120 Fun Facts About Sweden

Stockholm's centre is spread across how many islands?

Stockholm's centre is spread across 14 islands where Lake Mälaren meets the Baltic, which is why so many of the city's roads run through tunnels and over bridges.

Which Swedish city has the largest port in the Nordic countries?

Gothenburg is Sweden's second-largest city and its biggest port, sitting on the west coast at the mouth of the Göta älv about 400 km from Stockholm.

What is Sweden's third-largest city?

Malmö is Sweden's third-largest city and the largest in Skåne, sitting at the Swedish end of the Öresund crossing to Denmark.

The Öresund Bridge carries road and rail from Sweden across the strait to which foreign capital?

The crossing links Sweden with Copenhagen; the bridge ends on the artificial island of Peberholm and a four-kilometre tunnel completes the link to the Danish capital.

Why did Kiruna, Sweden's northernmost city, decide in 2004 to relocate its centre?

Kiruna decided to move its centre because of ground subsidence from its iron mine, as LKAB's ore body runs beneath the old town; the relocation began with buildings shifted piece by piece.

Which is Sweden's largest island?

Gotland, at about 3,000 square kilometres, is Sweden's largest island; its main town Visby hosts Almedalen Week every summer, followed by Medieval Week.

What is the largest lake in Sweden?

Vänern, about 5,650 square kilometres, is the largest lake in Sweden and in the European Union, and the third-largest in Europe after Ladoga and Onega.

What is the highest mountain in Sweden?

Kebnekaise is Sweden's highest mountain; its glaciated southern summit has melted so much that since 2018 the ice-free northern summit, about 2,097 metres, has been the higher of the two.

Sweden's National Day, 6 June, marks the 1523 election of which king?

Gustav Vasa was elected king at Strängnäs on 6 June 1523, ending Danish rule over Sweden; he went on to lead the country into the Protestant Reformation.

King Gustavus Adolphus was killed in 1632 at which Thirty Years' War battle?

Gustavus Adolphus was killed at Lützen on 16 November 1632 (New Style), riding into fog and smoke during a cavalry charge; his army held the field but lost its king.

Charles XII's army was crushed by Russia in July 1709 at which battle?

Charles XII's army was destroyed at Poltava on 8 July 1709; the king, already wounded in the foot, escaped south and lived in exile in the Ottoman Empire until 1714.

Charles XII was killed in 1718 while besieging which fortress?

Charles XII was shot in the head in the trenches before Fredriksten fortress on 30 November 1718 (Old Style); it overlooked the Norwegian town of Fredrikshald, now Halden.

The reigning Swedish royal house, Bernadotte, was founded by a marshal in the service of which emperor?

Jean Baptiste Bernadotte was one of Napoleon's marshals before being elected heir to the Swedish throne in 1810; he reigned as Charles XIV John from 1818.

In 1809 Sweden lost which territory, then its eastern half, to Imperial Russia?

Sweden ceded Finland to Russia by the Treaty of Fredrikshamn in September 1809, after the Finnish War, leaving Sweden with roughly its modern borders.

In which year did Sweden join the European Union?

Sweden joined the European Union on 1 January 1995, after a referendum in November 1994 approved membership by about 52 to 47 per cent.

Sweden deposited its instrument of accession and formally joined NATO in March of which year?

Sweden became NATO's 32nd member on 7 March 2024, ending two centuries of formal non-alignment, a shift prompted by Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Carl XVI Gustaf became King of Sweden in which year?

Carl XVI Gustaf became king on 15 September 1973, succeeding his grandfather Gustaf VI Adolf; his father had died in a plane crash in 1947 when he was nine months old.

Which palace on Lovön has been the Swedish royal family's permanent home since 1981?

Drottningholm Palace, on the island of Lovön in Lake Mälaren, became the royal family's permanent residence in 1981 and was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1991.

How many members sit in the Riksdag, Sweden's parliament?

The Riksdag has 349 members, an odd number adopted from the 1976 election to avoid the tied votes seen with the earlier 350 seats; it has been unicameral since 1971.

Alfred Nobel patented which invention in 1867?

Nobel patented dynamite in 1867, stabilising nitroglycerine by absorbing it in kieselguhr; he later left 94% of his estate to fund the prizes that bear his name.

The annual Nobel Prize award ceremony in Stockholm is held in which building?

The prizes are presented in the Concert Hall (Konserthuset) in Stockholm on 10 December; the banquet that follows is held separately in the City Hall, which is why the venue trips up so many people.

UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld died in a 1961 plane crash in what is now which country?

Hammarskjöld's plane crashed near Ndola in Northern Rhodesia, now Zambia, on 18 September 1961; he was the second Secretary-General and the first to die in office.

Which Swedish prime minister was shot dead on a Stockholm street in February 1986?

Olof Palme was shot on Sveavägen on 28 February 1986 while walking home from a cinema with his wife; it was Sweden's first killing of a national leader since Gustav III in 1792.

In Sweden, the main Midsummer's Eve celebrations always fall on which day of the week?

Midsummer's Eve falls on the Friday between 19 and 25 June; the date was fixed to a weekday slot in 1953, so the celebrations land on a long weekend every year.

The Swedish ritual of fika centres on which drink?

Fika centres on coffee, usually with a pastry; Swedes are among the world's heaviest per-capita coffee drinkers, a habit that took root after the drink arrived in the 1670s.

Sweden's candle-lit Lucia processions take place on which date?

Lucia is celebrated on 13 December, the feast of Saint Lucy; it is not an official public holiday, but early-morning processions fill schools, churches and workplaces.

Surströmming, infamous for its smell, is a fermented version of which fish?

Surströmming is Baltic herring fermented for months in brine; a Japanese study once rated its smell the most putrid of any food, and Swedes have eaten it since at least the 1500s.

Swedish meatballs are traditionally served with jam made from which berry?

Swedish meatballs come with lingonberry jam, whose tartness cuts the cream sauce; pickled cucumber and boiled or mashed potatoes usually round out the plate.

Kanelbullens dag, Sweden's Cinnamon Roll Day, falls on which date?

Kanelbullens dag is 4 October, a theme day created in 1999 by Sweden's Home Baking Council rather than an official holiday; a large share of Swedes mark it.

Systembolaget is the only shop allowed to sell drinks above what alcohol strength?

Ordinary shops may sell only beer up to 3.5% alcohol; anything stronger goes through Systembolaget, the state retail monopoly, where the minimum purchase age is 20.

What does the Swedish principle of allemansrätten give people?

Allemansrätten is the right of public access: free access to roam the countryside, including walking, camping a night or two, and picking berries and mushrooms even on private land.

The painted wooden Dala horse originates from which Swedish province?

Painters in Nusnäs near Mora developed the two-colours-on-one-brush technique still used today.

In the acronym IKEA, what was Elmtaryd, the source of the 'E'?

Elmtaryd was Kamprad's family farm, where Ingvar Kamprad grew up; the 'A' is Agunnaryd, the nearby Småland village, and 'I' and 'K' are his initials.

The car brand Volvo takes its name from a Latin word meaning what?

Volvo is Latin for 'I roll', a name first registered by the bearing maker SKF; the car company was set up in 1927 by Assar Gabrielsson and engineer Gustaf Larson.

Which former Stardoll chief technology officer co-founded Spotify in 2006?

Daniel Ek, who had been chief technology officer at the fashion game Stardoll, founded Spotify in 2006 with Martin Lorentzon, co-founder of the ad network Tradedoubler.

H&M's original name, Hennes, is Swedish for what?

Hennes means 'hers'; Erling Persson's first shop, opened in Västerås in 1947, sold only women's clothing, and the Mauritz came with the 1968 purchase of a hunting outfitter.

Which Swedish programmer founded Mojang, the studio behind Minecraft?

Markus Persson, known online as Notch, created Minecraft and founded Mojang to develop it; he sold the studio to Microsoft for $2.5 billion in 2014.

Candy Crush Saga, from Swedish-founded King, was first released in 2012 on which platform?

Candy Crush Saga launched on Facebook in April 2012 and only reached iOS and Android phones later that year; it became one of the highest-grossing mobile games of the decade.

ABBA won the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest with which song?

ABBA won in Brighton in 1974 with 'Waterloo', and at the contest's 50th-anniversary show in 2005 it was voted the best song in Eurovision history.

How many times has Sweden won the Eurovision Song Contest, as of 2023?

Sweden's seven wins as of 2023 came in 1974, 1984, 1991, 1999, 2012, 2015 and 2023, matching Ireland's total of seven at that point.

Which singer won Eurovision for Sweden in both 2012 and 2023?

Loreen won with 'Euphoria' in 2012 and 'Tattoo' in 2023, becoming the first woman, and only the second artist after Johnny Logan, to win the contest twice.

