If you have two weeks to spend on your next holiday outing, why not spend the time touring around Sweden, one of the most beautiful countries in Scandinavia? There, you can enjoy a wide variety of activities, sightseeing opportunities, and local flavors. Here's how to make the most of your 14 days overseas.
Begin your Sweden adventure in the capital city of Stockholm, but plan to spend several days or even a week exploring this locale. Take a boat tour to Birka, an old Viking settlement (now in ruins but no less spectacular) on the island of Bjorko, and make sure you trek to and around Gamla Stan (?Old Town?). If you have kids with you, they'll love the Grona Lund amusement park and the child-friendly Modema museet (?Modern Museum.?) Make sure you keep your credit cards or Kronor (the national currency) handy; Stockholm is known for being a European shopping mecca. There, you'll find designer apparel and accessories, as well as handcrafted souvenirs.
From Stockholm, you may want to cross the width of the country via rail, auto, or bus to continue your Swedish adventure in the Swedes? second-largest city, Gothenburg (Goteborg). This seaside town is about a third the size of Stockholm population-wise, but is still as modern and trendy. There, you can bask in the loveliness of well-kept public parks and gardens or stroll along the beach in calmer or milder weather. Again, there are plenty of places for the younger tourists to see, including the Liseberg amusement park, the largest such attraction in northern Europe. Additionally, the Universeum science and technology museum caters to the natural curiosities of youngsters of any age.
After Gothenburg, head to the southernmost tip of Sweden to Malmo. This third-largest city in the kingdom used to be an industrial city, but now is heralded as a ?knowledge city?. Consequently, there are numerous cultural attractions, including the Malmo Art Gallery, Malmo Music Theatre, and a 2 kilometer beach just aching to be strolled. If you head here in August, you can enjoy the Malmo Festival, a huge undertaking that occurs over an eventful but well-planned 900-hour period.
At this point, if your time in Sweden hasn't ended, it may be your opportunity to explore the northernmost part of the country. Because Sweden is a little bigger than the state of California, it's recommended that you travel either via rail or, better still, airplane.
When you arrive in ?Lapland?, you'll discover an undisturbed, hauntingly beautiful spectacle thanks to Mother Nature. There, the sun never seems to set at the height of the summertime, so you can enjoy light 24 hours a day; conversely, the dark winter months are exactly that ? dark any time. If you're into hiking, Lapland is the place to go.
If you're not thrilled with the idea of Lapland, you can travel northeast instead to the High Coast along the Baltic Sea. There, you can take the World Heritage ?tour? via car, starting in either Kramfors or Omskoldsvik. Just be careful ? there's plenty of wildlife, including sizeable reindeer, who are not shy about using the roadways themselves. Not crazy about driving? If you visit during the summer months, you may be able to cruise on a ferry boat up and down the coastline, visiting particular spots and saving others for your next time to this Norse paradise.
Of course, Central Sweden is nothing to scoff at, and if you want to extend your vacation by another week, you can visit Dalarna, Uppland, Varmland, or Narke. Then again, why not wait? After all, it's a great excuse to visit this cultural hotspot again.
1. Pick a Few Sites to See
It's critical that you not spend your vacation running around the country, taking quick snapshots and then dashing to the next attraction. Instead, plan on only focusing on a handful of ?must see? sights.
For instance, if you and/or your traveling companion(s) are ?into? history, why not devise a ?castle tour? of southern Germany? That way, you'll have a theme vacation, but you won't be locked into trying to see everything you possibly can in such a short amount of time.
If sports are more your personality, you could plan on exploring the central parts of Germany and maybe even turning your holiday into a hiking and camping excursion.
2. Choose One Region of the Country
To make the most out of your two weeks in Deutschland, it might be beneficial to pick only one area of the country to visit. For instance, northern German towns like Bremen and Hamburg have much to offer, but you won't get to explore them to capacity if you leave too soon.
Though you may be tempted to try and tour the entire country, it's simply not feasible and you'll spend a great deal of your vacation on trains, buses, and planes. Yes, it's do-able, but we all know how exhausting it can be to check in and out of hotels, not to mention pack and unpack your bags.
3. Stay in One City
Who says that you can't see the ?best of? a country if you stay in only one city? Certainly, a large place like Berlin has enough to satisfy you, and you can always take day trips.
By lodging in only one hotel, spa, hostel, bed and breakfast, or private rental property, you'll take the worry out of traveling, and you'll be able to relax. This will also give you a sense of a ?home base?, which often makes touring much more fun.
Staying in one spot will allow you to get to know the locals better, too, so if you're visiting Germany in an effort to get to know more about the German people, planting yourself in one location is a great way to find out how people really live in this country.
4. Spend a Week in One Location and a Week in Another
If you're not sold on the notion of staying in one place for a whole two weeks, why not divide your time between two larger cities or regions? For instance, you could spend your first week in the Berlin area and the second in Bavaria. This way, you'll get the flavor of the distinctive cultures of two different places, but you'll still be able to de-stress each evening by coming back to the same room.
5. Join a Tour
Finally, should you be too confused or uncomfortable to plan your trip to Germany, one of the best ways to spend your two weeks seeing some of the hotspots is to book your travel with a tour group. That way, your itinerary will be planned out for you (though you'll most likely have some free time to enjoy yourself alone or with your traveling companion). This can often come at a premium in terms of price, but it's a handy way to take the worry out of picking the ?right? or ?best? locales to visit.
Remember ? only you know why you're going to Germany and what you hope to get out of your experience while there. Plan your trip according to your hopes and desires, and never forget that this country will be there for a long time. If you miss seeing something this time around, you can always go back.
Mike Jezek has sinced written about articles on various topics from Travel and Leisure, Dental Practice and Copywriting. Mike Jezek has written about Sweden Travel Guides so are you planning a trip to Sweden or must fly out tonight? Are you interested in your Swedish heritage? If so, you can quickly and easily plan your trip to Sweden with the. Mike Jezek's top article generates over 880 views. to your Favourites.