Tips for traveling: Sweden.

I’ve been to Sweden with my family numerous times since I can remember. The longest for 6 weeks at a time.

Sadly, the last time I came to visit this lovely Nordic country for the last time to date in 2013.

After that I travelled Canada, the United States and the Netherlands. But I never had the time to return to Sweden.

But let’s get over with this wining and start giving out some tips for traveling Sweden.

Getting around:

You don’t really need one if you’re just doing some city sightseeing, but a car is definitely a necessity if you want to get to know the real Sweden. Towns and small one-house-villages are usually quite a distance from one another.
If you’re more of a sporty traveller, you can of course leave the car out and use your bicycle. Just be prepared to travel up to 80 (in the north even a few hundred) kilometres just to get to the next grocery store.

Groceries:

There are several 24/7 grocery stores in cities and towns. Coop and ICA are the largest chains in Sweden, and you’ll find them almost everywhere.
There are small stores in the more rural areas of Sweden. These are usually called ‘Lanthandel’. They have very limited storage and don’t offer as much as the bigger chain stores. But you can get what you need to get over the weekend. Be aware that some products might be over the best by date.

Food:

Don’t be afraid to pick wild berries from the side of the road. There is no such thing as fox tapeworm in Sweden. Just don’t pick berries out of someone’s front yard. Common sense people.
Try köttbullar. They don’t contain horse as the ones at IKEA onces did.
Canelbullar are small cinnamon rolls. Usually without frosting.
You can get a lot of fish specialties such as surströmming (fermented herring in cans).
Moose is very delicious.

Stay:

I don’t know much about hotels and hostels since my father owns a stuga, but there are several camp grounds and nice AirBnBs.

Money:

The local currency is the Swedish Crown.
The exchange rate is usually around 1:9 (Euros to SEK).
Get your cash at the ATM, since only few banks do currency exchange and rates are usually hefty.
Prices will be rounded to the next full crown when you pay cash. The Swedes abolished the 50 öre coins a few years ago, as they weren’t economically reasonable.

Places to visit: