Sweden Local Customs

 
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Most Viewed Local Customs in Sweden

51.

Language   Stockholm

Language, Stockholm

 20 Reviews  One of the things Swedes really don't like is someone coming to Sweden speaking any other language than Swedish or English. The way we see it is that we have made an effort to learn the international... 

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52.

Etiquette   Malmö

Etiquette, Malmö

 4 Reviews  At most places with customer service (e.g. Post Office, Tourist Information, Money Exchange) you have to take a number from a machine. Then you have to wait for your number to be called or to be shown... 

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53.

Museums   Stockholm

Museums, Stockholm

 39 Reviews  This museum is called "Nordiska Museet" (Nordic Museum).You can develop a good understanding of Nordic culture and folklore history since 16th centuryupon visiting this museum. You can see exhibitions... 

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54.

Seaside & canals   Malmö

Seaside & canals, Malmö

 4 Reviews  On any sunny day, Malmö's citizens gather in Västra Hamnen to walk along the seafront promenade, have a coffee or Italian ice cream in a cafe and just people watch. See the second picture just to see... 

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55.

Alcohol   Stockholm

Alcohol, Stockholm

 5 Reviews  If you want to buy alcohol in Sweden then you must go to Systembolaget. They are the only ones who is alowed to sell alcohol. You must be over 21 years to buy alcohol in Systembolaget. This shopps... 

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56.

Winter bathing   Malmö

Winter bathing, Malmö

 1 Review  Some Malmö people have a habit of swimming in the Öresund Strait not only in summer but also in freezing winter. This picture is from Sibbarp's Cold Water Bath and NO, those minus signs are NOT a... 

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57.

People   Stockholm

People, Stockholm

 13 Reviews  If wandering around Stockholm museums and sightseeing points, you will probably come across the name Bellman. He was an 18th century poet and trubadour whose songs and melodies are much loved today,... 

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58.

Open Swedes   Malmö

Open Swedes, Malmö

 2 Reviews  I know that many people tell that Swedes are cold and sometimes unfriendly, but I have had chance ! I only stayed at a bar 5 minutes alone, and some guys asked me if I was enjoying my hollidays,... 

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59.

Festivals   Stockholm

Festivals, Stockholm

 7 Reviews  Between June and August 2004 about 100 colorful fibreglass cows were placed on many streets, squares and in buildings of Stockholm. This cow parade has already been to New York, London, Dublin and... 

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60.

Music   Malmö

Music, Malmö

 1 Review  Swedes are a music loving people. It is easy to find music festivals in the streets of every town and city in the country, or simply people performing dances or coreographies, like theses girls in... 

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61.

Meals   Stockholm

Meals, Stockholm

 10 Reviews  In Sweden it is a custom during Easter to fill colourful paper Easter eggs with chocolate and give to your children and loved ones. Since we were travelling in Stockholm around Easter the shops were... 

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62.

Tourist info   Malmö

Tourist info, Malmö

 3 Reviews  This is the place to obtain advice abd information on Malmý. There are maps, postcards, souvenirs, books and others found in the shop. Opening hours October - April: Mon-Fri 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. Sat 10... 

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63.

Tipping   Stockholm

Tipping, Stockholm

 4 Reviews  When I have visited Stockholm I have been told that tourist guides and waitresses/waiters, bellboys are not to be tipped. The last time that I visited Stockholm I had the god luck of being able to... 

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64.

Swedish signs   Malmö

Swedish signs, Malmö

 1 Review  Gatan is the Swedish for street :) However you can definitely get by on English in Malmo, helped no doubt by the fact that English is a compulsory language subject in school. But a few phrases from... 

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65.

Customs in the Home   Stockholm

Customs in the Home, Stockholm

 9 Reviews  As most of you may know, the Scandinavian tribes are descendants of the Vikings, whose first recorded attack, in England, was in a.d. 793. The remains of several hundred Viking Age boats have been... 

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66.

Festival   Malmö

Festival, Malmö

 2 Reviews  Takes place during the second or third week in August every year and means the city is full of people enjoying concerts, crayfish, world food, street life and childrens event in a mix. OK, it's not... 

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67.

Crafts and Souvenirs   Stockholm

Crafts and Souvenirs, Stockholm

 3 Reviews  The Dala Horse is a symbol of Sweden. These colorful horses date back to the 18th century. In the best of Swedish folk tradition, hand-carved and painted wooden horses from Dalarna. They are real... 

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68.

Bikes   Malmö

Bikes, Malmö

 1 Review  This is the bicycle parking (platform) close to the Railway station in Malmö. I would say people love to use bicycles here! It's quite easy to move around the town since there are numerous bicycle... 

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69.

