Swedish heritage & history

Discover Sweden’s cultural heritage

With 15 outstanding UNESCO world heritage sites, Sweden is in the world’s top 20 UNESCO heritage destinations. So many for visitors to choose from, dotted all over the country.

The charming Gammelstad Church village in Luleå, Swedish Lapland is a particular highlight, with its 424 wooden houses originally meant for churchgoers. In Hälsingland, in the east-central part of the country, a trip to explore the richly decorated wooden farmhouses with elaborate folk-art are a perfect excursion for any visitor looking to immerse themselves in traditional culture. And outside the town of Tanum on the Swedish west coast the fascinating rock carvings of Tanumshede lie in wait for your guests to discover them.

Located just 10 kilometres west of Stockholm, the Royal domain of Drottningholm, the royal family’s residence, with its stately castle, beautiful gardens, unique Chinese pavilion and palace theatre, has so much history and beauty to offer visitors.

In Karlskrona, southern Sweden lies an impressive Naval port, built in 1680 with buildings and docks designed for constructing warships. A perfect place for visitors interested in naval history and the history of combat.

Öland is a beautiful island, situated off Sweden’s south east coast. In contrast to the rest of Sweden, Öland kept its arable land and meadows close to the villages, just as it was in medieval times. The island can be reached via a six-kilometre-long bridge from the city of Kalmar.

Just north of Öland is the island of Gotland with Visby as its main town. An impressive 3.5-kilometre ring wall, with towers from the Medieval 12th century, encircles the town. Each year in August people gather and celebrate the Medieval week (‘Medeltidsveckan’) with all manner of things to see and do including jousting tournaments. It’s an excellent time to visit.

Swedish museums – dynamic, authentic, unique… and great places to eat

There is literally a museum to suit any and every taste and family member in Sweden, if you know where to look. Visitors will also come to find that many of the museums they visit have places to eat, serving up everything from cinnamon buns to fine dining, particularly in the case of Stockholm’s Nationalmuseum, Fotografiska and The Spritmuseum.

Continuing on in Stockholm, the fascinating Vasa Museum, situated on the island of Royal Djurgården is Sweden and Scandinavia’s most visited museum. The Vasa showcases the doomed 17th century Vasa ship and tells its captivating tale. Just a short walk away is the ABBA Museum, a place where visitors can well and truly say "Thank you for the music". Since 2021, the impressive Aviici Experience has opened Stockholm’s SPACE and even more recent the technical museum opened an immersive 3D in 360 degrees experience Wisdome. For younger clients, Junibacken is dedicated to the characters in Astrid Lindgren’s books, maybe the most famous being Pippi Longstocking (‘Pippi Långstrump’). However, children will never get bored no matter which museums they visit. More or less all Swedish museums have exhibitions and programs created with children in mind.

On the west coast archipelago island of Tjörn, the Pilane open-air sculpture museum with its eight hectares visitors can spend a day enjoying the art as much as the scenery, it’s just a short yet picturesque cycle away from the Nordic Watercolour Museum.

Further north, Arjeplog’s Silver Museum shares the story of Ten thousand years of history through the beautiful silverwork mined and produced in and around Swedish Lapland.

Museums with free admission

Visiting cultural experiences in Sweden doesn’t need to cost the earth. It doesn’t need to cost anything. Some museums in Sweden are admission free. For example, Malmö konsthall, in the southern city of Malmö is one of Sweden’s largest spaces for contemporary art. For younger visitors (under 20) the Gothenburg Museum of Art and the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm is free of charge. On the beautiful island of Skeppsholmen in Stockholm, you will find Moderna Museet, exhibiting modern and contemporary art.

Stockholm metro – the world’s longest arts gallery

With only a day pass for the Stockholm metro visitors can experience the world’s longest art gallery – 110 kilometres. In fact, the stations are the art with walls and roof decorated by artists in various ways. The most renowned one is the Kungsträdgården (‘Kings’s Garden’) station where art has references to plant life and former 17th century palace called Makalös which stood on the site before. The Stockholm metro is also one of the most sustainable ways to travel in the city.