A 10-day Sweden road trip itinerary looping from Stockholm through Vadstena and Lake Vättern, Gothenburg, Malmö and Skåne, and the castles and glassworks of Kalmar.
Sweden is made for a road trip. The roads are fast and empty, the distances between towns are big enough to feel like real travel, and the south alone strings together two very different capitals, a coastline that swaps the Baltic for the North Sea, lakeside castles and one of Europe's great glass-making regions. This Sweden road trip itinerary loops the south over 10 days, starting and finishing in Stockholm, so you never double back and can fly in and out of a single city.
It is a relaxed, culture-led circle rather than a mountain adventure. You move three to five hours between each base, always with a proper sense of moving on, but the driving is easy and the payoff at each stop is a city, a castle or an island worth a day or two of your time.
Most first-time visitors see Stockholm and stop there. Give the south a loop and you add Gothenburg's seafood and canals, the beaches and old towns of Skåne within sight of Denmark, and the castle-and-glassworks country of the southeast. Because the route is a loop from Stockholm, the logistics are simple: one airport, one hire car, no internal flights, and long summer days that stretch sightseeing well into the evening.
Start in Stockholm, a capital spread across 14 islands where Lake Mälaren meets the Baltic.
Give it two nights. Wander the ochre lanes of Gamla Stan, the old town, and set aside a couple of hours for the Vasa Museum on Djurgården, built around a 17th-century warship raised almost whole from the harbour. With a spare afternoon, take a classic steamer out into the archipelago to the little town of Vaxholm. Pick up the hire car as you leave, and use the excellent public transport while you are in the city.
Head west to Vadstena, a medieval abbey town on the shore of Lake Vättern, Sweden's second-largest lake. It makes a restful one-night break in the drive. See Vadstena Castle, the moated Renaissance fortress on the waterfront, and the Birgittine abbey that made the town a pilgrimage centre. If you have time, detour 40 minutes south to Gränna, where Sweden's red-and-white striped polkagris candy has been pulled by hand since 1859.
Carry on to Gothenburg, Sweden's salt-aired second city, laid out around canals dug by Dutch engineers.
A 10-day southern France loop: Marseille's Calanques, Arles' Roman ruins and the Camargue, Saint-Tropez's beaches, and three nights on the French Riviera at Nice.
Two nights lets you take it slowly. Wander Haga, the cobbled quarter of wooden houses, and eat a Hagabulle, a cinnamon bun the size of a dinner plate, at the old Café Husaren. Ride the trams, eat your fill of west-coast shellfish, and on a warm day catch a ferry from Saltholmen out to the car-free southern archipelago, where painted timber cottages line rocky little islands.
The road south runs down to Malmö, Sweden's diverse third city, at the very tip of the country within sight of the Öresund Bridge to Copenhagen. Base here for two nights. Cycle the regenerated Western Harbour beneath the twisting Turning Torso tower, then use Malmö as a hub for the best of Skåne: the Romanesque cathedral and old university town of Lund, and the half-timbered streets of Ystad, familiar to anyone who has read the Wallander novels.
Turn up the southeast Baltic coast to Kalmar, a handsome town built around one of Sweden's finest Renaissance castles.
Give it two nights. Tour Kalmar Castle, moated and standing right on the water, and lose an afternoon in the cobbled old town. From here a toll-free bridge crosses to Öland, a long, low island of windmills, limestone plains and sandy beaches that is a UNESCO World Heritage landscape and the Swedes' favourite summer escape. Inland lies the Kingdom of Crystal, where more than 50 glassworks, Kosta Boda and Orrefors among them, have been blowing glass since 1742; several let you watch the furnaces or try it yourself.
The final leg closes the loop, running back up to Stockholm. It is the longest single drive of the trip, so make an early start, or break it near Vimmerby or Linköping. Back in the capital, spend any spare hours riding the metro to see its cavern-like painted stations, or watching the sun set over Gamla Stan from a Södermalm terrace before you fly home.
How long: 10 days is comfortable for this southern loop. Add the west-coast Bohuslän fishing villages north of Gothenburg, or a night on Öland, to stretch it to a fortnight.
When to go: May to September. Swedish summers bring long, light evenings, open archipelago ferries and warm beaches; outside summer, daylight shortens fast and many rural sights cut their hours.
Driving: Roads are excellent and quiet, and Swedes drive calmly. Legs run roughly three to five hours between bases. Watch for elk on rural roads at dawn and dusk, keep headlights on by law, and note that alcohol limits are very strict.
Costs and stays: Sweden is not cheap, but city hotels, guesthouses and campsites are plentiful, and the right to roam (allemansrätten) makes it a superb country for a campervan. Book city hotels ahead in July.
A 10-day loop from Leeds through the Yorkshire Dales, Teesdale, UNESCO Durham and the chalk cliffs and gannet colonies of East Yorkshire: one of England's most varied driving circuits.
The full route — stops, maps, and driving times — is on Routebook by Kington.
Loop southern Sweden from Stockholm, taking in the abbey town of Vadstena on Lake Vättern, the seafood city of Gothenburg, the Öresund cities of Skåne around Malmö, and the Renaissance castle and glassworks of Kalmar, before closing the circle in the capital.