Roxette paired Per Gessle with which singer?

Marie Fredriksson sang with Per Gessle in Roxette from 1986, on hits such as 'The Look' and 'It Must Have Been Love'; she died in 2019 after a long illness.

Avicii was the stage name of which Swedish DJ?

Avicii was Tim Bergling, born in Stockholm in 1989; his 2013 single 'Wake Me Up', with vocals by Aloe Blacc, became one of Spotify's most-streamed songs.

Which Swedish producer wrote Britney Spears's debut hit '...Baby One More Time'?

Max Martin, born Karl Martin Sandberg, wrote and produced '...Baby One More Time' at Cheiron Studios in Stockholm; it went to number one in 1999 and launched his run of Hot 100 chart-toppers.

Zlatan Ibrahimović is Sweden's all-time top international scorer with how many goals?

Ibrahimović scored 62 goals in 122 appearances for Sweden between 2001 and 2023, far ahead of Sven Rydell's 49 from the 1920s and 1930s.

How many consecutive Wimbledon singles titles did Björn Borg win?

Borg won five Wimbledon titles in a row from 1976 to 1980, plus six French Opens, before shocking tennis by retiring at 26.

Ingemar Stenmark's record for alpine World Cup race wins, unbroken until 2023, stood at how many?

Stenmark's 86 World Cup wins, all in slalom and giant slalom between 1974 and 1989, were the most by any skier until Mikaela Shiffrin passed the mark in March 2023.

Pole vault world-record holder Armand 'Mondo' Duplantis was born in which US state?

Duplantis was born in Lafayette, Louisiana, to an American pole-vaulting father and a Swedish mother; he grew up speaking English, learned Swedish later and competes for Sweden.

What is the nickname of Sweden's men's national ice hockey team?

Sweden's men are Tre Kronor, after the three crowns on the national coat of arms; in 2006 they became the first team to win Olympic gold and the World Championship in the same year.

Which Swedish author created Pippi Longstocking?

Astrid Lindgren published Pippi Longstocking in 1945 and also wrote Emil of Lönneberga, Karlsson-on-the-Roof and Ronia the Robber's Daughter.

Which publisher famously rejected the Pippi Longstocking manuscript before it found a home?

Bonniers turned the manuscript down in 1944; the author then entered a revised version in a Rabén & Sjögren competition, and that house published Pippi Longstocking in 1945.

Ingmar Bergman lived and shot many of his later films on which island?

Bergman first filmed on Fårö for Through a Glass Darkly (1961) and later made the island his home, shooting Persona and Shame there; he died on Fårö in 2007.

Stieg Larsson died in 2004, before which of his works was published?

Larsson died of a heart attack at 50 in November 2004 after climbing the stairs to his office; The Millennium trilogy, starting with The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, appeared from 2005.

On Anders Celsius's original 1742 thermometer, what value marked the boiling point of water?

Celsius set 0 as the boiling point and 100 as the freezing point of water; the scale was reversed to its familiar form after his death in 1744.

Carl Linnaeus formalised which system?

Linnaeus formalised binomial nomenclature, the two-part Latin species name, in Species Plantarum (1753) and the tenth edition of Systema Naturae (1758), after first publishing Systema Naturae in 1735.

In which year did Swedish gain official legal status as Sweden's main language?

The Language Act of 2009, in force from 1 July that year, made Swedish the country's principal language in law; until then it had only been the de facto language of government and schools.

What colour is the cross on the flag of Sweden?

The flag bears a yellow cross on a blue field, the colours of the national coat of arms; the design dates from the 16th century and its proportions were fixed by law in 1906.

Sweden voted against adopting the euro in a referendum held in which year?

In the September 2003 referendum, 56% voted no on a turnout of 82%, so Sweden kept the krona.

The Vasa Museum stands on which Stockholm island?

The Vasa Museum on Djurgården houses the 64-gun warship Vasa, which sank on its maiden voyage in 1628 and was raised in 1961, the only almost fully intact 17th-century ship ever salvaged.

The Icehotel in Jukkasjärvi is rebuilt each winter from ice cut from which river?

The Icehotel is built each winter from ice harvested from the Torne river beside the village; even the glasses in its bar are made of ice, and the first version opened in 1989.

On 'Dagen H', 3 September 1967, what did Sweden switch overnight?

On Dagen H Sweden switched from left- to right-hand traffic at 5 a.m. on 3 September 1967, after driving on the left since 1736, to match its Nordic neighbours.

