Sweden
From Imakoopedia
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| Quick Facts | |
| Capital | Stockholm |
| Government | Constitutional monarchy, parliamentary democracy |
| Currency | SEK - Swedish Krona |
| Area | total: 450,000 sq km water: 40,500 sq km land: 409,500 sq km |
| Population | 9 million |
| Language | Swedish, "everyone" can speak English |
| Religion | mostly lutheran, catholic minority |
Sweden is the largest of the countries of Scandinavia, in Nordic Europe, with a population recently passing 9 million.
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Regions
Sweden is traditionally divided into 25 provinces that roughly match the 21 administrative län. These provinces are grouped into 3 regions:
- Götaland is the ten provinces in the southernmost part of Sweden. Major cities are Malmo and Gothenburg, includes the islands (and provinces) of Oland and Gotland.
- Svealand, in the southernmost third of Sweden, is Sweden's center. It includes Stockholm.
- Norrland is the sparsely populated, northern two-thirds of the country.
Cities
- Stockholm - The capital city spread out over a number of islands.
- Gothenburg - The second largest city is located on the west coast.
- Malmö - In the south - a stone's throw from Denmark.
- Uppsala - North of Stockholm, one of the bigger student cities.
- Linköping - South of Stockholm.
- Trollhättan - Just north of Göteborg, home of the SAAB cars.
- Lund - Just north of Malmö, the biggest student city.
- Helsingborg - North of Malmö and close to Denmark.
- Norrköping - South of Stockholm.
Other destinations
- Åre - One of Sweden's largest ski resorts, with 44 lifts.
- Sarek - Sweden's largest national park with 197,000 hectares of wilderness.
- Icehotel in Jukkasjârvi in north Sweden, a cold hotel built from snow and ice, melting in summer and re-built every winter. Icehotel homepage (http://www.icehotel.com/english/index2.htm)
Understand
Although having been a military power and spanning about three times as large an area during the 17th centry, Sweden has not participated in any war in almost two centuries. Having long claimed its neutrality, the country has a high peace profile, with recognized international affairs names such as Dag Hammarsköld, Olof Palme, Hans Blix (IANA, UNMOVIC) and the late Anna Lindh. The country has a large proportion of immigrants, of which many live in city suburbs. Sweden is a monarchy by constitution, but king Carl XVI Gustaf has no executive power. The country has a long tradition of Lutheran-Protestant Christianity, but today's Sweden is a secular state with few church-goers.
Sweden has a long and successful capitalist system interlarded with substantial welfare. The high level of welfare has proven hard to maintain during the economic decline of the 1990s. Again - since the start of a new downturn 2000 - welfare is experiencing further cuts. Sweden entered the European Union in 1995, but decided by a close referendum in 2003 not to commit to the EMU and the euro currency. The democracy of Sweden has for the larger part of the 20th century been dominated by the Social Democratic Party, which started out at the end of the 19th century as a labour movement, but today pursues social-liberalism.
Sweden houses the Nobel prize (http://www.nobel.se/) committee.
Get in
By plane
You can find great flight prices to Sweden at Ryanair (http://www.ryanair.com). The inexpensive airline easyJet (http://www.easyJet.com) also flies to Copenhagen, where you can take the train over to Sweden.
By train
Trains depart Copenhagen and Copenhagen's airport for Malmö every 20 minutes, and cost only about 80 SEK. The train goes over the magnificent Öresundsbron to get to Sweden in less than 30 minutes.
By car
In Svealand and Götaland driving takes you quickly from one place to the other. In Norrland the distances are bigger between the different sites so the time spent driving is rather long. Unless you really like driving, it is better to fly to the sites in Norrland.
See also Driving in Sweden.
By bus
By boat
Denmark
- From Grenaa to Varberg
- From Fredrikshavn to Göteborg
- From Helsingör to Helsingborg
Estonia
Finland
Latvia
Germany
- From Travemuende to Trelleborg
- From Travemuende to Malmo
- From Kiel to Gothenburg
- From Sassnitz to Trelleborg
- From Rostock to Trelleborg
Norway
- From Kristiansand to Gothenburg
Poland
- From Gdansk to Nynäshamn
- From Gdynia to Karlskrona
- From Swinoujscie to Ystad
UK
- From Newcastle to Gothenburg
Get around
Sweden has a large railroad network. Most lines are controlled by SJ (http://www.sj.se). Travelling in the province of Scania (Skåne in Swedish) one should refer to Skånetrafiken (http://www.skanetrafiken.se).
Talk
Swedish is the national language of Sweden, but you will find that a lot of people, especially those of an age below 30, also speak English quite well. Other languages to try may be Finnish, French and German. Older people born around the Second World War learned German as their first foreign language, and generally speak that better than English.
Buy
The national currency is the Swedish krona (SEK). 1 USD is about 7.5 SEK, 1 EUR is about 9 SEK. Automatic teller machines commonly take Visa cards. It is not common to bargain in shops but it might work in some instances.
Eat
Swedish cuisine is mostly hearty meat or fish with potatoes, derived from the days when men needed to chop wood all day long. Traditional everyday dishes are called husmanskost (pronounced whos-mans-cost). This could be meatballs (köttbullar) with potatoes and lingonberry jam, fried diced meat, onions and potatoes or pea soup followed by thin pancakes.
Pickled herring, available in various types of sauces, is commonly eaten with bread or potatoes for summer lunch. Adventurous diners might want to try surströmming, which is Sweden's entry in the revolting-foods-of-the-world contest. It's herring which is fermented in a can until it's about to burst, and so foul-smelling that it's eaten only outdoors in the summer so as not to stink up the house.
Typical Swedish "gourmet" restaurants serve steaks or other grilled dishes garnished with fragrant herbs such as dill, and vegetables such as pumpkin and bell peppers.
As in most of Europe, inexpensive pizza and kebab restaurants are ubiquitous in Swedish cities. Sushi and Thai food are also quite popular.
You can get a "cheap" lunch if you look for the signs with "Dagens Rätt" (meal of the day), it normally costs about 50 SEK and almost everywhere includes 1 bottle of water or light beer, bread & butter, some small salad and coffee afterwards.
Drink
Access to alcoholic beverages is, as in Norway and Finland, quite restricted. The only place to buy liquor over the counter is in one of the state owned shops called Systembolaget (http://www.systembolaget.se/english/xindex.htm). Though the Systembolaget shops sometimes seem to be closed more often than they are open, they do have a fantastic selection and a knowing staff. The most famous Swedish alcoholic beverage is the "Absolut" vodka, but there is a wide range of other Swedish vodkas, aquavits and snaps. Sweden does not produce any outstanding beer, nor does it produce wine at any notable scale.
Sleep
Look for the sign "Rum" (Room) if you go by car, or else "Vandrarhem" (Youth hostel).
Learn
Work
Go to the public "Arbetsförmedlingen" (job availability) and give it a try, it might work!
Stay safe
You are not likely to be exposed to crime, although, keep a watch over your hand-bag in major cities. The phone number to dial in case of fire, medical or criminal emergency, is 112.
Stay healthy
The pharmacies - controlled by state monopoly - carry a sign spelled "Apoteket".
Respect
Contact
Sweden has a good wireless (GSM) coverage, the major networks being Telia, Comviq and Vodafone. The country calling code number is 46. Sweden is the world's second most Internet connected country (second to Finland). The post system is highly reliable and efficient. Inter-European stamps for ordinary letters are 10 SEK.
External links
- Swedish Travel and Tourism Council (http://www.visit-sweden.com/)
- Sweden.se - The official gateway to Sweden (http://www.sweden.se)
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