Swedish itineraries for food lovers to explore

Foodie neighbourhood

Hop off the metro at Globen, skirt the huge golf ball shaped shopping centre and discover the first murmurings of a foodie hub in the city's former meatpacking district. Stockholm Roast keeps punters fuelled with coffee, snacks and sweet treats during the day, and has recently opened cosy wine bar and Swedish small plates restaurant, Bar Montan round the corner; already proving popular with trendy Swedes on the food scene. Solen is apparently the place to be... it's a beautiful space boasting a large outdoor area strung with fairy lights, while inside the restaurant opens out into a stunning, light-filled concrete room. The focus is on open-fire cooking, with dishes including red shell prawns in harissa butter, flank steaks in pistachio spice butter and oyster mushroom kebabs with pickled chilli. After dinner, head to trendy listening bar, Hosoi, its contemporary space home to a selection of wines on tap and beers from Omnipollo brewery.

Hotel Skeppsholmen Stockholm yellow building with terrace

Next stop:

ferry to the archipelago
train north to Östersund
train south west to Gothenburg

Östersund, Sweden – for visiting Swedish artisan producers

Situated in the middle of Sweden, Östersund is a Unesco Creative City of Gastronomy and boasts one of the highest numbers of small-scale food artisans and organic farmers in the country. Innovative bistro Republiken Bar & Kök serves everything from moose carpaccio to cellar-matured goat’s cheese from local farmers. Nästgårds Farm Restaurant (open in summer) and its sister BUA create menus with sustainability at their heart, with dishes such as halibut with coriander seeds, rose pepper, green tomato and fried sourdough. The menu at Hamngatan 12 fights against food waste by using surplus produce and with upcycled dishes including its potato and leek soup topped with crispy pork belly. But for something iconic to the region, Wedemarks Café is where the smörgåstårta was invented, a savoury layered ‘sandwich cake’ of rye bread, shrimps, salmon and pickled vegetables.

Stockholm archipelago – for rejuvenating nature

Take the ferry from Stockholm harbour or hire a boat with friends to Ingmarsö island. Hike the Båtuffarleden trail winding through forests, taking dips in the water and rowing a wooden boat between granite rock stations. Stable-turned-bakery, Ingmarsö Bageri, emerges from the forest like a mirage for a well-deserved fika of heavenly cinnamon buns, chocolate espresso balls and apple cream-filled pastries beneath pretty parasols. Stay overnight in the quintessential red wooden baker's cottage, set back in the trees with a view of the water, to wake up to the gentle aroma of fresh bread and buns for breakfast. ingmarsöbageri.com

Or stay at Harö Nature, where your bed for the night is a unique choice between a floating greenhouse, boujie boathouse or glass-fronted treehouse. In the summer months, two Italians take residence on the pizza ovens, or opt for the tasting menu sitting; a succession of contemporary Swedish dishes that might include roe with dill oil and horseradish cream, smoked char with celeriac and cucumber celery jus and woodfire oven lobster with jalapaño cream. Take a dip in the clear waters and warm up in the hot tub and dinky sauna, perched on its own pier, while sunset casts a pink and orange glow over the archipelago. 59north18east.com

Get Out Kayak rents out kayaks and puts together adventure itineraries on the Stockholm Kayak Trail. Bespoke tours include transfers from the city and a full kit for camping, including food packages so you can cook your own Swedish meatballs with mash and lingonberries or creamy chanterelles pasta over a stove in the wild. The pack even includes a kåsa, a drinking vessel originally crafted by Lapland's Sámi community, so you can sip on Swedish beer or cloudberry juice while on the move. getoutkayak.se

Two kayaks in the water by Stockholm's archipelago islands

Gothenburg – for cutting edge seafood and brewery hopping

West Sweden's coastal city is a foodie hot spot, particularly in the spring and summer when the city's courtyards and terraces come to life. Try cinnamon buns and coffee at Da Matteo, flash-fried herring at quirky food truck Strommingsluckan and bags of plump prawns by the river outside the charming ‘fish church’ seafood market. Head out on the ferry to the archipelago for a taste of Styrsö’s car-free island life and cinnamon buns at charming Café Obergska before a brisk dip off one of the sandy beaches.

Gothenburg river with boats and a large bank building on the river

Next stop:

drive to Bohuslan for a coastal adventure
walk the Gotaleden trail
train 1.5 hour south to Halmstad
train 3 hours south to Malmö

Gotaleden walking trail – for foodie walking trails

Hop on the train from Gothenburg to Jonsered, a tiny riverside hamlet home to popular Poppels Bryggeri, where you can taste a range of Swedish beers matched with the likes of torched shrimp, ricotta and chanterelle ravioli, and Swedish roe scooped up with crisps. Round the corner is Brödfabriken, where you can chill out with classic cinnamon bun and coffee fika under a blanket by the river.

