Viking Village
See modern day ‘Vikings’ at work with a visit the Viking Village of Tofta, a reconstructed 9th century-style Viking farm village on the Baltic island of Gotland. Sample Viking merriments, markets and feasts during Viking Festival week in June. Try your hand at axe throwing, make Viking handicraft or bake your own Viking bread. And if it doesn’t turn out well, you can always throw it instead of your axe.
Medieval Week (Medeltidsveckan)
In August, experience Medieval Week in Gotland’s once upon a time trade capital of Northern Europe and now UNESCO World Heritage Site, Visby - the best-preserved medieval city in Scandinavia. You will be outnumbered by folk kitted out in medieval costumes and surrounded by medieval markets, jesters, jousting and the impressively intact 3.4 km long stone city wall.
Uppsala
Hit Uppsala for a blast of Sweden’s past. Once a Viking settlement, then important medieval city, Uppsala is now a hub of historical culture and learning - a vibrant university city with Sweden’s oldest college built in 1477. Check out the Gustavianum museum to see the works of Carl Linnaeus, Sweden’s greatest natural scientist. Uppsala is famous for the Uppsala Cathedral, Sweden’s largest and most magnificent church from the 13th century.
Design - Carl Larsson
For a walk through the home of Sweden’s bright, colourful and homely interior design inspiration that has come to characterise Swedish décor, visit the Carl Larsson Gården in Sundborn, Dalarna. See where the famous 20th century painter Carl Larsson lived and together with his talented wife Karin, inspired the historic design movements known as Swedish Grace and Swedish Modern.
Music & Literature
Catch everything from rock to opera at Värmland’s latest: the new Karlstad Congress Culture Centre. Or to experience summertime opera with super natural surround sound in one of Europe’s best outdoor amphitheaters, book an evening at Dalhalla in Dalarna, a theatre spectacularly carved into a former limestone quarry. And literature buffs can put Mårbacka on the must-do list for a visit to the home of the first woman to win the Nobel Prize for literature, Selma Lagerlöf.