The most beautiful cities 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.

Travel information

Sweden attracts about 7.5 million visitors a year, most from Germany, its Scandinavian neighbours, the US and the Netherlands. Its appeal as a natural and cultural destination is not widely appreciated, which is where tourist information comes in.

Tourist information centres

Much of Sweden’s tourist information is web-based or provided at attractions such as museums. In many Swedish destinations, there are no dedicated tourist offices staffed with information professionals. In these places, tourist information is a combination of online resources and information stations stocked with booklets and brochures. Here, the local staff can assist with some inquiries. Examples of this are the city of Uppsala and the province of Dalarna, where the term "InfoPoint" is used.

Stockholm has four tourist information offices, but of these only three unofficial locations are open for visits, one of these for a short period from early July to mid-August. The most accessible is a ticket sales booth (M-Su 9-19) open in the city’s central station main hall.

Tourist websites

The Visit Sweden website is the country’s tourist shop window. The home page links to regional and city summaries, seasonal suggestions, food topics and luxury accommodation. An Interactive map clicks through to information on hundreds of sites throughout the country, which can be filtered for accommodation, food, cultural attractions, architecture and design, family activities and nature.

Many Swedish tourist websites provide an option directing users to a Google Translate English (or other language) version, which can influence functionality when attempting to approve or deny cookies or use internal links. At some Swedish destinations, tourist information pages are part of the local civic website.

Here are the official tourist websites or pages for key destinations:

Stockholm https://www.visitstockholm.com/
Gothenburg https://www.goteborg.com/en
Uppsala https://destinationuppsala.se/en/
Sigtuna https://www.destinationsigtuna.se/en/
Gävle https://www.visitgavle.se/en
Västerås https://visitvasteras.se/
Sala https://www.hemtillsala.se/
Örebro https://www.visitorebro.se/english/
Malmö https://malmo.se/Welcome-to-Malmo/Visit-Malmo.html
Lund https://visitlund.se/en/find-tourist-information
Helsingborg https://visithelsingborg.com/guider/guidetohelsingborg/
Jönköping & Huskvarna https://jkpg.com/en/
Linköping https://visitlinkoping.se/en/plan-your-trip-to-linkoping/tourist-information-in-linkoping/
Vadstena https://www.upplevvadstena.se/en/touristinformation.htm
Norrköping https://visit.norrkoping.se/bra-att-veta/infopoints
Kalmar https://kalmar.com/en/kalmar/good-to-know
Karlskrona https://www.visitkarlskrona.se/en/karlskrona-tourist-center
Visby https://gotland.com/om-gotland-com/in-english/
Falun https://www.visitdalarna.se/en/falun
Östersund https://visitostersund.se/en/
Umeå https://visitumea.se/en
Luleå https://visitlulea.se/en/

Regional tourism organisations

The regional tourism marketing organisations represent a mixture of landskap and other regional coalitions or areas based around chief cities. The Uppland link here is to a page of the Visit Sweden site.

Central region

Uppland https://visitsweden.com/where-to-go/middle-sweden/uppland/ 

Västmanland https://regionvastmanland.se/vastmanland-turism/ 

Södermanland (Sörmland) https://visitsormland.se/ (use browser translation) 

Östergötland https://www.visitostergotland.se/vs/english 

Närke https://www.visitorebro.se/english/ 

Värmland https://visitvarmland.com/en/start/ 

Southern region

Småland https://www.visitsmaland.se/en/ 

Gotland https://gotland.com/om-gotland-com/in-english/ 

Öland https://en.oland.se/ 

Blekinge https://www.visitblekinge.se/en 

Skåne https://visitskane.com/ 

Halland https://www.visithalland.com/en/ 

Västergötland, Bohuslän & Dalsland https://www.vastsverige.com/en/ 

Mid-northern region

Gästrikland https://www.visitgavle.se/en 

Dalarna https://www.visitdalarna.se/en/ 

Hälsingland https://destinationhalsingland.se/halsingland-your-gateway-to-nordic-bliss/ 

Jämtland & Härjedalen https://jht.se/en/ 

Medelpad https://destinationsundsvall.se/english/destination 

Far north

Ångermanland (Höga Kusten) https://www.hogakusten.com/en 

Västerbotten https://vasterbottenexperience.se/about-vasterbotten-experience

Lappland & Norrbotten (Swedish Lapland) https://www.swedishlapland.com/

Other visitor information

The Swedish tourism association Svenska Turistföreningen has a website including links for leisure activities and a booking engine for STF-run accommodation including hostels and tourist hotels.

Maps

Sweden is covered by well-produced online and sheet maps for motorists and outdoors enthusiasts. The sheet maps are characteristically produced on durable, water-resistant materials well suited to the Swedish climate.

Sheet maps: The government mapping agency Lantmäteriet authorises the Vägkartan range of 1:100,000 road maps. Norstedts publishes 1:100,000 multilingual regional road and tourist maps on sale in bookshops at about 100kr each. International mapmakers such as Michelin and Marco Polo publish national sheet maps. Freytag & Berndt publishes multilingual 1:250,000 and 1:400,000 road and leisure maps.

Norstedts 1:50,000 Sverigeserien multilingual topographic maps, which cover all but the north-western and far northern regions, are available from online retailers in the 250kr range, or at about 170kr at bookshops. The Lantmäteriet Fjällkartan 1:100,000 series, covering the gap, is aimed at outdoor activities and costs in the range of 160-210kr per map online. Norstedts also produces 1:75,000 Outdoorkartan maps at 149kr. Norstedts also produces 1:50,000 bilingual outdoor and trekking guides in cooperation with Svenska Turistföreningen (225kr per map online).

For cyclists, Kartförlaget produces a 1:90,000 Cykelkartan series covering Sweden as far north as the Stockholm region (although there is also a map covering the lake Siljan in central Dalarna). These are for sale online at 185kr each.

Online maps: For an authoritative online map of Sweden, visit the Lantmäteriet website, which is searchable. Apart from the online suite of Google Maps, there is the Scandinavian searchable online maps produced by Eniro.se.

Other websites

The privately run Visit Nordic website covers the Scandinavian countries, Finland, Iceland and Greenland. Its Sweden page has links to tourism topics, suggested activities, themed trips, museums, castles and wild landscapes.

News

The national broadcaster Sveriges Radio https://www.sverigesradio.se/radiosweden has a page with news reports on Sweden in English. The BBC has a Sweden page and the English-language expat website The Local has a Sweden page covering current events. Subscribers can view premium content at €9.99 per month.