Roughly what is the population of Sweden, the most populous Nordic country?

Sweden's population was about 10.6 million in the mid-2020s; roughly 88% of Swedes live in urban areas, mostly in the south and centre, giving the country only around 25 people per square kilometre.

In 1397 Sweden, Norway and Denmark were joined together under what name?

The Kalmar Union was created by Queen Margaret I of Denmark in 1397; Sweden broke away for good in 1523 after the Stockholm Bloodbath of 1520 provoked a revolt.

In which year did Sweden fight the short war that forced Norway into a union?

Sweden's 1814 campaign against Norway ended with the Convention of Moss, which forced Norway into a personal union under the Swedish crown that lasted until 1905.

The Swedish name Sverige is a compound translating as what?

Sverige comes from Svea rike, 'realm of the Swedes', combining the tribal name Svear with rike, 'realm'; an Old English form, Swēorice, appears in Beowulf.

Which Viking Age trading centre was founded around 750 AD on the island of Björkö?

Birka, on Björkö in Lake Mälaren, was founded around 750 and traded with the Byzantine and Abbasid worlds via the Russian rivers; it had perhaps 500 to 1,000 inhabitants and was abandoned around 975.

Sweden's three traditional 'lands' are Norrland, Svealand and what?

Götaland is the southern land, taking in Skåne, Småland and the west coast; Svealand sits in the middle around Stockholm, while sparsely populated Norrland covers almost 60% of the country.

Sweden reached its greatest territorial extent under Charles X after which 1658 agreement?

The Treaty of Roskilde in February 1658 gave Sweden Skåne, Blekinge and Bohuslän after Charles X marched his army across the frozen Danish Belts to threaten the Danish capital.

Which Swedish engineer invented the three-point seat belt in 1959?

Nils Bohlin, a Volvo safety engineer, patented the three-point seat belt in 1959, and Volvo left the patent open for other carmakers to use.

A 1593 church assembly that confirmed the Church of Sweden as Lutheran met in which city?

The Uppsala Synod of 1593 adopted the Augsburg Confession for the Church of Sweden; Duke Charles called it to block his Catholic nephew Sigismund, who was king of both Poland and Sweden.

Sweden's botched switch to the Gregorian calendar gave the year 1712 which extra date?

30 February 1712 existed only in Sweden: the country had dropped one leap day in 1700 on its way to the Gregorian calendar, gave up, and added a day back to rejoin the Julian one.

The term Stockholm syndrome comes from a six-day 1970s hostage crisis at what kind of business?

A bank: a robber held four Kreditbanken employees in one of its vaults, and a Swedish criminologist coined the term for the bond the captives seemed to form with him.

In 1979 Sweden became the first country in the world to outlaw which widely accepted practice?

Smacking children was banned outright by a change to Sweden's parenting code, though until then more than half of Swedes had seen physical punishment as a necessary part of raising a child.

Sweden's prinsesstårta, a domed cream cake, traditionally wears a coat of marzipan in which colour?

Green marzipan is the classic finish, and the cake was at first simply called 'green cake' before being renamed for three Swedish princesses said to be especially fond of it.

Which wireless standard, born at Ericsson in Lund, Sweden, is named after a tenth-century Viking king?

Bluetooth honours Harald Bluetooth, who united the Danish tribes into one kingdom just as the radio link was meant to unite devices, and its logo merges the runes for his initials.

Which device designed by Rune Elmqvist was first fully implanted in a patient in Sweden in 1958?

A pacemaker went into Arne Larsson, and although that first unit failed within hours he went on to receive 26 of them and outlived both the inventor and the surgeon.

Sweden hosted the 1958 FIFA World Cup and lost the final 5–2 to which country?

Brazil won its first world title that day in Solna, where a 17-year-old Pelé scored twice and became the youngest scorer a World Cup final had seen.

The Swedish word lagom, rooted in a phrase meaning 'according to law', is usually translated as what?

Just the right amount is the usual gloss, neither too much nor too little, and a well-worn Swedish proverb built on the word insists that this middle measure is best.

Swedish climate activist Thunberg reached a 2019 UN summit in New York by what means of transport?

A racing yacht, the 60-foot Malizia II, carried her from Plymouth to New York, drawing its power on board from solar panels and underwater turbines.

Which Nobel Prize is presented in Oslo, Norway, while all the others are awarded in Stockholm?