Royal Family   Stockholm

Royal Family, Stockholm

 7 Reviews  Walking around Gamla Stan, it is possible to observe a solemn changing of the guard at the western court yard of the Royal palace (Monday-Friday 12.00, Saturday-sunday 13.00). www.hogvakten.mil.se 

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70.

Holidays   Stockholm

Holidays, Stockholm

 16 Reviews  Do what the locals do and enjoy a cruise. The most popular ones are to Finland, where Helsinki, Turku (Åbo in Swedish) and the Åland Islands are the most popular destinations but Tallinn and now Riga... 

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71.

Facts and Figures   Stockholm

Facts and Figures, Stockholm

 2 Reviews  Although Sweden is a member of the the European Union (EU) since 1995, they don't have the Euro as currency. Sweden's currency is the Swedish Crown. 1 Swedish Crown is worth 100 Öre. You can get your... 

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72.

Queues   Stockholm

Queues, Stockholm

 5 Reviews  Stockholm people are often in a hurry, trying to be efficient with their time. This is why you find everyone standing to the right in escalators, leaving the left side to those who want to WALK up.... 

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Holidays & celebrations of Sweden

by sim1

Holidays & celebrations of SwedenDuring the year we celebrate several usual and maybe to you a bit more unsual holidays:New Years Eve (31 December) and New Years Day (1st January)13 afton (6 January)20 Knut (13 January)Valborgsmässoafton/Walpurgis Night (30th April)1Maylångfredagen/Good Friday (The Friday before Easter)Easter (2 days: the Sunday and Monday closest after the full moon after the 21st of March)Kristi himmelfärdsdag/Ascension Day (The 6th Thursday after Easter)Pingst/Whitsuntide (The 7th Sunday after Easter)Nationaldagen/National Day (6th June)Midsommar (The Saturday between the 20th and 26th of June)Alla Helgons Dag (The Saturday between the 31st of October and 6th November)St.Lucia (13th December)Christmas Eve (24th December), Christmas day (25th December) and Boxing Day (26th December)In the next few tips you'll get a bit more info about the traditions surrounding these...

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Alla Helgons Dag

by sim1

Holidays & celebrations of SwedenAlla Helgons DagAlla Helgons Dag, or in English All Saints' Day is an official Holiday in Sweden. In the past this day has always been the 1st of November, as it still is in many other countries. The roots of this day are from the Catholic Church with the All Saints Day on November 1, followed by All Souls' Day on November 2. In Sweden however this tradition has disappeared as such. Instead we celebrate "Alla Helgons Dag" on the Saturday close to the 1st of November (in practice this is the Saturday somewhere between the 31st of October and 6th of November). This day became an official holiday in the year 1953. Just to make things even more confusing I should mention that we still have the 1st of November in our calendars. But this day is called "Allhelgonadagen" instead, a name which is easily confused with "Alla Helgons Dag". So why is this day so...

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Flag/Red Days

by marielexoteria

There are certain days in Sweden where you might see little flags on top of the buses or trams. This is because those days are called Flag Days and are:* Jan 1: new year's day* Jan 28:, the King's name day* Mar 12: the Crown Princess' name day* Easter Sunday: sometime in March or April* Apr 30: the King's birthday (and the Last of April festival day)* May 1: May Day* Whitsun/Pentecost: 49 days after Easter Sunday* Jun 6: Sweden's national day and the Swedish flag's day* Midsummerday: the Friday that falls under the period Jun 19-25* Jul 14: the Crown Princess' birthday* Aug 8: the Queen's name day* Election day: the 3rd Sunday in September every election year (every 4 years)* Oct 24: the UN day* Nov 6: King Gustav Adolf's day* Dec 10: Alfred Nobel day and the celebration of the Nobel Prize* Dec 23: the Queen's birthday (and my dad's too hehe)* Dec 25: Christmas day.Another (unofficial)...

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Advent Celebrations: Lucia

by marielexoteria

Lucia is celebrated every 13th of December and initiates formally the Christmas celebration. In the ancient Swedish farm society, people used to eat, drink and party all night long and one of the farm ladies had a white gown and carried a crown with lit candles on her head, as they believed the Lucia day had the longest night of the year.Modern day celebrations include the "search for Lucia" in all the municipalities of Sweden, being the coronation of Sweden's Lucia in Skansen and the Lucia concert in Globen, Stockholm the biggest ceremonies. The Lucia girls parade in what we call "Luciatåg" (Lucia train). The Lucia train is composed of Lucia followed by Lucia maids (Luciatärnor), star boys (stjärngossar) and children (or young teenagers) dressed with ginger bread guy/girl like (pepparkaksgubbar) and Santa Claus like (tomtar) costumes. Lucia and her maids are dressed with a white gown...

