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This museum-ship is one of Sweden’s most popular attractions. Built during a Swedish-Polish war, the Vasa set sail in 1628 only to topple less than a mile out under the weight of too much artillery. The low-in-salt Baltic Sea saved her from shipworms for three centuries, before she was recovered in 1961.
Skansen, with its 150 historic buildings, is the world’s oldest open-air museum. Period-costumed staff includes a baker and a glass blower (buy their wares after watching them being made). An onsite zoo includes native Swedish beasts like bears and wolves.
Sweden’s largest art repository may not quite rival Europe’s mega-museums, but it nonetheless houses impressive collections of Swedish, Dutch, and French works, including pieces by Van Gogh, Cézanne, Gaugin, and Rembrandt. Closed Mondays.
Though the beauty of its in-your-face glassiness has been hotly debated since its construction nearly 25 years ago, Kulturhuset is hard to miss, and thanks to its inner beauty (theatre, dance, and music performances) more than three million visitors flock here every year.
