Sweden
in Europe

Blekinge County sits along Sweden’s softer southern coast, where oak forests meet a broken archipelago. In Karlskrona, a UNESCO-listed naval base anchors history, while idyllic islands, coastal trails, and well-kept villages keep things low-key. It’s less showy than the west coast – more intimate, more local, and ideal for slow travel by boat or bike.

Gotland, Sweden’s limestone outpost in the Baltic, feels like a medieval fever dream (with scattered patches of WiFi). In Visby, rose-draped ruins and Hanseatic warehouses draw summer crowds, then fall back to wind and sheep. Raukar sea stacks rise like stone trolls along stark shores. It’s equal parts Viking memory, indie escape, and eccentric Nordic rebellion. Bring a bike, or commandeer a horse.

Stretching 80 kilometers east from the Swedish capital and into the Baltic Sea are the 30,000 islands that make up Skärgården, more commonly known as the Stockholm Archipelago. A chain of colourful, red-panelled summerhouses, craggy coastlines, and wooden boat jetties interrupt the otherwise tree-covered landscapes of the more populated islands, which are also home to kiosks, summer-open ice cream vendors, and restaurants serving locally sourced and foraged dishes. With public ferries running regularly from the mainland during the peak summer season, choosing which island to explore first is the difficulty: there's the former fishing hub of Sandhamn, the charming beaches of Utö, the freshest dining on Gallnö, and the island coined as the archipelago capital, Vaxholm.