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Advent Celebrations: Candlesticks and Calendars

by marielexoteria

Advent is the season of preparation before Christmas, here in Sweden of 4 Sundays before Christmas Eve. We start by having an Advent candlestick with decorations and one candle that we light on the first Sunday, 2 on the second, 3 on the third and all 4 on the fourth. By the time the 4th candle is lit, a "stair" is formed from the other 3 candles being burned at different heights.During the whole season we like putting out an electrical Advent candlestick, usually with 7 candle shaped small light bulbs to light up our days (and nights), considering how little sun light we get during winter. This, and an Advent star, are used until Jan 6th (trettondedagen in Swedish, 13 days after Christmas Eve).For the children, an Advent calendar is sold. It contains 24 "windows" numbered from 1 to 24 that kids open up , one every day, and find a small piece of chocolate. These 24 "windows" represent...

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Systembolaget: Wine and Spirits Store

by marielexoteria

This is the only place in Sweden where you can buy wine, spirits and beer with a certain (higher) alcohol percentage (you can buy some beer and cider with a low alcohol percentage on supermarkets like Ica and Coop). They monopolize alcohol selling to, and I quote from their site, " minimize alcohol-related problems by selling alcohol in a responsible way, without profit motive." You need to be 20 years old to be able to buy here and you must show your ID card if the cashier asks for it.

Knäckebröd

by marielexoteria

The best way I can describe knäckebröd is like a thicker form of a cracker. Knäckebröd is fairly popular as breakfast and/or between meals snack and the variety of toppings you can have on your open face sandwich is almost endless.

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Crayfish Parties

by marielexoteria

Crayfish parties are, well, parties where Swedes gather round to eat crayfish. They're held in August as a late summer pastime. The crayfish are boiled in water with a little salt and seasoned with dill. To this people drink beer and/or snaps.I'm afraid I cannot take part in these festivities due to allergy to fish and seafood :(

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Midsummer Celebrations

by marielexoteria

Midsommar, or midsummer, is one of the most ancients traditions in Sweden. The celebrations are held on "midsommarafton" or the eve of midsummer, which is the Friday under the period of 19th of 25th of June. People wear a flower crown made of birch (soft) branches and covered with 7 kinds of flowers. Then people build a maypole, decorated it and dance around it. Traditional dishes that are eaten then are boiled fresh potatoes (the first from the harvest), herring, and strawberries or strawberry cake. To this people drink snaps and sing songs.According to tradition, young girls used to collect 7 different kinds of flowers, put them under their pillow and dream of their future husband.

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Julbord - the Christmas Table

by marielexoteria

Julbord is a smorgasbord with dishes that most treat as traditional during the Christmas holidays. Some of the dishes are herring, gravad lax (salmon cured in salt), lutefisk, the traditional Christmas ham, boiled potatoes, "leverpastej" (similar to foie gras), roasted pork ribs, small sausages, meatballs, red beet sallad and Janssons temptation - sliced potatoes baked with cream, onions and sprats. The traditional dessert is rice porridge with shredded cinnamon on top, in which an almond is hidden and s/he who finds it is supposed to have good luck.To these yummy dishes people drink some snaps and sing some local songs, julmust (a carbonated soft drink) or julöl - Christmas beer.

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Local traditions and culture in Sweden

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Local Customs: Cities in Sweden
  1. Stockholm Local Customs
  2. Göteborg Local Customs
  3. Malmö Local Customs
  4. Uppsala Local Customs
  5. Kiruna Local Customs
  6. Lund Local Customs
  7. Eskilstuna Local Customs
  8. Helsingborg Local Customs
  9. Abisko Nationalpark Local Customs
  10. Norrköping Local Customs
  11. Karlstad Local Customs
  12. Linköping Local Customs
  13. Västerås Local Customs
  14. Visby Local Customs
  15. Karlskrona Local Customs
  16. Jönköping Local Customs
  17. Växjö Local Customs
  18. Umeå Local Customs
  19. Luleå Local Customs
  20. Sundsvall Local Customs
  21. Halmstad Local Customs
  22. Gotland Local Customs
  23. Gävle Local Customs
  24. Örebro Local Customs
  25. Nyköping Local Customs
  26. Jokkmokk Local Customs
  27. Sälen Local Customs
  28. Sigtuna Local Customs
  29. Ystad Local Customs
  30. Gällivare Local Customs
  31. Borås Local Customs
  32. Östersund Local Customs
  33. Trollhättan Local Customs
  34. Kalmar Local Customs
  35. Storuman Local Customs
  36. Padjelanta Nationalpark Local Customs
  37. Gnesta Local Customs
  38. Strömstad Local Customs
  39. Åre Local Customs
  40. Södertälje Local Customs
  41. Eksjö Local Customs
  42. Uddevalla Local Customs

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Q:  Looking to put our rental car on a ferry from germany near sassnitz into sweden , trelleborg. Do ferry operators have problems... 

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