Sweden - Becky Ohlsen [25]
Kebab stands and fast-food windows run a close second on the munch-on-the-go scene.
Opening Times & Tipping
Restaurants generally open from 11.30am to 2pm for lunch, and from 5pm until 10pm for dinner. Cafes, bakeries and coffee shops are likely to be open all day, from 7am or 8am in the morning until at least 6pm.
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Sweden’s official Waffle Day is 25 March.
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Tipping is not common in Sweden. A service cost is figured into the bill. If you’ve had excellent service, a 10% to 15% tip is a suitable compliment.
Self-Catering
Supermarkets across Sweden have pre-prepared foods for quick snacks, but making your own meals is easy enough too if you’re hostelling or staying in camping grounds with good facilities.
Easily found in Swedish towns and villages, the main supermarket chains are ICA, Konsum and Hemköp (the last often found inside Åhléns department stores).
By law, both the item price and the comparative price per kilogram have to be labelled. Plastic carrier bags usually cost Skr2 at the cashier.
The ideal way to buy produce is through small, rural farm shops or roadside stands.
Vegetarians & Vegans
Vegetarian and vegan restaurants are common; they’re easy to find in the major cities, and even in rural areas restaurants generally have one or two herbivorous main-course options on the menu. For this reason we haven’t created a separate category for vegetarian listings in this book.
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EAT YOUR WORDS
Despite the fact that most Swedes speak excellent English (and often several other languages), it’s handy, and polite, to be able to order from a Swedish menu. For key phrases and pronunciation guidelines, Click here.
Useful Phrases
Food Glossary
BASICS
VEGETABLES & SPICES (GRÖNSAKER & KRYDDOR)
FRUIT (FRUKT)
MEAT (KÖTT)
FISH & SEAFOOD (FISK & SKALDJUR)
DESSERTS (DESSERTER/EFTERRÄTTER)
COOKING STYLES
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Environment
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THE LAND
WILDLIFE
NATIONAL PARKS
ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES
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THE LAND
Geography
Sweden occupies the eastern side of the Scandinavian peninsula, sharing borders with Norway, Finland and Denmark (the latter a mere 4km to the southwest of Sweden and joined to it by a spectacular bridge and tunnel).
Sweden’s surface area (449,964 sq km) is stretched long and thin. Around one-sixth of the country lies within the Arctic Circle, yet Sweden is surprisingly warm thanks to the Gulf Stream: minimum northern temperatures are around −20°C (compared with −45°C in Alaska).
The country has a 7000km-long coastline, with myriad islands – the Stockholm archipelago alone has up to 24,000. The largest and most notable islands are Gotland and Öland on the southeast coast, and the best sandy beaches are down the west coast, south of Göteborg.
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Sweden is a long, drawn-out 1574km from north to south, but averages only about 300km in width.
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Forests make up an amazing 57% of Sweden’s landscape. It’s not short of inland lakes, either, with around 100,000 in all. Vänern is Western Europe’s largest lake at 5585 sq km. Kebnekaise (2111m), part of the glaciated Kjölen Mountains on the Norwegian border, is Sweden’s highest mountain.
Population
Most Swedes live in the flat south of the country, which has an average population density of 35 people per sq km. The capital, Stockholm, has 266 people per sq km, but in the empty north that figure drops to nine.
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ARCTIC PHENOMENA
Aurora Borealis
There are few sights as mesmerising as an undulating aurora. Although these appear in many forms – pillars, streaks, wisps and haloes of vibrating light – they’re most memorable when they take the form of pale curtains, apparently wafting on a gentle breeze. Most often, the Arctic