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Travel and Tourism in Sweden
Travel alerts, currency, climate, transit, health, and safety information for visitors to Sweden.
Practical Information
Travel alert status, currency, climate, and transit details.
- Travel Alert Status
- Level 1: Exercise Normal Precautions
- Time Difference
- UTC+1 (6 hours ahead of Washington, DC, during Standard Time)
- Currency
- Swedish krona (SEK)
- Climate
- Despite its northern latitude, Sweden’s climate is not excessively cold due to the proximity of the Gulf Stream and the Baltic Sea. The mean annual temperature is 48 degrees F. Stockholm is situated at approximately the same latitude as Juneau, Alaska. During most of December and early January, the sun does not rise before 9 a.m. and sets as early as 2:30 p.m. Snow usually falls in January, February, and March. The average temperature range for January is 27° F to 30° F. Spring comes late, with snow possible even in May. By June, daylight is almost continuous, and the vegetation is luxuriant. In July, the average temperature range is 57° F to 72° F. Many firms close down for the month so that the entire staff can take vacation. The average annual rainfall in Stockholm is 22 inches. It rains an average of 164 days a year.
- Language(s) Spoken
- The numbers in Swedish and in English are very similar. If, for example, you want to say 31 you just take the word for 30, "trettio", and the word for 5, "fem", and put them together to make "trettiofem". This works in exactly the same way as it does in English. Sweden uses the Roman alphabet with three extra letters. å ö ä. Some words are the same in English and Swedish for example "man" and "person" are the same.
- Ethnic Groups
- indigenous population: Swedes and Finnish and Sami minorities; foreign-born or first-generation immigrants: Finns, Yugoslavs, Danes, Norwegians, Greeks, Turks
- National Holiday
- National Day, 6 June (1983); note - from 1916 to 1982 this date was celebrated as Swedish Flag Day
- Geographic Coordinates
- 62 00 N, 15 00 E
- Location
- Northern Europe, bordering the Baltic Sea, Gulf of Bothnia, Kattegat, and Skagerrak, between Finland and Norway
- Airports
- 255
Destinations
Regions and cities, top sights, national parks, UNESCO sites, and festivals for visitors.
Stockholm: The Beauty of Fourteen Islands
Stockholm is not merely a beautiful city. It is one of the handful of cities in the world whose physical setting is so extraordinarily fine that the city itself becomes a kind of natural spectacle, a work of art created by the collaboration of human ingenuity and the gifts of geography. The city was established on the islands at the outlet of Lake Malaren to the Baltic Sea, a site chosen in the thirteenth century for its defensive qualities and its position at the center of Swedish trade routes, and the water that surrounds it has defined its character ever since. Arriving in Stockholm by train from the west, the first sight of the city across the water, its skyline of church towers and palace facades reflected in the glittering surface of the lake, produces an impression that visitors rarely forget.
Gothenburg: Sweden's West Coast City of Seafood and Style Gothenburg, Goteborg in Swedish, is Sweden's second largest city and its principal port, a place that is simultaneously a serious industrial center and a city of considerable charm and culture.
Health and Safety
Medical facilities, vaccinations, disease risk, and sanitation conditions.
Medical care in Sweden is comparable to that found in the United States. The Swedish medical system is state-run, so instead of visiting a local private general practitioner, you can visit a local medical center or clinic, called an "Akutmottagning" or "Vardcentral." You should be prepared to present your passport. The Swedish medical system does not cover people who don’t live in Sweden; nonresidents are expected to pay their own medical costs.