Älmhult is a peculiar place. As the birthplace of IKEA, it has slowly been subsumed but the company it created. The town is not very big any more, but the Ikea campus on the other side of the train tracks (and the huge Stena factory) dominate the landscape.

Stopping in Ryd town is likely a matter of necessity rather than desire for a traveller. It is a tiny village with a population of under 1,500. Despite this, it has three distinct pizza restaurants, an ICA and two Godis shops. There appear to be no other restaurants, cafes or bars nearby.

Växjö gives the impression of being larger than it actually is. With a population of under 70,000 people, it is smaller than Halmstad, but the combination of the large lake in the town center, the sports arena and a sizeable shopping district gives it the impression of being a much larger location.

Umeå is a university town. As such, it has a good number of decent bars and restaurants for its size. Overall it is a small town of about 120,000 people. Most shops can be found within a few blocks of each other, but there are several large shopping malls in that space, no doubt because of the heavy snow that falls for half of the year, making indoor shopping a preference.

Old Uppsala is a trove of Viking history, featuring a museum, and a series of long walks to see the Thing, old churches and other history. A short bus ride from Uppsala itself, it is a vital thing to visit

Uppsala is a fair sized, fairly generic Swedish town, down the center a canal runs, dividing the city quite neatly and making picturesque what could have been quite generic a city.

Halmstad is a noticeably larger town than Varberg, though not so large as Gothenburg. Like Gothenburg it is divided by a river, but separating the city into the east and west with teh west being the old town with the old buildings and the east being newer.

Varberg is a fairly small town, and much of its shopping closes at 4pm, not really a surprise when Gothenburg is under 30 minutes away by train. Most of the shops are within a street or two of the shopping mall, and it is largely chain stores you will see elsewhere in Sweden.

Stockholm County is a county or län on the Baltic Sea coast of Sweden. It borders Uppsala County and Södermanland County. It also borders Mälaren and the Baltic Sea. The city of Stockholm is the capital of Sweden. Stockholm County is divided by the historic provinces of Uppland and Södermanland.

Six of our headed out on Saturday morning for Brännö island, off the coast of Gothenburg. Part of the Archipelago that is easily accessible by the many ferries.

Friends of mine were in Copenhagen and suggested we meet for the day in Malmö. Having never been to the city and having not seen them for quite a while I was keen.  The first stop was an outside bar whilst i waited for them, as their bus was delayed due to a person thinking their VISA card was enough ID to pass the Danish/Swedish border.

On Swedish National Day, I decided to dust off my bike, which had sat unused through the winter and spring to cycle down to Lerkil, about 70-75km south of Gothenburg. I loaded up my panniers with my camera, a rain jacket, two liters of water, a phone charger, batteries, Pringles, a mini camping stove with packaged chilli con carne and a few other non-essentials and set off.

Branäs is a picturesque ski resort located in the heart of Sweden's snowy wonderland, offering an unforgettable winter sports experience for both beginners and advanced skiers.

Åre is Swedens most famous ski resort. Not as far north as you might expect it is still a long way from Stockholm or Gothenburg. Travel there can be done by flying to the nearby airport and taking the bus or the more enjoyable Night Train, sleeping in a cabin and waking up at 8am on arrival in Åre ready to ski.

To the north of Åre is the town of Duved, much smaller, and with its own small slopes, though most people will head to Åre for their skiing. Accommodation is easier to find here and is cheaper, but you will find that what you save, gets spent on taxis to and from Åre unless you are very organised to take the infrequent bus service.

Ulricehamn is a small town with a small ski slopes attached to it. (Its about a 40 minute walk from one to the other, quite tough with a full set of gear!) and accessible from Gothenburg by direct bus, which makes it one of the few public transport accessible ski options near to Gothenburg.

Having moved to Sweden, I’m trying to do a bit more outdoors, with the ocean, lakes, forests and trails so easily accessible from the centre of town, it is a waste to not make the most of them.

Getting to Marstrand was less easy than it should have been, there is a train which connects to a bus in Ytterby. Unfortunately due to technical problems, the train was cancelled and the next one was two hours later. When we queried this and if my tickets would still be valid, we were told due to the delay we could take a taxi and Vastraffik would refund me. 1000 SEK journey later we were in Marstrand.