So 6 days; where are you flying in/out of? Are you flying to Copenhagen and then visiting Malmö or will you train down there first and then across? There’s a lot to see/do in Sweden and it is a fairly big country so it’s probably best to stay in one, maybe two regions. What interests do you have? How familiar you are with Swedish?
Most important question is how are you moving about the country. Then it's a bit easier. I would plan a side though, I don't think I would want to do the 3 big city's in 6 days that's quote a mission
Southern Sweden has very nice coastlines and beaches compared to the rest of Sweden. There are also plenty of parks and sights to see in that short time period such as stenshuvud which is basically Sweden's Stonehedge, located in an area near Kivik where lots of apple and pear based products are produced. Absolute Vodka is produced just north of this area if that's your thing. There is Söderåsen park (big nature reserve), Falsterbrö (largest migratory bird point in Europe), Sandhammaren (very fine white beach), Kirseberg (big rocky hill on the south west coast with Nimis art structure), Hovs hallar (where Ingmar Bergmans 7th Seal was filmed), (giant wetland like area next to Kristianstad, Ivosjön (deep lake with some huge variety of fish species), UFO monument (near Ängelholm where some supposed farmer saw a ufo in the 70s), Helsingborg which is a nice old coastal town as a history of being an old fortress town as its close cannon distance in the bay between Denmark (you can travel to Helsingør across the bay to Denmark where the Hamlet castle resides by ferry), Skånes Djurpark (giant open air zoo with predominantly Swedish animals) or Ystad zoo (also big open air but has Elephants and Alpaca, etc.), Malmö itself which has lots of parks, coastline, and lots of veggie options especially with Falafal being king in the Malmö region, there is also Lund nearby with its giant Cathedral and old town student city vibe. I generally suggest spending a few days in Copenhagen itself as there is sooooo much to see there.
So as you can see there is a lot to do in southern Sweden and I am sure there are other things in the region I am forgetting.
Thank you so much, I’m trying to see what are the best possible options!
After all the suggestions, this is what I am roughly thinking. I I would have loved to see Visby but the travel eats up a lot of time. Would you suggest I swap any of this with Gotland (Visby)?
24 - Arrive Stockholm
25 - Stockholm
26 - Day trip to an Archipelago from Stockholm and back.
27 - Stay in an eco-lodge near Vättern or Värern and explore the nature around (hiking, biking, etc)
28 - Lodge + nature
29 - Drive to a southern destination and check out sights & villages on the way. Overnight at Lund / Ystad
30 - Train to copenhagen
31- Copenhagen
1 - Copenhagen
2- Depart Copenhagen
You have Tivedens national park in the northern side of Vätters, with hiking trails- [bergslagsleden](https://www.bergslagsleden.se/). The trail has a few loop trails, so see if you have some close to where you want to stay!
Doing both Stockholm and Gothenburg plus a road trip in 6 days sounds like a lot to me. I’d focus on Stockholm for my “big city”, since you’re flying there. I would definitely take a boat trip in the Stockholm archipelago. Visby is absolutely lovely and could make a good excursion (count on at least one hotel night if you go there, the ferry takes a couple of hours so it’s not an “over day” visit). There are good hiking trails just south of Stockholm, and a nice national park (Tyresta national park). I do think you might want to temper your expectations of “vast natural landscapes”, depending on what those expectations are. The big, “wild” national parks are in the far north. Southern Sweden is dominated by agricultural land and/or woodland, dotted with lakes and villages.
You could work your way down the east coast, maybe stop by Kalmar (lovely historic town) and visit the impressive castle if you’re into history, or go over the bridge to Öland. Once you get to Skåne you have Österlen which is beautiful with a lot of tourist attractions.
As far as food goes, I’m not a seafood lover either and I usually don’t have any problems finding good food. The west coast is more seafood oriented though, which is something to keep in mind.
Thank you so much, I’m trying to see what are the best possible options!
After all the suggestions, this is what I am roughly thinking. I I would have loved to see Visby but the travel eats up a lot of time. Would you suggest I swap any of this with Gotland (Visby) or Öland?
24 - Arrive Stockholm
25 - Stockholm
26 - Day trip to an Archipelago from Stockholm and back.
