The most beautiful places in Sweden

Sweden is a country of rare beauty, even amid its starkest northern landscapes. Its cities and towns testify to 1000 years of urban life, but there are precious places offering glimpses into even older traditions of human settlement.

Gothenburg (Göteborg)

Sweden’s second city is one of its youngest. The country needed a west-facing seaport in the 17th century and the king sanctioned the building of a fortified city with canals on the Dutch model.

Gothenburg became the base for Swedish enterprises in oriental trade and a strategic strongpoint in the Baltic. Today it is a centre of industry, business and culture and headquarters of international names such as Volvo, Ericsson and SKF.