Sweden Family Holidays & Breaks

Holidays in Swedish Lapland

• Visit Sweden’s portion of the Sámi territory of Lapland, easiest on a family adventure holiday (see Best Organised Trips tab). Lapland activities might include meeting Santa, touring a reindeer farm, taking a husky safari, learning about Sámi culture and way of life, snowmobiling, cross-country skiing and spending the night at the world-famous Ice Hotel®. See more in our  Lapland destination guide.  

• See the Northern Lights from Swedish Lapland, particularly the mining town of Kiruna. Read more in our feature on best places to see the Northern Lights with kids. 

Ski Holidays in Sweden

• You’ll find one real family ski option in Sweden, but it’s brilliant – Åre (pronounced U-ray) in the west. A pretty little town of colourful wooden buildings around a frozen lake, it’s good for beginners and intermediates, with excellent nursery areas for kids, reindeer- and dog-sleighs, skating and other Nordic pleasures.

Stockholm with Kids

• Discover the lively, picturesque and pedestrian-friendly capital, set on 14 islands connected by bridges on Sweden’s east coast, and boasting a charming Old Town (Gamla Stan) with medieval houses and cobbled streets, beaches and green spaces that come into their own during the mild summers, and a brittle beauty in winter, when its windows are lit by millions of candles and snow sometimes blankets the ground.

• Visit Stockholm’s biggest family attraction, Skansen, an open-air museum with a full replica of a 19th-century Swedish town, where artisans in traditional costume demonstrate their crafts. Reached by funicular railway, it’s set on Djurgården island.

• Also on the island, enjoy Gröna Lund amusement park with its thrill rides and family coasters, Vasamuseet, a museum displaying the world’s only surviving 17th-century warship, with family trails, and eccentric Junibacken, a sort of indoor themepark based on national author Astrid Lindgren’s books for children, including Pippi Longstocking.  

• Don’t miss the Tekniska museet (National Museum of Science and Technology) or the Historiska Museet with its wonderful Viking exhibition.

Things to Do Near Stockholm 

• Take a boat-trip to the Viking town of Birka in Ekerö, made up of several islands to the west of Stockholm. Along with nearby Drottningholm Palace, (home to the Swedish royal family but partly open to the public), Birka is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

• Venture 30 minutes south of Stockholm to Bornsjön Nature Reserve with its moose, roe deer and wild boar (best visited as part of a wildlife safari including transport from Stockholm).

• Also just south of Stockholm, investigate the city of Södertälje, with Sweden's biggest lock (where the Baltic Sea meets Lake Mälaren), a big children’s science centre, Tom Tits Experiment, and the Torekällberget outdoor museum, with an old village, a farm and crafts shops.

Gothenburg with Kids

• Visit this university city the west coast for its scenic Haga district of wooden houses and cafés, its famous ‘Fish Church’ fishmarket and seafood eateries, from humble shacks to Michelin-starred restaurants, its excellent Natural History Museum, Scandinavia’s biggest amusement park, Liseberg, the science discovery centre Universeum, and its harbour swimming pools.

• Take around the car-free Southern Gothenburg Archipelago just off the coast, stopping off to see Älvsborg Fortress and Vinga Lighthouse.

Malmö with Kids

• Discover another coastal city that makes for a chilled summer hangout, on the southern tip of Sweden. Malmö’s Western Harbour, home to a long boardwalk and the Ribersborg shallow artificial beach, has earnt it the nicknames Riviera of the North and Swedish Riviera. The Ribersborgs Kallbadhus open-air baths is open year-round; in winter, take a hot sauna then plunge into the icy waters.

• Also visit Folkets Park with its kids’ theatre, terrarium, mini farm, playground and flea-market, and the Chokladfabriken, a chocolate factory with a small museum and a café specialising in choccie fondue and hot chocolate. 

• Tour the very pretty and ancient Skåne region of which Malmö’s the capital – it has lovely beaches, quaint villages and more than 200 castles (some turned into atmospheric hotels).

Holidays in South-east Sweden

• Check out the province of Småland, especially the picture-perfect, myth-shrouded 13th-century castle of Kalmar Slott, in a dramatic setting overlooking the sea.

• Do as the Swedes do and hang out on Gotland, the country’s largest island, in the Baltic Sea. Its medieval capital Visby is UNESCO listed for its romantic ruined fortress, while its beaches get more sun than almost any other part of Sweden. It’s a great place to come in spring or autumn, when the temperatures are mild. Horse-riding, swimming in old quarries, diving, fishing and hiking on nature reserves are popular activities.