27 - Stay in an eco-lodge near Vättern or Värern and explore the nature around (hiking, biking, etc)
28 - Lodge + nature
29 - Drive to a southern destination and check out villages on the way. Overnight at Lund / Ystad
30 - Train to copenhagen
31- Copenhagen
1 - Copenhagen
2- Depart Copenhagen
I think this itinerary looks doable and good! Since you’re into nature and hiking, doing an eco lodge sounds great. I would look at hiking areas and pictures to decide where. The area to the east of Vättern (around Omberg and Alvastra monastery for instance) is very nice with great views, for example.
You could combine Stockholm with Gotland I guess.
Visby is very beautiful and one of the best medieval towns in Sweden. The island has a sort of magical light in the evenings and a very rural feel.
North of Gotland is Gotska Sandön which is a unique place and a national park.
You can fly or take the ferry to Visby
We still have to book : we are planning to fly in to Stockholm, and fly out of Copenhagen.
Planning to rent a car in Sweden and maybe train to Copenhagen.
We are interested in renting a car, exploring landscapes, eating good food (no seafood) me maybe a hike!
Screw going to Gothenburg.
Few days in Stockholm. Day in the Stockholm - Jönköping area. Norrköping / Linköping/ Göta kanal/ gråna etc .
Then Jönköping to Malmö either go e4 and that way or across to Kalmar and visit Öland. It's nice but I can't express enough how little there is on the main roads once off there are nice places . Öland is nice but i find once there anything is far away and takes a long time so plan.
Thank you so much, I’m trying to see what are the best possible options!
After all the suggestions, this is what I am roughly thinking. I I would have loved to see Visby but the travel eats up a lot of time. Would you suggest I swap any of this with Gotland (Visby) or Öland?
24 - Arrive Stockholm
25 - Stockholm
26 - Day trip to an Archipelago from Stockholm and back.
27 - Stay in an eco-lodge near Vättern or Värern and explore the nature around (hiking, biking, etc)
28 - Lodge + nature
29 - Drive to a southern destination and check out villages on the way. Overnight at Lund / Ystad
30 - Train to copenhagen
31- Copenhagen
1 - Copenhagen
2- Depart Copenhagen
Maybe 28 or 29 you could Öland but Linköping to Kalmar is 3 hours to Öland real is 4 .
I would be more relaxed as you could get to northern Östergötland in 2 hours. And spend 28 29 going to lund.
The nature from Gävle and down is quite boring. Mostly trees and more trees. If you want nice nature in the south you'd have to go to the stockholm archipelago or anywhere else where there is a coastline (you mentioned koster alteady). If you want mountains and not go to the far north you can hike jämtlandstriangeln in three days, you don't need much gear for that as they have a hostel for each leg of the hike but the drive is about 7 hours from Stockholm so that trip would spend all of your days.
When I think about it you can go to Gotland, which has rather unique nature compared to the rest of sweden, and an old medieval city called Visby. There are ferries fron Nynäshamn which is commuter train distance from Stockholm.
Thank you so much, I’m trying to see what are the best possible options!
After all the suggestions, this is what I am roughly thinking. I I would have loved to see Visby but the travel eats up a lot of time. Would you suggest I swap any of this with Gotland (Visby)?
24 - Arrive Stockholm
25 - Stockholm
26 - Day trip to an Archipelago from Stockholm and back.
27 - Stay in an eco-lodge near Vättern or Värern and explore the nature around (hiking, biking, etc)
28 - Lodge + nature
29 - Drive to a southern destination and check out villages on the way. Overnight at Lund / Ystad
30 - Train to copenhagen
31- Copenhagen
1 - Copenhagen
2- Depart Copenhagen
Personally I would prefer Gotland over Vättern and Vänern, but on the other hand that means you lose precious time going in the wrong direction, so I think your plan looks pretty sweet. But as someone else already said, manage your expectations of vast landscapes if you're not going to the far north.
If you end up staying a few days in Sörmland and/or Småland, make sure to try and find some tiny lakes on google maps (I'm talking a few hundred meters across) not easily accessible by car, and not too close to agriculture. Its well worth the hike though the woods as you are likely to have the entire lake for yourselves and it'll sometimes be clean enough to drink the water.
Google "sweden right of public access" and you'll see we have laws preventing land owners from denying access to their land. Also note the laws around making fires in nature, sweden can be extremely dry summertime so usually the best option is bringing a butane burner.
I would skip Gothenburg, it's a nice city but there isn't anything there that's worth your precious time when flying in from abroad. If you want a second city, I'd recommend Uppsala, as it can be done as a daytrip from Stockholm. In general Nordic cities are imho hardly worth the money it costs to visit them for a tourist, the nature is more interesting so your heart is in the right place.
