Our top 10 travel tips and Sweden travel guide

You could spend hours looking around various Sweden travel guides, which will take you down as many aisles as an Ikea store. Or you can get straight to where you want to go, and read our top Sweden travel tips for walking and cycling holidays. One thing’s for sure, you’ll find trails that are a lot more enlightening than an Ikea candle, and local food that’s a world away from meatballs. Although they do like their meatballs. Unlike Ikea, however, Sweden is one of those European countries that never disappoints, and it has quality tourism products that give you memories that last a lifetime. And you won’t be overwhelmed by complex instructions either, because we will build it all for you.

Things to know before visiting Sweden

The Swedish word resfeber is something all adventurers relate to. It translates literally as travel fever, and is used to describe that mix of anxiety and excitement that we get before embarking on a journey. We hope that the following tips get you feeling febrile, with resfeber feelings kicking in big time. Don’t call a doctor. Just book and go.

1. Find your midsommar mindset

The summer is one of the best times to visit Sweden, but midsummer (midsommar in Swedish) is party time throughout the country with every village, island and city dweller coming out to celebrate the summer solstice. Celebrations begin on the closest Friday to 21 June, with maypoles and merrymaking, flower wreaths and food festivals taking place across the country and throughout the whole weekend. In addition to midsummer, we have Swedish adventure holidays running between March and November, so there are plenty of good times to go. For more information, see our blog, Best time to go to Sweden.

Sunrise over a typical Midsommar pole on the coast of Roslagen in the Stockholm archipelago.

2. Swedish sandwiches are never flat-packed

Open sandwiches (smörgås) in Sweden are a feast for the eyes as well as your stomachs. They are an artform unto themselves, with an array of ingredients piled on top, the most popular being prawns, salad, herring, cheese and ham or pâté. If you eat seafood, then the räkmacka, or prawn sandwich, is the most famous of them all, and towns and cities compete for the best ones. Although Gothenburg is often considered the greatest.

3. Dagens are delish

Providing a decent lunch for workers has long been a tradition in Sweden, similar to France, Spain and many more European countries. Known as dagens in Swedish, you get a main course, salad, a drink and sometimes even a dessert for a bargain price. But they aren’t always easy to find, so ask our expert on the ground for the good dagens hangouts. Meatballs are often on the menu, which explains why Ikea inherited this aspect of Sweden’s culinary heritage. With prices between 100-180 kr.

Swedish sandwiches or smörgås are lip-smacking good.

4. Tap into Sweden’s slow food scene

If you want to feast even further on Sweden’s Smörgåsbord of slow food, time your trip to coincide with a food festival. Check out the street food festivals in Malmö, Stockholm or Gothenburg during June, July and August respectively. We’re totally here for herrings in its bespoke festival in Marstrand, which features on our Bohuslän Archipelago walking holiday at the beginning of June. And if you time your trip there with the first Thursday after 08 August, this is Crayfish Premiere Day, the beginning of the season to fish for this important food source in the region’s lakes. To gorge on Gotland, you could extend our very last hiking tour at the end of August to take in their famous Skördefestival, or Harvest Festival at the beginning of September.

Gothenburg also goes foodie mad throughout the year, and you can combine our Gotaleden walking holiday with its Beer and Whisky Fair in mid-April or its Cheese Festival in October. And if you’re walking the Österlen Way in southeast Skåne, you have two foodie fests to keep an eye out for, with the Österlen Wine Festival at the end of July and the Apple Market Festival which runs from the end of September into October, both taking place in the town of Kivik which is on your way. So it’s rude not to really.

5. Make friends with fika

Fika is a fundamental part of Swedish life. It’s the word for a coffee break, although in many places, it’s more of a fika feast than a break. It’s also considered a proper break time, especially in the workplace, not just one where you bring a coffee to your desk and stick your headphones back on. Fika is a time to catch up with friends or colleagues, rest and reflect and embrace some Scandi chill. It can happen at any time of day, and usually involves coffee and something sweet, both of which the Swedes do very well. So when you’re out walking or cycling, make sure you find a fine fika spot.

You can find *fika* in many wonderful places on our Sweden adventure holidays.

6. Don’t miss out on a sauna

The tradition of saunas is well known in Sweden, and it’s a wonderful way to immerse yourself in Swedish culture at its most stripped back form! Prepare for nudity, as this is normal in Sweden, although bringing a towel in to cover yourself is also acceptable, as people use them for sitting on anyway. For full immersion, you want to combine saunas with some swimming, and you’ll nearly always find somewhere to plunge on our walking or cycling holidays in Sweden. A fine example of this coastal combo is on Marstrand Island on our walking holiday of Sweden’s western islands or at the traditional cold bath houses in Gothenburg and Helsingborg, or the historic Centralbadet in Stockholm.

7. Respect the right to roam

The right to roam, or allemansrätten in Swedish, has been enshrined in law since 1994, and so please respect this while you roam too. This includes the obvious rules of leaving no litter, removing nothing, staying on allocated tracks and watching wildlife quietly and from a safe distance, respecting the fact that these spaces are their home. These include birdlife and their habitats, especially in places such as Ramsvik Nature Reserve or Galtarö Island on our West Sweden Islands walking holiday, or Stendörren Nature Reserve on our Stockholm Archipelago walking holidays.

Kullen Lighthouse is just one of many remote rambling spots where you have freedom to roam.

8. Big trails yes, small chat no

The Swedish words for small chat are kallprat (cold talk) or dödprat (dead talk) and, in short, it’s not a thing in Sweden. Local people prefer to save their energy for more in-depth conversations. Maybe it goes back to those cold winters, when you didn’t hang about to chat about the weather with your neighbours and friends. Swedish people are friendly and outgoing, however, and love to party, but just skip the small chat.

9. Be bowled over by Bohuslän

The Stockholm Archipelago is the most famous collection of islands in Sweden. However, some may argue that west is best, with the Bohuslän Archipelago an absolute beauty in its own right. As you can see on this walking holiday, there are thousands of islands off the west coast of Sweden, thanks to a collection of granite rocks, worn down to smooth islets and island idylls, which are perfect for hiking and adventuring. On these walking holidays in the western isles, you take quick ferry trips to the likes of Marstrand and Koön Islands, or head further north to the much quieter Dyrön Island, which is car-free and carefree. For more information, see our West Sweden travel guide.

Mosey around Marstrandön, one of many islands in the Bohuslän Archipelago.

10. Take the sleeper train to Sweden

The Swedish national rail operator SJ, runs this EuroNight sleeper train between Germany and Sweden all year round. Leave Berlin at 18.37 and arrive in Stockholm for a celebratory fika just before 10.00. If you choose to leave from Hamburg instead, it picks you up at 22.00, just in time for bed. Accommodation varies from private sleeping compartments to shared, six-bunk couchettes some of which are women-only. There are fresh sheets and blankets on each bed, and there is also a wheelchair-accessible room. Be prepared for border control and having to show your passport on this journey, but it all adds to the Agatha Christie-ness of it all. For more information, see our blog, Sleeper trains rock. Most of our Swedish holidays are also accessible by train, while travelling within the country, or throughout Europe.

We hope that these tips have given you many reasons to travel to Sweden, on a walking or cycling holiday. Please don’t hesitate to contact our adventure specialists for more details. For more Scand-inspiration, you may also enjoy reading our blog on Reasons to visit West Sweden, Best time to go to Sweden, Our guide to cycling in Sweden, Guide to the Skåneleden Trail and Our top five hikes in Sweden.