Qué hacer en Suecia

Stockholm, the capital, is built on islands where Lake Mälaren meets the Baltic, with the old town of Gamla Stan, the Royal Palace and the Vasa Museum, which shelters a seventeenth-century warship. Gothenburg, on the west coast, has canals, the Haga district and an amusement park, and Malmö, in the south, is joined to Copenhagen by the Öresund Bridge and has the twisting Turning Torso tower.

Visby, on the island of Gotland, is a medieval walled town of ruined churches and rose-covered houses. Uppsala has Sweden's oldest university, founded in 1477, and a great cathedral, and Västerås sits on Lake Mälaren. Ystad, a half-timbered town on the southern coast, is the setting of the Wallander crime stories. In the far north, Kiruna lies above the Arctic Circle, a mining town with midnight sun and northern lights.

Meatballs with lingonberry jam, gravlax and herring are traditional, and fika, a coffee break with a cinnamon bun, is a daily ritual. Midsummer in late June is celebrated with maypoles and dancing. Summer nights stay light, autumn brings forest colour, and winters are dark, with snow in the north.