From Jonsered, follow the Gotaleden walking trail, treading through forests blanketed with tiny flowers, winding along rivers and clambering over rocks around Lake Aspen. Reward yourself at Garage Fromage, where owner Hans curates speciality cheeses from remote parts of Sweden to sell in his converted garage shop. Continue the riverside trek or take a short train ride to spend the night at Nääs Fabriker, an old cotton factory built in 1890, now home to a stylish hotel with onsite restaurants, shops, bakery and brewery. Wrap up in your robe and pad to the al fresco lakeside spa before seasonal Swedish dinner in the plant-adorned conservatory room. Doubles from £107, check availability at booking.com.

A lake surrounded by trees and a large cotton mill converted into a hotel

West Sweden’s Bohuslän – for coastal, seafood-fuelled road trips

From Gothenburg, pick up a car and drive north for an hour to reach West Sweden’s Bohuslän coast, a series of islands and peninsulas (Orust, Skaftö, Tjörn) jutting into the North Sea. Drive through forests and pass by quintessential coastal villages strung between rugged rocks, stopping off for Swedish fika in forest huts, local craft beers on sun-soaked wooden jetties and quiveringly-fresh fish inside painted clapboard cafés.

Ladfabriken b&b, Hälleviksstrand, Orust

On the very Western peninsula of Orust island, sunshine bounces around this quirky fish crate factory turned b&b. Owners Johan and Marcel serve family-style dinners such as cod fillets in buttery leek sauce and 'east meets west' coconut and lemongrass fish soup using catch of the day from neighbouring Skargrak Sea via Larsson’s fish shop in nearby Mollösund. Breakfast is a similarly homely affair, seeing the table laden with Priest cheese, Swedish emmental, Leksand crackers and an array of homemade preserves – rosehip marmalade, cowberry, lingonberry and more. Local strawberries get plenty of light throughout the long summer days, so they’re extra sweet and served with fresh mint. During the day, take a kayak out on the crystal-clear water, go wild swimming in the archipelago, kick back with a book on a deckchair in the rocky garden, or clamber over rocks following blue dots to the picture-postcard Swedish hamlet of Edultshall. Here, among red and white clapboard houses, families gather around barbecues on little jetties outside their boathouses. Ladfabriken.eu

A fishing boat and red wooden house in Mollosund harbour, Sweden

Lysekils seafood safari, Grebbestad, Lysekil

Hop off the jetty at Grebbestad harbour into ‘Signe’; fisherman Lars’ boat was built in 1952 and named after his grandmother. Chug out of the harbour through the clear waters until a tiny black hut comes into view on Lars’s private island. Hop off the boat and help Lars cart up nets filled with fresh mussels and oysters before a lesson in shucking from the master (his current record being 100 oysters in 30 minutes). After a lesson in shucking, duck into the cosy throw-lined cabin and cook mussels in a pale blue pot on a traditional stove. Lysekilsostronomusslor.se

Fiskebäckskil, Skaftö

A 100-year-old shipyard is an unlikely location for a hotel, but Slipens Hotell & Pensionat has become a destination for foodies thanks to its restaurant, Brygghuset. Each of the nine rooms is designed around a local character, from Anna-Stina, the area’s first female taxi driver, to Sander the ferryman, who ferried passengers to and from the island in times gone by. Before dinner, wrap up in a fluffy white robe and pad down the harbour’s long jetty to Slipens’ floating spa. A red wooden hut with an open roof houses a large jacuzzi and sauna, so you can soak up the steam as well as the serene harbour life (and enjoy a sparkling wine/Swedish beer or two at the same time).

