Sweden Holidays

Kungsleden Hiking takes you through some of Sweden’s finest mountain country, with the northern section running from Abisko through valleys, lakes and open tundra. Mountain huts make multi-day trekking practical, while summer brings long daylight and broad views across Swedish Lapland.

Kebnekaise is Sweden’s classic high mountain challenge, rising above the landscapes of Swedish Lapland. The Western Route is physically demanding but less technical, and STF guided summit tours use this route only in summer 2026. Guided tours on the Eastern Route remain suspended because of changing mountain and glacier conditions.

Sarek is for experienced hikers who are comfortable travelling through remote countries with very little infrastructure. There are no marked hiking trails or overnight cabins and only a few bridges, so route finding, river crossings and self-sufficiency are an important part of exploring the park.

High Coast Hiking follows steep forested slopes and sea views along Sweden’s UNESCO-listed High Coast, where post-glacial land uplift has shaped an unusual landscape. Around Örnsköldsvik, trails combine rocky viewpoints, coastal woodland and geological interest without needing a full Arctic expedition.

Snowmobile Safari around Kiruna is one of the quickest ways to get deep into Swedish Lapland in winter. Routes cross frozen, snow-covered landscapes far beyond town lights, with some evening trips timed for aurora viewing and others focused on the scale of the Arctic scenery.

Dog Sledding around Kiruna and Jukkasjärvi puts travellers behind a husky team on snowy forest and tundra routes. It is a hands-on winter experience rather than simple sightseeing, with the quiet between bursts of running dogs making the Arctic landscape feel surprisingly close.

Archipelago Kayaking near Gothenburg or Stockholm gives Sweden’s island landscape a slower pace. Paddlers move between rocky shores, small villages and sheltered channels, stopping for swims or short walks when conditions allow. It is particularly rewarding in summer, when daylight stretches late into the evening.

Klarälven River Rafting in Värmland offers a livelier alternative to Sweden’s calmer lake paddling. The river cuts through forested country and supports rafting trips for different experience levels, making it a good choice for travellers who want moving water without heading into the far north.

Birka and Hovgården, on Lake Mälaren, form a UNESCO World Heritage Site that brings Sweden’s Viking Age into focus. Birka grew into an important trading centre, while nearby Hovgården served royal power; burial mounds, archaeology and museum displays help connect the two stories.

The UNESCO-listed Rock Carvings in Tanum preserve thousands of Bronze Age images across the Bohuslän landscape. Ships, people, animals and ritual scenes were cut into exposed rock, leaving one of northern Europe’s most important records of prehistoric belief, travel and everyday life.

Falun’s Great Copper Mountain is a UNESCO World Heritage Site shaped by centuries of mining. Copper from here helped support Sweden’s economic and political power, while the vast open pit, miners’ houses and industrial remains show the scale of the work behind that wealth.

Engelsberg Ironworks is UNESCO-listed as an exceptionally complete example of pre-industrial iron production. Its preserved furnaces, forges and associated buildings show how Swedish iron was made during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, when the country became a major supplier to European markets.

Karlskrona was founded in 1680 as the base of Sweden’s naval power and is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Its planned Baroque layout, dockyards, fortifications and naval buildings survive with unusual completeness, showing how military strategy shaped an entire city.

Gammelstad Church Town near Luleå is UNESCO-listed for its cluster of more than 400 wooden cottages around a stone church. The cottages housed rural parishioners who travelled long distances for services, preserving a distinctive pattern of community life once common across northern Scandinavia.

Southern Öland’s UNESCO-listed agricultural landscape records thousands of years of continuous human use. Prehistoric remains, medieval traces and working farmland sit together across the island, showing how local communities adapted farming and settlement patterns to thin soils, limestone geology and a demanding coastal environment.

Grimeton Radio Station near Varberg is a UNESCO World Heritage Site from the early age of global wireless communication. Its longwave transmitting equipment and towering antenna system survive largely intact, offering a rare look at the technology that connected continents before modern digital networks.

Four of the 34 station points included in the UNESCO-listed Struve Geodetic Arc are in Sweden. The nineteenth century survey network stretched across ten countries and helped scientists calculate the Earth’s size and shape with remarkable accuracy for its time.

The great burial mounds at Gamla Uppsala are among Sweden’s most evocative early historic sites. Traditionally linked with legendary rulers, they date from around the Viking Age. Nearby archaeology, the museum and old church help place myth beside evidence.

