Is there summer in Sweden? Why yes there is, and I experienced it firsthand two years ago. It may not have been hot but it’s warm and often it’s even sunny — especially in the South.  While some Swedes go really far South (hopping on flights to the Mediterranean), many prefer to drive to the country’s […]

Sandhammaren is the best beach in Sweden. It’s also the only beach I’ve been to in Sweden, so don’t take my word for it. The Aftonbladet (the famous Swedish newspaper we all know about from the Steig Larsson novels) said it was the best beach in Sweden. And with the long stretch of uninterrupted coastline, warm (surprisingly warm!) Baltic waters, soft, light sand and inviting dunes, I’m more than willing to believe that Sandhammaren is the best beach in Sweden. It’s located in Osterlen, the southeastern tip of Sweden.

Did you know that Sweden has its own version of Stonehenge? Neither did I until shortly before I visited this mysterious Megalithic monument called Ales Stenar (which translates to Ale’s Stones) in Kåseberga, Sweden. For our second day of sightseeing in Skane, Elisabeth told us we were going to Ales Stenar, a historic site that’s like Stonehenge. I was instantly intrigued. I’ve never been to Stonehenge, but I’ve always wanted to go. A Swedish Stonehenge sounded pretty good to me. After an amazing lunch at Olof Viktors in Glemminge and then we were off an uphill trek to Ales Stenar.

Glimmingehus looks rather imposing; a big stone box just sitting on the vast fields of Skane, Sweden.Whether this well-preserved Medieval structure should be called a castle or a fortress is up for debate: it was was meant as a fortress rather than a residence, although it’s not believed that there was ever a battle there. Another source of debate is whether we should be calling the castle/fortress Swedish or Danish because this region was part of Denmark when it was built from 1499-1506. But what’s not up for debate is that how family-friendly this attraction is. In a small outer building across from the castle/fortess is a playroom full of blocks!

There are beautiful roses in Kivik, a charming fishing village located in Skane, the southernmost county in Sweden. So beautiful that they don’t even look real! That’s because Sweden can be a bit rainy and then sunny and then rainy again. You know that phrase, “If you don’t like the weather, just wait a little while”? I had had always heard that for Ithaca, NY, and Scotland, and it’s certainly true for Sweden in the summer as well. Southern Sweden is covered in lush, green rolling hills and accented with bright flowers, and I guess you just can’t get those colors without a little rain, which we experienced last July.

My favorite thing about Skansen, Stockholm’s famous open-air museum, are the sod roof houses. Until the late 19th century, grass and flowers growing out of roof tops all over Scandinavia were a common sight, but not anymore. These houses seemed like something out of fairy tale and were a definite highlight in sprawling Skansen. We […]

How to break up a six-hour drive from Stockholm to Skane? With a bunch of moose, of course! After three days in Stockholm in July, it was time to throw our luggage (including a travel crib) into the roomy trunk of our Volvo XC70 graciously supplied by Carrentals.co.uk  head south to Skane, where we’d be staying […]

After spending three days in Stockholm in July, it was time to head south to the countryside of Skane to visit our friends who had moved back to Sweden after living in New York City for a year. Normally, they live in Uppsala, which is less than an hour drive from Stockholm. But for most of the summer, […]

When you walk into the Vasa Museet in Stockholm, you’re immediately in awe of the massive wooden ship that stands before you. The whole building of the museum is built around the enormous vessel, and the lighting is dim and dramatic to perserve this delicate giant. Right after we played around at the Junibacken, the […]

The downsides to traveling with a toddler are numerous (beginning with waking up too early in the morning and ending with not being able to explore the nightlife) but there are plenty of upsides too. If we didn’t have a toddler in tow, we would have totally missed out on what turned out to be […]