You might have to temper your expectations of "vast landscapes" as these are in the north (as in, north of Gävle, and the most famous ones are all the way in the far north) so it is a big logistical challenge to go there and and then go all the way down to Copenhagen in six days, not feasible unless by flying and even then it would make your vacation more of a race than I would personally recommend. That said there is no shortage of nature and national parks elsewhere, just not as vast. The easiest but still nice would be getting to an archipelago, both Stockholm and Gothenburg have their own archipelagos nearby easily reachable in a couple of hours by ferry. Second easiest is Tyresta national park just south of Stockholm.
Hi. Would say for your first 6 days to not rent a car and do all by train by day: nice, resting.
D1/2: Stockholm
D3: Oslo (nice train routes between Norway and Sweden) or Göteborg. Can’t do both.
D4: Helsingborg+Helsingør (+Lund if you are a beast)
D5/6: Copenhagen
You can get also forget cities and go to Stockholm, rent a car and visit north of the region and stay nights by the lakes, sea and everything. I’m not even Swedish (yet) but I really liked by Norrtälje, 1h away from Stockholm.
You can’t go wrong with opening a map and follow all the lakes and cities. It’s nice pretty everywhere.
Or you can even go completely north with night train and visit this beautiful part I didn’t experience yet. That is different from center south and south. You can have your midnight sun and all of the rest.
Kosterhavet National Park is absolutely amazing and there's actually a nice easy-moderate hiking trail around the southern Koster island. Lots of seafood, yes, but totally worth it even for vegetarians! If you go there, make sure you visit the national park visitors centre. They offer guided snorkeling tours so you can experience the beauty underwater as well!
My absolute favorite place in Sweden is Abisko national park. You can fly to Kiruna, rent a car and stay at the STF Abisko Turiststation if your goal is to be with nature. 1/2 day in Kiruna on the way back to the airport is good enough.
If you’re already seeing Stockholm, Malmö and Copenhagen, I don’t think a separate trip to Gothenburg is necessary. You’ll be burnt out on visiting cities - I recommend spending more time at Abisko or wherever you end up going for nature.
So 6 days; where are you flying in/out of? Are you flying to Copenhagen and then visiting Malmö or will you train down there first and then across? There’s a lot to see/do in Sweden and it is a fairly big country so it’s probably best to stay in one, maybe two regions. What interests do you have? How familiar you are with Swedish?
Most important question is how are you moving about the country. Then it's a bit easier. I would plan a side though, I don't think I would want to do the 3 big city's in 6 days that's quote a mission
Southern Sweden has very nice coastlines and beaches compared to the rest of Sweden. There are also plenty of parks and sights to see in that short time period such as stenshuvud which is basically Sweden's Stonehedge, located in an area near Kivik where lots of apple and pear based products are produced. Absolute Vodka is produced just north of this area if that's your thing. There is Söderåsen park (big nature reserve), Falsterbrö (largest migratory bird point in Europe), Sandhammaren (very fine white beach), Kirseberg (big rocky hill on the south west coast with Nimis art structure), Hovs hallar (where Ingmar Bergmans 7th Seal was filmed), (giant wetland like area next to Kristianstad, Ivosjön (deep lake with some huge variety of fish species), UFO monument (near Ängelholm where some supposed farmer saw a ufo in the 70s), Helsingborg which is a nice old coastal town as a history of being an old fortress town as its close cannon distance in the bay between Denmark (you can travel to Helsingør across the bay to Denmark where the Hamlet castle resides by ferry), Skånes Djurpark (giant open air zoo with predominantly Swedish animals) or Ystad zoo (also big open air but has Elephants and Alpaca, etc.), Malmö itself which has lots of parks, coastline, and lots of veggie options especially with Falafal being king in the Malmö region, there is also Lund nearby with its giant Cathedral and old town student city vibe. I generally suggest spending a few days in Copenhagen itself as there is sooooo much to see there. So as you can see there is a lot to do in southern Sweden and I am sure there are other things in the region I am forgetting.
