Capital of the Västerbotten County in northern Sweden, Umeå is by the Ume River, close to where it empties into the Gulf of Bothnia. Northern Sweden’s largest university is here, in a young culturally-vibrant city in pristine surroundings. The gulf to the east is sprinkled with islands, some like the Holmön and Norrbyskär archipelagos are …
In the Ruhr Valley, Essen is a name that used to be a byword for German industry and the Krupp family, now ThyssenKrupp. But if you show up expecting a post-Industrial cityscape you may be in for a shock. The tertiary sector has left Essen with modern towers and parks, while a UNESCO-status industrial facility …
A port city on the Sound, Helsingborg is on Sweden’s Lund Peninsula across the water from its Danish counterpart Helsingør. Denmark is almost close enough to touch and Helsingborg was controlled by the Danes up to the Treaty of Roskilde in the 17th century. Kärnan is a medieval castle tower, harking back to when the …
When this city in Östergötland County was an industrial powerhouse in the 1900s, it was known as “Little Manchester”. You’ll understand why when you visit the Industrilandskapet, a whole quarter of preserved 19th and 20th-century textile factories and warehouses converted into homes, university buildings and visitor attractions. Norrköping’s location on the Motala ström made it …
Couched in a landscape of infinite lakes , Växjö is a small, forward-thinking city in the Småland Province. In this beautiful setting, Växjö has taken the mantle as Sweden’s greenest city. Here CO2 emissions have been cut by half since 1993 and are now less than a third of the EU average. For culture, Växjö …
Tied to Copenhagen by the Öresund Bridge, Malmö was Danish until the 16th century. Its role as a Hanseatic trading port in medieval times gives its architecture a Dutch feel in its curved and crow-stepped gables. The old town squares, Lilla Torg and Stortorget are car-free, photogenic and high-spirited in summer. The castle, which was …
In medieval times Lund was the seat of an archbishopric that held sway over all of the Nordic countries. And speaking to that religious power is the amazing cathedral, the greatest Romanesque edifice in Scandinavia. That has to be the first thing you do in Lund, a green city famed for its reputable university and …
Southwest of Stockholm is the city of Södertälje, close enough to the capital to be called a suburb and served by the Stockholm commuter rail network. Known for being very cosmopolitan, Södertälje is also a manufacturing city and is the base of the worldwide truck brand, Scania AB. There’s a museum all about Scania here, …
Born in medieval times on the Svartån River, Västerås has spent the last few hundred years inching down to the scenic shore of Lake Mälaren. New neighbourhoods are being built by this beautiful body of water specked with little islands. It’s the scene of Sweden’s largest inland harbour, and family attractions like a Viking settlement …
Sweden’s fourth city has been the country’s intellectual and ecclesiastical centre since medieval times. Uppsala University is the oldest institution of higher learning in the country, and among its long roll-call of estimable alumni and professors is Carl Linnaeus. In the 18th century he set the rules for modern taxonomy. Linnaeus lived and worked in …