ABBA The Museum in Stockholm turns Sweden’s best-known pop export into an interactive experience, with music, costumes and displays charting the group’s career. Even casual fans can enjoy it, because the visit is playful, energetic and rooted in an important piece of Swedish popular culture.

The Royal Swedish Opera in Stockholm is Sweden’s national stage for opera and ballet, with its orchestra and choir adding to the programme. Founded in 1773 by King Gustav III, it remains one of the city’s strongest choices for an evening centred on live performance.

Liseberg in Gothenburg mixes amusement-park thrills with concerts, food and strong seasonal programming. The atmosphere changes noticeably through summer, Halloween and Christmas, so it feels less like a one-season attraction. Rides such as Helix and Balder give the park its headline excitement.

Stockholm’s metro doubles as an enormous public art experience, with stations decorated through murals, sculpture and installations created over decades. Riding between striking stops is an easy way to see how art has been woven into everyday city life rather than confined to galleries.

Fans of the Swedish series Young Royals can visit Kaggeholms Slott, around an hour from Stockholm, where many scenes were filmed. The castle has leaned into its screen connection with themed tours, events and stays, turning a television location into a surprisingly immersive day out.

ICEHOTEL in Jukkasjärvi is as much an art experience as a place to stay. The seasonal winter hotel is created afresh each year with new ice rooms and installations, while ICEHOTEL 365 keeps ice suites, artwork and the Icebar open throughout the year.

Ájtte in Jokkmokk gives a thoughtful introduction to Sámi life in northern Sweden, from traditional clothing and handicrafts to reindeer herding and seasonal migration. It is especially useful for understanding how culture, landscape and everyday survival have remained closely connected across generations.

Dalarna is one of the easiest places to recognise traditional Sweden: red cottages, folk music, lakes and the painted Dala horse. Around Midsummer, villages become especially lively, with maypoles, dancing and local celebrations giving visitors a more personal feel for regional customs.

Midsummer is one of Sweden’s defining seasonal traditions, celebrated around the longest days of the year with flowers, food, music and dancing around a maypole. In northern Sweden, the celebration can coincide with the midnight sun, making the long evening feel wonderfully unusual.

Skansen in Stockholm brings Swedish traditions together in one place, with historic houses, farms, craftspeople, folk music and seasonal celebrations. Founded as an open-air museum in the late nineteenth century, it offers a lively picture of everyday life before modern industrial Sweden took shape.

The Decorated Farmhouses of Hälsingland are a UNESCO World Heritage Site celebrating the artistry of rural Sweden. Their richly painted nineteenth-century interiors show how prosperous farmers expressed status, taste and local identity, turning practical wooden homes into some of the country’s most distinctive cultural spaces.

The UNESCO-listed Laponian Area combines vast northern wilderness with living Sámi cultural traditions. Reindeer herding remains central to the landscape, and the region is significant not only for its mountains and forests but for the long relationship between Indigenous communities and the land.

Stockholm’s Skogskyrkogården, or Woodland Cemetery, is UNESCO-listed for the way architecture and landscape were designed as one calm, reflective whole. Created in the early twentieth century, its woodland setting became internationally influential and shows a quieter, more modern side of Swedish cultural design.

Held each February in Swedish Lapland, this historic winter market celebrates Sámi culture through traditional crafts, food, music and local activities.

Taking place across January and February, Sweden’s leading film festival brings Nordic and international cinema, premieres, talks and screenings to Gothenburg.

Held between February and March, Sweden’s famous cross-country ski event follows a 90-kilometre route from Sälen to Mora.

Celebrated on 30 April, Valborg welcomes spring with bonfires, choir singing and outdoor gatherings, especially in Uppsala and Lund.

Celebrated in June, Midsummer brings flower crowns, maypole dancing, traditional food and long summer evenings across Sweden.

Held between July and August, Stockholm Pride brings concerts, talks, performances and a large parade to the capital.

Held in August, this major Gothenburg music festival combines Swedish and international artists with film, culture and late-night performances.

Taking place in August, Malmöfestivalen fills the city centre with free music, food, cultural performances and family activities.

Held on 10 December, the Nobel Prize ceremony in Stockholm honours laureates in science, literature and economics.

Celebrated on 13 December, Lucia Day is marked with candlelit processions, traditional songs, white gowns and saffron buns.