Scandinavia: Embracing Nature’s Beauty on a Stunning Roadtrip

After nearly a month in Norway, it was time for me to move on so I headed towards Sweden.

Sweden is another country that has been high up on my list for a while, so I’m glad I had chance to go exploring.

With no plan or agenda, I set off with just the open road in front of me…

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Saying Farewell in Style

As I set off towards Sweden, the scenery was once again jaw-dropping, so I decided to stop for a quick paddle board. The water was so turquoise and clear and the mountainous backdrop was delightful.

The weather was a glorious 24’C and I just chilled on the water for a couple of hours. Obviously, I had to get the stand up photo, you know, for the gram 😂

I also saw a few reindeer wandering along the road 😍

An amazing way to say goodbye to Norway 🇳🇴

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Welcome to Sweden

So I crossed the border into Sweden and I suddenly felt very confused. The landscape changed quite a lot and whilst it was still a really warm day (24’C), the sea was frozen 🤯😂

There were even people sat on the ice, fishing 🎣

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Never Seen So Many Trees

I drove for about 4 days through nothing but pine forest, which was lovely but a bit monotonous. Sweden is 68% forest, apparently! 🌲

There are warning signs for moose every couple of hundred metres or so, but I didn’t see any. I did see more reindeer though.

I headed out on a few woodland hikes along the way, and found lovely camping spots by lakes.

As I came further south, the sun started setting again so I was able to sit out and watch the sun set a few times 🌅 It was very strange after a month of not seeing darkness, having to put the lights on inside my van in the evening 😂

The facilities in Sweden are not as accessible as they were in Norway, but I found an app that truckers use to find showers so I am still managing to stay off grid (and clean!).

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Gripsholm Castle 🧩

Fliss and I have a travel tradition of doing a jigsaw and then travelling to that place and having to recreate the photo that we’ve spent hours staring at 🤓😂

We almost accidentally stumbled upon Lake Bled in Slovenia in 2021 after previously completing a jigsaw, and then the following year we were at the famous Chureito Pagoda at Mount Fuji in Japan having completed a whopping 2,000 piece puzzle the Christmas before.

Last Christmas, we spent a gruelling 12 hours staring at Gripsholm Castle, so when I noticed it’s proximity to Stockholm I had to take a visit.

The castle itself is one of the palaces belonging to the Swedish Royal Family, but is now used as a museum. It is home to the National Portrait Gallery and holds over 5,000 portraits, mainly of people of Swedish notoriety.

Surprisingly, Gripsholm Castle is also home to the famous Leo the Lion, which is an early example of taxidermy from the 1700s. Apparently the guy who stuffed the lion had never seen one before and the lion had actually already been dead for a long time before. I’d seen the legend of this online, but didn’t know it was here so it was a pleasant surprise!

After I had toured the castle itself, I headed off on my mission to recreate the picture from the jigsaw. It was important to get the exact angle 👌🏼

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Stockholm

I gave myself a full day to explore Stockholm and it was such a beautiful day! ☀️

It’s such a stunning city with amazing architecture at every turn. The buildings are also so delightfully colourful 😍

I had such a great time wandering round, I’d definitely recommend if you ever get chance!

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Helsinki

I took a 12 hour ferry trip 🤢 from Stockholm to Turku in Finland 🇫🇮. It seemed to go on forever, and was definitely not helped by the ABBA karaoke which lasted for at least 3 hours 😳

I chilled at a beach on the lake for the evening, and then headed to Helsinki and took myself on another walking tour.

Another amazing city to explore on foot! I was particularly pleased to get into the National Library of Finland which looks like something out of a historic film.

Also, after days without, I managed to grab a cinnamon bun from this cute little cafe in a shed by the lake. I know this is the real content that the fans want to see 😂

And with that, my time in Scandinavia has come to an end. It has been sublime. 😍

If you missed any of my previous posts, it’s worth going back to check them out. Especially the Hiking in the West and Lofoten Island ones.

As much as I have enjoyed the forests and lakes, I’m missing the mountains, so I’m getting a ferry back to mainland Europe and heading towards the Tatra mountains in Poland 🇵🇱

Next stop, Estonia… 🇪🇪

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Travel Stats:

• Days: 38
• Countries: 8 (🇫🇷🇧🇪🇳🇱🇩🇪🇩🇰🇳🇴🇸🇪🇫🇮)
• Distance driven: 4,854 miles (7,811 km)
• Distance hiked: 84.5 miles (136 km)