Popular restaurant Brygghuset Fiskebäckskil focuses on seasonal seafood caught straight from the Atlantic by a fisherman named Manfjärd – mussels in the summer, lobsters in the autumn, oysters in winter and mackerel in spring. Start with crayfish with wild garlic followed by cod in a rich shellfish sauce with deep-fried, crouton-like potatoes. Finally, a chocolate pie is given a Swedish twist with liquorice ice cream and liquorice panna cotta. Peruse Sweden’s largest selection of whiskies (1600 varieties and counting) at Joeys Whisky Bar; if you’re finding it hard to choose plump for the apple and woody spice notes of hyper local Smögen Swedish single malt. Slipenshotell.se, Brygghusetkrog.se

Spa overlooking harbour at Slipens Hotell Sweden

Halmstad – for beachside dining

Halmstad serves as the urban hub for a vast, scenic stretch of coastline in southwest Sweden characterised by pristine dunescapes, rocky outcrops, and picture-perfect pine forests. Between the dunes of Tylösand beach you’ll find restaurant concept Fyr, by chef Jacob Holmstrom. A Halmstad native, Holmstrom sold his two-Michelin starred Gatrologik in Stockholm to return to his homeland, and his food at Fyr is characterised by vibrant, clean flavours from produce-led plates. Succulent turbot, cooked on the bone over open fire, is a stand-out, served with seasonal veg, herby potatoes and a signature split sauce that elevates the local bounty to fine dining heights. For an unusual and idiosyncratically Swedish dessert, Holmstrom’s take on kalvdans, a custard-like milk pudding made from colostrum – the first, nutrient-dense milk produced by a cow after the birth of her calf – is a must. The café at 1920s guesthouse Steninge Kuststation just up the coast (a pleasant bike ride, if that’s your thing) from Halmstad itself offers wholesome breakfasts (including twice world championship winning porridge!) in a welcoming setting. The faithfully preserved interiors are a radical departure from the urbane and distinctly contemporary setting of Fyr but are no less memorable.

Just a pebble’s throw from Tylösand beach, Tylebäck Hotel is hard to beat on location. The resort offers a range of different accommodation options, from excellent value hotel rooms to detached self-catering cottages nestled in coniferous woodland. Guests can pay extra for use of the hotel’s spa facilities. Rooms from £122. Check availability at booking.com

Halmstad, Sweden - July 17, 2021: Tylösand Beach in Halmstad is one of Swedens most popular beaches with 7km of beautiful golden sand.

Next stop:

train 15 mins north to Falkenberg
cycle the Kattegattleden trail
train 1 hour south to Malmö

Falkenberg – for small town charm

Although small, Falkenburg has much to offer, both for a tranquil coastal escape and old-town charm. Its cobbled, historic centre clings to the sprawling mouth of the river Ätran, while its outer reaches are demarcated by dune-crested beaches and the waters of the Kattegat sea. In recent years, Falkenberg has established itself as a food destination, too. Take a stroll along Skrea Strand beach to the restaurant at Ocean Hotel for a great-value lunch in plain view of the breaking waves. For the equivalent of a little over £10 you’ll enjoy a main course (expect simple but well-prepared fish dishes – salmon with a roe sauce, or a catch-of-the-day gratin topped with pommes duchesse) plus buffet-style salads and soups, coffee and sweets. To experience a dose of fika – that Swedish rite of breaking for coffee and a sweet treat in order to talk and connect with one another – Falkenberg boasts no shortage of artisanal bakeries. Borgmästargården bakes all its exquisite pastries on-site, and serves them with coffee from two Falkenberg roasteries; which one depends upon whether you order espresso-based or filter (for an authentic Swedish fika experience, grab a cardamom bun and cup of filter). Come evening, local institution Gustaf Bratt serves elevated takes on Nordic classics in a vast, elegant former granary overlooking the iconic Tullbron bridge, while Neapolitan style pizzeria Lilla Napoli has been the talk of the town since setting up shop in an abandoned parking lot in 2015.

The airy, high-ceilinged rooms of Hotel Hamngaten 27 offer views to the old town and out across the Ätran river. Guests in this former warehouse enjoy large windows with low sills, and tasteful vintage-style décor that nods towards the building’s grand age. Rooms from £100. Check availability at booking.com

The river in Falkenberg Sweden with Swedish houses in the background

Kattlegattleden trail – for fika-studded coastal cycling

Now ten years old, the Kattegattleden trail on Sweden’s west coast was the country’s first national cycling route. With its windswept sandy coastlines, picturesque pine forests and undulating hillsides, it’s not difficult to appreciate the charm. Beyond the scenery, the trail is peppered with mouthwatering pitstops.

You’ll find plenty of foodie gems along the 75-mile stretch between the fishing village of Torekov and the town of Varberg to its north. Thora vineyard just outside Torekov produces a range of wines made from the locally productive solaris grape, but also, uniquely for the region, several from traditional old world varieties like chardonnay and pinot noir. Book a tasting to experience the full breadth of their output, including a rambunctious pét-nat which is only available on-site.