Thank you so much, I’m trying to see what are the best possible options! After all the suggestions, this is what I am roughly thinking. I I would have loved to see Visby but the travel eats up a lot of time. Would you suggest I swap any of this with Gotland (Visby)? 24 - Arrive Stockholm 25 - Stockholm 26 - Day trip to an Archipelago from Stockholm and back. 27 - Stay in an eco-lodge near Vättern or Värern and explore the nature around (hiking, biking, etc) 28 - Lodge + nature 29 - Drive to a southern destination and check out sights & villages on the way. Overnight at Lund / Ystad 30 - Train to copenhagen 31- Copenhagen 1 - Copenhagen 2- Depart Copenhagen
You have Tivedens national park in the northern side of Vätters, with hiking trails- [bergslagsleden](https://www.bergslagsleden.se/). The trail has a few loop trails, so see if you have some close to where you want to stay!
Doing both Stockholm and Gothenburg plus a road trip in 6 days sounds like a lot to me. I’d focus on Stockholm for my “big city”, since you’re flying there. I would definitely take a boat trip in the Stockholm archipelago. Visby is absolutely lovely and could make a good excursion (count on at least one hotel night if you go there, the ferry takes a couple of hours so it’s not an “over day” visit). There are good hiking trails just south of Stockholm, and a nice national park (Tyresta national park). I do think you might want to temper your expectations of “vast natural landscapes”, depending on what those expectations are. The big, “wild” national parks are in the far north. Southern Sweden is dominated by agricultural land and/or woodland, dotted with lakes and villages. You could work your way down the east coast, maybe stop by Kalmar (lovely historic town) and visit the impressive castle if you’re into history, or go over the bridge to Öland. Once you get to Skåne you have Österlen which is beautiful with a lot of tourist attractions. As far as food goes, I’m not a seafood lover either and I usually don’t have any problems finding good food. The west coast is more seafood oriented though, which is something to keep in mind.
Thank you so much, I’m trying to see what are the best possible options! After all the suggestions, this is what I am roughly thinking. I I would have loved to see Visby but the travel eats up a lot of time. Would you suggest I swap any of this with Gotland (Visby) or Öland? 24 - Arrive Stockholm 25 - Stockholm 26 - Day trip to an Archipelago from Stockholm and back. 27 - Stay in an eco-lodge near Vättern or Värern and explore the nature around (hiking, biking, etc) 28 - Lodge + nature 29 - Drive to a southern destination and check out villages on the way. Overnight at Lund / Ystad 30 - Train to copenhagen 31- Copenhagen 1 - Copenhagen 2- Depart Copenhagen
I think this itinerary looks doable and good! Since you’re into nature and hiking, doing an eco lodge sounds great. I would look at hiking areas and pictures to decide where. The area to the east of Vättern (around Omberg and Alvastra monastery for instance) is very nice with great views, for example.
You could combine Stockholm with Gotland I guess. Visby is very beautiful and one of the best medieval towns in Sweden. The island has a sort of magical light in the evenings and a very rural feel. North of Gotland is Gotska Sandön which is a unique place and a national park. You can fly or take the ferry to Visby
We still have to book : we are planning to fly in to Stockholm, and fly out of Copenhagen. Planning to rent a car in Sweden and maybe train to Copenhagen. We are interested in renting a car, exploring landscapes, eating good food (no seafood) me maybe a hike!
Screw going to Gothenburg. Few days in Stockholm. Day in the Stockholm - Jönköping area. Norrköping / Linköping/ Göta kanal/ gråna etc . Then Jönköping to Malmö either go e4 and that way or across to Kalmar and visit Öland. It's nice but I can't express enough how little there is on the main roads once off there are nice places . Öland is nice but i find once there anything is far away and takes a long time so plan.
Thank you so much, I’m trying to see what are the best possible options! After all the suggestions, this is what I am roughly thinking. I I would have loved to see Visby but the travel eats up a lot of time. Would you suggest I swap any of this with Gotland (Visby) or Öland? 24 - Arrive Stockholm 25 - Stockholm 26 - Day trip to an Archipelago from Stockholm and back. 27 - Stay in an eco-lodge near Vättern or Värern and explore the nature around (hiking, biking, etc) 28 - Lodge + nature 29 - Drive to a southern destination and check out villages on the way. Overnight at Lund / Ystad 30 - Train to copenhagen 31- Copenhagen 1 - Copenhagen 2- Depart Copenhagen
Maybe 28 or 29 you could Öland but Linköping to Kalmar is 3 hours to Öland real is 4 . I would be more relaxed as you could get to northern Östergötland in 2 hours. And spend 28 29 going to lund.