Peace is the exception because Alfred Nobel's will gave that one prize to a Norwegian committee, and nobody knows why: Norway and Sweden shared a king when he died.

Which currency, which replaced the riksdaler in the 1870s, does Sweden use instead of the euro?

Krona means 'crown', and Denmark and Norway chose the same word for their own money when the three countries tied their currencies together.

Which Swedish carmaker grew out of a company founded in 1937 to build military aircraft?

Saab was set up to supply the Swedish Air Force and turned to cars only in 1945, launching its first production model, the Saab 92, four years later.

Swedish-born engineer Gideon Sundback perfected which everyday fastener in the 1910s?

The zipper got its name only later, from rubber galoshes that closed with a single zip of the hand; until then the device was sold as the hookless fastener.

Which metal used in light-bulb filaments takes its English name from the Swedish for 'heavy stone'?

Tungsten was the old Swedish name for a dense mineral, yet most European languages call the metal wolfram instead, which is why its chemical symbol is W.

Which Swedish diplomat saved thousands of Jews in Budapest before vanishing into Soviet custody?

Raoul Wallenberg issued protective passports and sheltered people in buildings he declared Swedish territory, until Soviet agents detained him in January 1945 and he disappeared.

Which Swedish queen gave up her throne in 1654, converted to Catholicism and settled in Rome?

Christina also refused to marry, went on to be the guest of a string of popes, and is one of the few women buried in the Vatican Grottoes.

New Sweden, a colony founded in 1638 and later seized by the Dutch, lay along which American river?

The Delaware carried the colony for only 17 years, with settlements on both shores across four future US states, before New Netherland absorbed it in 1655.

Swedish Vikings who founded Kievan Rus' and guarded Byzantine emperors went by which name?

Varangians worked the rivers of eastern Europe as traders and warriors, and from the 10th century the emperors in Constantinople kept a unit of them as elite personal bodyguards.

Which Stockholm-born star of Ninotchka and Camille quit Hollywood after just 28 feature films?

Greta Garbo bowed out after the poorly reviewed Two-Faced Woman in 1941 and spent a long retirement shunning publicity and collecting paintings by the likes of Renoir.

In Ingmar Bergman's The Seventh Seal, a knight returning to Sweden plays which game against Death?

Chess buys the knight time: he believes he will live for as long as the match lasts, while the plague ravages the country around him.

Which Swedish pop group's debut album, reissued in America as The Sign, was Billboard's top album of 1994?

Ace of Base, three siblings and a friend, were the first act whose debut album produced three number-one singles on Billboard's Mainstream Top 40 chart.

Swedish gamer Felix Kjellberg, who topped YouTube's subscriber chart from 2013, is known by which name?

PewDiePie was finally overtaken in 2019 by the Indian record label T-Series, after a very public months-long race between the two channels for subscribers.

Which author of The Wonderful Adventures of Nils was the first woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature?

Selma Lagerlöf won in 1909 and spent the prize money buying back her father's estate, then in 1914 became the first woman admitted to the Swedish Academy.

Sweden's Vasaloppet, a 90 km race from Sälen to Mora held each March, is contested in which sport?

Cross-country skiing's great mass race dates from 1922 and retraces, in reverse, a journey a fugitive nobleman made in the winter of 1520–21 before he took the throne.

Which Swedish golfer, winner of ten majors, became the first woman since 1945 to play a PGA Tour event?

Annika Sörenstam took her place among the men at the Colonial in Texas, and she was also the first woman to shoot a round of 59 in competition.

Sweden's semla, a cardamom bun filled with almond paste and cream, is tied to which day of the year?

Shrove Tuesday was the last chance for a rich treat before the Lenten fast, but once the fast lapsed Swedes began eating the buns every Tuesday until Easter.

Swedes gather each August in paper hats for a kräftskiva, a party built around eating which animal?

Crayfish became an August ritual because for most of the 20th century Swedish law limited the catch to late summer; the paper lanterns overhead often show the Man in the Moon.

Sweden won an exemption in its EU entry terms so that it could keep selling which tobacco product?

Snus, a moist tobacco tucked under the upper lip, is banned from sale in every other member state under the bloc's rules on tobacco for oral use.

In 1766 Sweden's Riksdag passed what is regarded as the world's first law guaranteeing which right?

Freedom of the press arrived alongside a second world first in the same act: the public's right to read the official records of the state.

Which indigenous people of northern Sweden have had their own parliament in Kiruna since 1993?

