Central Norway
Built on the site of a former copper-smelting works that burnt down in 1975, this museum brings the town's mining heritage to life. Intricate working…
Must-see attractions in Scandinavia
Southern Jutland
Design buffs should get out of town to the Trapholt modern art and design museum, housed in an architectural wonder in Kolding's residential northeastern…
Copenhagen
Fin de siècle architecture meets with an eclectic mix of art at Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek. The collection is divided into two parts: Northern Europe's…
Møn, Falster & Lolland
Melding the ideas of contemporary installation art with those of ancient standing stones, this modern henge features six 7m-tall megaliths, each weighing…
Aker Brygge & Bygdøy
This private contemporary-art museum resides in an arresting, silvered-wood building designed by Renzo Piano, with a sail-like glass roof that feels both…
Western Finnmark
This superb museum is in Hjemmeluft, at the western end of town. It features exhibits and displays on Sami culture, Finnmark military history, the Alta…
North Iceland
The tiny rocky islet of Drangey (drown-gay), in the middle of Skagafjörður, is a dramatic flat-topped mass of volcanic tuff with 180m-high sheer…
Åland Archipelago
One of Åland’s premier sights is this striking 14th-century castle on a picturesque inlet (signposted off Rd 2). The keep towers are 15m high in parts,…
Funen
Built in 1952–53, this complex of gun emplacements dug into the Langeland fields was designed to delay an assumed Warsaw Pact invasion if the Cold War…
Bornholm
Built around 1150, Nylars Rundkirke is the most well-preserved and easily accessible round church in the Rønne area. Its central pillar is adorned with…
The Western Fjords
If you're on limited time, a visit to this little island is a great way of getting a flavour of the coastline around Florø. After a quick boat ride from…
Lappland
This illuminating museum is Sweden’s most thorough introduction to Sami culture. Follow the ‘spokes’ radiating from the central chamber, each dealing with…
Svalbard
This 30km-long fjord north of Ny Ålesund is a popular detour for cruise ships, partly for the scenic beauty of Lillehöökbreen (its grand tidewater glacier…
Aalborg
The Aalborg waterfront promenade, extending east from Limfjordsbroen, is a great example of urban regeneration, taking what was a scruffy dockside area…
Skåne
One of Skåne's most intriguing and remote attractions, this place has all the mystery of England's Stonehenge without the commercialism. It's Sweden's…
The Western Fjords
Some 30km southeast of Lærdalsøyri along the E16, this 12th-century stave church was raised beside one of the major trade routes between eastern and…
Visby
Gotlands Museum is one of the mightiest regional museums in Sweden. While highlights include amazing 8th-century, pre-Viking picture stones, human…
Copenhagen
Davids Samling is a wonderful curiosity of a gallery housing Scandinavia's largest collections of Islamic art, including jewellery, ceramics and silk, and…
Odense
For train buffs, this fabulous video-rich museum is almost reason enough to come to Denmark. The core collection of over 30 engines and wagons, ranging…
Icelandic Phallological Museum
Laugavegur & Skólavörðustígur
Oh, the jokes are endless here... This unique museum houses a huge collection of penises, and it's actually very well done. From pickled pickles to…
Häme
Dating from the early 1300s, this Gothic-style church in a walled churchyard has an interior filled with fabulous naive frescoes created in the early 16th…
Luleå
The Unesco World Heritage–listed Gammelstad, Sweden's largest church town, was the medieval centre of northern Sweden. The 1492-built stone Nederluleå…
Punavuori & Ullanlinna
An unmissable stop for Finnish design aficionados, Helsinki's Design Museum has a permanent collection that looks at the roots of Finnish design in the…
East Iceland
Five kilometres past the wee church is the photogenic small-boat harbour and islet of Hafnarhólmi, home to a large puffin colony. A staircase and viewing…
Central Sweden
Looking more like a collection of gingerbread houses than an industrial relic, Engelsberg Bruk, a Unesco World Heritage Site in the tiny village of…
Häme
Hämeenlinna means Häme Castle, so it’s no surprise that this bulky, twin-towered, red-brick fortress is the town’s pride and most significant…
Bornholm
The largest and most impressive of Bornholm's round churches dates to at least 1150, and its seven buttresses and upper-level shooting positions give away…
Aurland
This 45km road is one of Norway's most fabulous, climbing from sea level to the desolate, boulder-strewn high plateau that separates Aurland and…
Southern Jutland
Koldinghus is Kolding’s extravagant showpiece, with the requisite turbulent history. A fortress occupied the land in 1268, while parts of the castle you…
De Kongelige Repræsentationslokaler
Copenhagen
The grandest part of Christiansborg, this series of palace rooms and halls was used by the queen to hold royal banquets and entertain heads of state. The…
Central Sweden
Västerås is surrounded by pre-Christian sites. The most interesting and extensive is Anundshög, the biggest tumulus (burial ground) in Sweden, 9km…
Helsinki
Built in National Romantic art nouveau style and opened in 1916, Finland’s premier historical museum looks a bit like a Gothic church with its heavy…
Southern Jutland
At the western end of Slotsgade is Møgeltønder Kirke, its lavish interior a feast for the senses. The Romanesque nave dates back to 1180 and the baptismal…
Western Finnmark
Opened in 2013, the daringly designed Northern Lights Cathedral, next to the Scandic Hotel Alta, is one of the architectural icons of the north, with its…
Ísafjörður
Part of a cluster of historic wooden buildings by the harbour, this museum is in the Turnhús (1784), which was originally a warehouse. It's crammed with…
Southeastern Sweden
Occupying the site of the world's first IKEA store in Älmhult, some 145km northeast of Malmö, is the world's first IKEA Museum, new in 2016, which should…
Lappeenranta
Standing guard above the harbour, this hulking hilltop fortification was begun by the Swedes and finished by the Russians in the late 18th century. Today…
Finland's West Coast
Alvar Aalto’s crowning achievement, Lakeuden Risti Church, is recognisable by its oddly secular steeple–clock tower (built with funds from a voluntary…
Finland's West Coast
The Unesco World Heritage–listed Bronze Age burial complex Sammallahdenmäki dates back more than 3500 years. Thirty-six stone burial cairns of different…
Saltfjellet-Svartisen National Park
Arctic Highway
This 2102-sq-km national park is one of mainland Norway's most dramatic landforms. In the west it embraces the rugged peaks of the Svartisen icecap,…
