Kalmar

Kalmar is a perhaps unique example of a town that was moved and transformed into a Baroque island fortress against Sweden’s enemies. Raven Travel Guide Europe’s Kalmar travel guide explains its lively past.  

Kalmar had a vital role in Baltic trade and preserves the imposing heritage houses its merchants built, monuments to prosperity that still grace its stone-paved streets. 

These make Kalmar one of the best preserved historical centres in Sweden. 

By then, Kalmar was already the site of Sweden’s most important castle and a base for the Swedish fleet. Kalmar slott was once the key to Sweden. Swedish and Danish armies fought multiple battles to gain control over it. 

Today this powerful and superbly restored Renaissance fortress is one of Sweden’s premier attractions and an important historical museum. A castle tour reveals one of the country’s most dazzling royal chambers. 

Kalmar’s Baroque cathedral is one of Sweden’s most unusual churches, built on a cruciform plan, but with four towers. 

Surrounding the town were powerful walls and bastions against the threat posed by Denmark and gateways that allowed access to Kalmar’s critical port. 

The imposing 19th century steam mill now houses a regional cultural collection in its museum. Learn the story of the sinking of the royal flagship Kronan and see what was salvaged by archaeologists. This naval wreck is second only to the Wasa in Stockholm. 

Kalmar is also the key to the mysterious island province known as Öland. Öland is no secret in Sweden, but it throws up many riddles. 

Who built its remarkable Iron Age ring forts? Did they also have ritual functions? Who were the people buried in its grave fields and remembered by its standing stones? Everything suggests these chieftains must have been powerful. 

Other Öland monuments include runestones, medieval stone churches and about 400 quaint timber farm windmills. 

Borgholm slott is one of Scandinavia’s exciting castle ruins and has guarded its side of Kalmarsund since medieval times. 

Get all the travel tips for Kalmar, including:

• Affordable accommodation options
• The best budget meal options
• The details on transport links with Stockholm, Öland, Gotland and other parts of Sweden

Download a Kalmar travel guide and enjoy the attractions in and around one of Sweden's most important destinations.