A few miles along the coast you’ll find the spectacular Norrviken gardens, the vistas of which spill out across the sea. Its Orangeriet restaurant offers delicious lunches and panoramic views. Beyond the pretty resort town of Båstad it’s well worth taking the time to stop soak up the scenery. The ethereally vast sandy beach of Mellbystrand stretches on for miles: take a moment for a fika break here – Brød & Co bakery on Laholm is only a short detour away – on windswept dunes or between the pine woodlands of Hökafältet nature reserve.

Next, saunter up the coast to Halmstad, the largest city in the region (more of that above). From here the trail moves north-west to Falkenberg, a small town which boasts a burgeoning reputation as a food destination: artisan bakeries, small-scale coffee roasters and a renowned Neapolitan-style pizzeria called Lilla Napoli all find home here.

Beyond Falkenberg, the route becomes more agrarian, marked by sprawling fields and quiet, straight roads which lead to the southern fringes of Varberg, where you’ll find Joels Brygga. This fish restaurant boasts its own smokehouse and a waterfront location, and prides itself on relationships with local suppliers. Head to kattegattleden.se/en for more information.

A pier leading out to the sea with blue skies on the Swedish coast

Malmö – for urban restaurant hopping

Its positioning between cutting-edge Copenhagen (just across the water in neighbouring Denmark) and Skåne's rich fertile lands means Malmö boasts many fine dining options. In the city centre Bastard has long been a place to be seen, offering meat-heavy small plates and punchy cocktails in a party atmosphere, while intimate Vollmers boasts two Michelin stars for its seasonal tasting menus, which elevate Scånian ingredients to gourmet levels.

Cost restaurant Västergatan offers the likes of mixed meat tartare with smoked paprika, oven-baked celeriac with anchovies, wild garlic seeds and radishes, and slow-baked trout with burnt leek oil, roast chicken stock and pickled shiitake mushrooms. Stylishly light and Nordic but warm and welcoming, Lyran in Folkets Park is the kind of place you’d happily move house for in order to have it as your local bistro. Get a spot by the tiny open kitchen and watch the laidback cooks composing dreamy dishes from ingredients such as birch sap elixir, local goat’s cheese and Swedish cantaloupe melons. Don’t miss the great-value set lunch at stripped-back portside restaurant Saltimporten. The vegetarian dish works just as hard as the meat option – think fine ribbons of celeriac laid on springy black quinoa with beansprouts and black sesame. Coffee from Malmö roaster Solde is on tap, and served in cute vintage teacups.

Malmö Restaurants And Best Places To Eat And Drink In Malmo Sweden

Next stop:

drive to Österlen for a field-to-fork road trip
train to Copenhagen
train back up to Stockholm

Österlen, Skåne – for rural field-to-fork road trips

Skåne is Sweden’s most southerly region, and often dubbed the country's pantry thanks to its vibrant producers and a prime position, surrounded by forest and farmland, between cutting-edge Copenhagen (just across the water in neighbouring Denmark) and the Baltic Sea. Many dedicated professionals have been drawn to Skåne’s countryside. Seek out tiny pasta factories in old tractor repair halls, or chocolatiers in former school buildings. Fran jord till bord (from soil to table) is a deep-rooted approach in Skåne.

Österlen, Skåne’s southeastern corner, is a hotspot for producers. Ulrika at Österlenchoklad is super geeky about chocolate and all things cacao. She and her partner travel the world to track down the finest beans to blend with Skåne’s unique ingredients and create super-smooth pralines – Kivik’s iconic apples, aromatics from nearby farmshop Österlenkryddor, aronia berries picked every October after the first frost, and citrussy sea buckthorn foraged from the shoreline. A Scånian trio – Per, Tilde, and Pär – run Pastafabriken in Österlen, using homegrown produce from their vegetable garden in Hedvigsdal. At Byvägen 35, owner Mati combines durum wheat, roast potato and seeds to create his fluffy devil’s loaf, while his sourdough cinnamon and cardamom swirls have gained popularity due to their extra-sour edge, gleaned from a 48-hour fermentation before baking.

Blåsingsborg Gårdshotell is just outside Kivik, a small town famous for its apple orchards, and the hotel can arrange juice- and cider-tasting trips to local producer Kiviks Musteri. Housed in a classic skånegård (a four-sided farmhouse built around a cobbled inner courtyard), the hotel is friendly and family owned. Stylish bedrooms retain their rustic farmhouse feel with exposed beams and tiled floors. Owners Karin and Henrik cook and serve a three-course set dinner that changes daily and is based around the best ingredients available – a starter of own-cured monkfish with cauliflower purée, for example, followed by local beef fillet with beetroot – and a vegetarian option is always available.