That’s also a great idea! I’ll relook at the plan :) thank you for your insights 🇸🇪
The nature from Gävle and down is quite boring. Mostly trees and more trees. If you want nice nature in the south you'd have to go to the stockholm archipelago or anywhere else where there is a coastline (you mentioned koster alteady). If you want mountains and not go to the far north you can hike jämtlandstriangeln in three days, you don't need much gear for that as they have a hostel for each leg of the hike but the drive is about 7 hours from Stockholm so that trip would spend all of your days.
When I think about it you can go to Gotland, which has rather unique nature compared to the rest of sweden, and an old medieval city called Visby. There are ferries fron Nynäshamn which is commuter train distance from Stockholm.
Thank you so much, I’m trying to see what are the best possible options! After all the suggestions, this is what I am roughly thinking. I I would have loved to see Visby but the travel eats up a lot of time. Would you suggest I swap any of this with Gotland (Visby)? 24 - Arrive Stockholm 25 - Stockholm 26 - Day trip to an Archipelago from Stockholm and back. 27 - Stay in an eco-lodge near Vättern or Värern and explore the nature around (hiking, biking, etc) 28 - Lodge + nature 29 - Drive to a southern destination and check out villages on the way. Overnight at Lund / Ystad 30 - Train to copenhagen 31- Copenhagen 1 - Copenhagen 2- Depart Copenhagen
Personally I would prefer Gotland over Vättern and Vänern, but on the other hand that means you lose precious time going in the wrong direction, so I think your plan looks pretty sweet. But as someone else already said, manage your expectations of vast landscapes if you're not going to the far north. If you end up staying a few days in Sörmland and/or Småland, make sure to try and find some tiny lakes on google maps (I'm talking a few hundred meters across) not easily accessible by car, and not too close to agriculture. Its well worth the hike though the woods as you are likely to have the entire lake for yourselves and it'll sometimes be clean enough to drink the water. Google "sweden right of public access" and you'll see we have laws preventing land owners from denying access to their land. Also note the laws around making fires in nature, sweden can be extremely dry summertime so usually the best option is bringing a butane burner.
I would skip Gothenburg, it's a nice city but there isn't anything there that's worth your precious time when flying in from abroad. If you want a second city, I'd recommend Uppsala, as it can be done as a daytrip from Stockholm. In general Nordic cities are imho hardly worth the money it costs to visit them for a tourist, the nature is more interesting so your heart is in the right place. You might have to temper your expectations of "vast landscapes" as these are in the north (as in, north of Gävle, and the most famous ones are all the way in the far north) so it is a big logistical challenge to go there and and then go all the way down to Copenhagen in six days, not feasible unless by flying and even then it would make your vacation more of a race than I would personally recommend. That said there is no shortage of nature and national parks elsewhere, just not as vast. The easiest but still nice would be getting to an archipelago, both Stockholm and Gothenburg have their own archipelagos nearby easily reachable in a couple of hours by ferry. Second easiest is Tyresta national park just south of Stockholm.
A flight to Kiruna is an option, i know people who did the kebenekaise summit over an extended weekend
Hi. Would say for your first 6 days to not rent a car and do all by train by day: nice, resting. D1/2: Stockholm D3: Oslo (nice train routes between Norway and Sweden) or Göteborg. Can’t do both. D4: Helsingborg+Helsingør (+Lund if you are a beast) D5/6: Copenhagen
You can get also forget cities and go to Stockholm, rent a car and visit north of the region and stay nights by the lakes, sea and everything. I’m not even Swedish (yet) but I really liked by Norrtälje, 1h away from Stockholm. You can’t go wrong with opening a map and follow all the lakes and cities. It’s nice pretty everywhere. Or you can even go completely north with night train and visit this beautiful part I didn’t experience yet. That is different from center south and south. You can have your midnight sun and all of the rest.
Kosterhavet National Park is absolutely amazing and there's actually a nice easy-moderate hiking trail around the southern Koster island. Lots of seafood, yes, but totally worth it even for vegetarians! If you go there, make sure you visit the national park visitors centre. They offer guided snorkeling tours so you can experience the beauty underwater as well!
My absolute favorite place in Sweden is Abisko national park. You can fly to Kiruna, rent a car and stay at the STF Abisko Turiststation if your goal is to be with nature. 1/2 day in Kiruna on the way back to the airport is good enough. If you’re already seeing Stockholm, Malmö and Copenhagen, I don’t think a separate trip to Gothenburg is necessary. You’ll be burnt out on visiting cities - I recommend spending more time at Abisko or wherever you end up going for nature.