The Sámi are best known for herding reindeer, a livelihood that parts of the Nordic countries reserve for them by law, though only a small minority make a living from the animals.

Which southernmost province of Sweden, home to Lund and Ystad, was Danish until the 17th century?

Skåne, called Scania in English, passed to the Swedish crown when Denmark gave up all of its lands east of the Öresund strait.

Which province, the largest and northernmost in Sweden, covers nearly a quarter of its land area?

Lapland takes in the mining town of Kiruna and the Vindelfjällen mountains, which form one of the largest nature reserves in Sweden.

IKEA opened its first store in Älmhult, in which Swedish province famed for its glassworks?

Småland literally means 'small lands', a nod to the dozen little, largely independent territories that the province was stitched together from.

The royal family's summer home, Solliden, stands in which island province, the smallest in Sweden?

Öland is tied to the mainland by a bridge just over six kilometres long, which was the longest in Europe for a quarter of a century after it opened in 1972.

Which province just north of Stockholm holds the world's densest cluster of Viking runestones?

Uppland has close to 1,200 Viking inscriptions in stone, many of them left by seafarers who came from Roslagen on its coast.

Sweden's historical provinces hold no political power, but each doubles as which ceremonial territory?

A duchy in name only, each province can be given to a royal as a title: Victoria was made Duchess of Västergötland when she became Crown Princess in 1980.

Which Swedish province around Lake Storsjön, with Östersund its only city, was Norwegian until 1645?

Jämtland was conquered by Norway in 1178 and stayed Norwegian for more than 450 years, until the Treaty of Brömsebro handed it to the Swedish crown.

The Bronze Age rock carvings at Tanum, a World Heritage Site, lie in which west-coast Swedish province?

Bohuslän holds thousands of the images across some 600 rock panels, and many of them show boats, some carrying around a dozen passengers.

Sweden's historical provinces lost their administrative role in 1634 to which units, called län?

Counties were the idea of Lord Chancellor Axel Oxenstierna, and several were redrawn as late as the 1990s, while the borders of the old provinces have stayed stable for centuries.

Which northern Swedish province shares its name with a hard cheese produced only at one dairy in Burträsk?

Västerbotten cheese is aged for at least a year, and Burträsk claims it was invented there in the 1870s, supposedly by a dairymaid.

Which lake, the third largest in Sweden, empties into the sea through the very centre of Stockholm?

Mälaren flows out through two natural channels, Norrström and Söderström, which pass either side of the small island at the heart of the capital.

About 69% of Sweden is covered by which kind of landscape, while farmland takes up only 8%?

Forest thins out only in the far south, which is mostly agricultural, and its coverage grows steadily the farther north you travel.

Which sea washes the whole of Sweden's long east coast and the Stockholm archipelago?

The Baltic Sea is brackish, and it is too cold and too fresh for the shipworm, so old wooden wrecks survive on its floor for centuries.

Sweden is far milder than other lands at the same latitude thanks largely to which Atlantic current?

The Gulf Stream works together with the prevailing westerly winds to give most of Sweden a temperate climate with four distinct seasons.

In 1909 Sweden became the first country in Europe to set up which kind of protected area?

National parks arrived nine at a time: the Riksdag passed the law in 1909 and the first batch, Abisko among them, opened that same year.

Which arm of the sea off north-east Sweden is so diluted by rivers that pike and perch thrive in it?

The Gulf of Bothnia is so close to fresh water that it freezes over for months every year, and ships using its ports can need icebreakers for half the year.

Which deep, narrow lake, the second largest in Sweden, surrounds the island of Visingsö?

Vättern is so deep that it holds roughly half as much water as the country's biggest lake while covering only about a third of the area.

Which medieval Hanseatic town on Sweden's largest island is ringed by a 3.4 km stone wall?

Visby is sometimes called the City of Roses, and its decline in the late Middle Ages is the reason so many of its stone houses survive in their original style.

Which 190 km Swedish waterway with 58 locks, opened in 1832, do boaters jokingly call the 'divorce ditch'?

The Göta Canal earned the joke from couples struggling through its narrow locks on their own, and its first plans were drawn up by the Scottish engineer Thomas Telford.

Sweden's High Coast, a World Heritage Site, shows the greatest known example of which geological process?

Post-glacial uplift has raised the land there by roughly 285 metres since the ice sheet that had pressed it down melted, and the effect was first recognised on that shore.