local ferry. Venture a little further and islands like Grinda, Sandhamn and Utö feel wilder and quieter still, with red-painted boathouses, pine forest, and swimming spots.

Discover Gothenburg and the west coast

As Sweden’s second city, Gothenburg is distinctly underrated. It’s authentic and relaxed, with boutique shopping, a serious number of coffee shops, and a big food scene. Wander around Haga district‘s cobbled streets, admire the wooden houses, and pop into a café for a cinnamon bun the size of a fist. Feskekôrka, a fish market housed in a building shaped like a Gothic church, is as much a local institution as a place to eat. A must-do in Sweden is the Liseberg amusement park, a Gothenburg institution rated by Swedes and roller-coaster enthusiasts alike.

The real draw, though, is the coastline north of the city. Perfect for a slow, unplanned drive up the coast, it’s where many Swedes take their summer holidays. Bohuslän‘s granite islands and fishing villages, Marstrand with its imposing fortress and sailing scene, Smögen with its long wooden boardwalk lined with fish shacks, and Fjällbacka, tucked beneath a dramatic rock outcrop and long favored by Swedish celebrities and Ingrid Bergman alike. Stop wherever a harbor looks promising: fresh shrimp sold straight off the boat, eaten on a quayside bench, is as good a lunch as you’ll find in Sweden.

Venture into Swedish Lapland and the far north

Sweden’s Arctic north operates on an entirely different scale of space and light, where the sun barely rises in the winter months. This vast area of natural parks, dense forests and lakes is home to indigenous Sámi people whose culture remains important to the region.

Kiruna, over 750 miles from Stockholm, is where many visitors to the north base themselves, to enjoy winter activities like dogsledding and snowmobile trips, and excursions to see the northern lights. The area around Kiruna and Abisko, just over an hour away to the north, is one of the most reliable places on the planet to see the northern lights, typically visible from late August through March.

Just outside Kiruna, the Icehotel in Jukkasjärvi is rebuilt from scratch every winter using ice cut from the Torne River. Time your trip for late-January and Snöfestivalen, a festival of snow sculpting and Sámi reindeer-sled racing. Come summer, the same region flips entirely: Lapland in summer sees the midnight sun keeping the sky bright through the night for weeks at a time. Long, golden-lit evenings mean activities like hiking the Kungsleden trail through some of Europe’s last true wilderness, and fishing and canoeing. Kiruna also plays host to a music festival in June.

Read more: Unmissable winter experiences in Scandinavia and the Nordics

Get to know southern Sweden’s charms: Malmö, Skåne, and beyond

In Sweden’s far southern region of Skåne, Malmö has reinvented itself over the past two decades into one of Scandinavia‘s most interesting small cities. The twisting Turning Torso skyscraper dominates its skyline, but the real character is in Möllevången, a vibrant multicultural neighborhood packed with spice shops, Middle Eastern street-food stalls, and a Saturday market that spills across the square. It’s also home to Malmöhus Castle, one of the oldest surviving Renaissance castles in the Nordic region.

Skåne is a picturesque region to explore. Southeastern Skåne and Österlenrom are known for unspoiled beaches, while the medieval half-timbered streets of Ystad doubled as the setting for the Wallander crime novels. Combine them with a slower detour through Österlen, a region of orchards, art studios, and pretty stone churches that has become something of a retreat for Swedish creatives.

Just offshore, Öland presents a different island escape, of stark beauty; all flat, windswept plains and dotted with old windmills. And three hours on a ferry will take you to Gotland‘s walled medieval town of Visby. All rose gardens and ruined churches, it comes alive each summer with outdoor concerts, open-air theater, and locals taking long, lingering dinners that spill out onto the cobbles.

Explore the best outdoor adventures across Sweden

Popular Swedish activities include hiking, biking, canoeing and fishing, forming a big part of the culture, thanks to the country’s amazing nature that includes verdant national parks, impressive mountains, and captivating archipelagoes. Sweden’s allemansrätten, or right to roam, means almost anyone can walk, camp, and forage across most of the countryside. You can hike short lakeside trails or choose multi-day routes through Sarek National Park‘s roadless wilderness.

In a typical Swedish summer, wild swimming is close to a national pastime, whether that’s a quiet dip in Lake Vättern or Lake Siljan, or one of Stockholm’s many swimming spots. For something slower, canoeing and sailing across the country’s tens of thousands of lakes are easy to arrange almost anywhere, and a multi-day cruise or cycle along the 19th-century Göta Canal, which winds for 190 kilometers through 58 locks between Gothenburg and Stockholm, is one of the most relaxed ways to see the country’s interior.

The Swedish outdoor lifestyle means that foraging is a genuine Swedish hobby. Come late summer and fall and join a foraging excursion and hunt for wild mushrooms, lingonberries, and cloudberries in the forest which covers half of Sweden.

Read more: Our guide to hiking in Scandinavia and the Nordics

Dive into unique cultural experiences and traditions

Swedes love their saunas, and it’s very much a social tradition where friends get together. Trying a traditional sauna is one of the best things to do in Sweden and, because even the smallest town has a sauna, there’s no excuse not to brave the heat. If you really want to make like a Swede, take a cold plunge afterwards! Note: there are many ‘tourist-friendly’ public saunas that allow swimwear, but it isn’t the norm.

Swedes have turned the practice of pausing for coffee and a bite of something sweet into a genuine social institution. Fika is really just a casual get-together over a coffee and maybe cinnamon bun, but it’s the expectation of taking time out for it; it’s even woven into daily office schedules, observed at set points in the working day. Just as you should on your trip to Sweden, almost everyone enjoys fika; sittning is the realm of students, a formal, song-filled formal dinner tradition that visitors don’t take part in—still, it’s a little window into Swedish student life.

The pinnacle of Swedish summer is Midsummer, which is one of the country’s biggest celebrations. Held on the Friday closest to the summer solstice, cities empty out almost entirely for the weekend as everyone heads to the countryside. Flower-covered maypoles are raised and danced around; gravlax, pickled herring and new potatoes are eaten, washed down with plenty of schnapps; and traditional songs are sung. It’s a moment worth timing a trip around if you’re able to join a village celebration.

Make it happen

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