Officially a royal kingdom (Carl XVI Gustaf rules), Western Europe's third-largest country extends from the Arctic Circle down to Skane.
It's nature's wonderland and an ideal weekend destination, within easy reach of the UK and Ireland. Several airlines offer cheap flights to Sweden. Home to moose, deer, bear, elk and fox and in its waters, salmon and salmon trout, it is covered in forest, studded with lakes, and has thousands of islands and skerries off its coasts.
The aurora borealis lights up the sky in the far north and, in the south, the island of Öland receives more sun than anywhere else in Sweden. Up north, Lapland is home to the native Scandinavians, the Sami people. Down south, Skåne has 400km of white sandy beaches. Even its largest cities - Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmo - are clean and green.
The Swedes' appreciation of nature is wrapped up in the idea of Allemansrätten, which gives people the right of public access. This soul-enriching philosophy is matched by a couple of belly-filling concepts: fika, which means to have coffee and cake, and smorgasbord, a spread of small dishes including herring, meatballs, salads, eggs, bread and potatoes.
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