Are you considering a visit to Sweden on your next Scandinavia trip? In this article, I will present a balanced view of how Sweden stacks up in travel categories such as accessibility, popularity, quality of life, travel costs, and attractions. For each category, I include reliable data points that will give you a good idea of what to expect if you visit the largest of the Nordic countries.
- Visitor Accessibility - How Easy Is It to Travel to and in Sweden?​
- Visitor Popularity, Demand, Total Area, and Global Reputation
- Quality of Life Index – How Does Sweden Compare Globally?
- Quality of Life Surveys – What Do Actual Expats and Visitors Think of Sweden?
- Reported Cost of Food, Drinks and Shopping – How Expensive Is It to Travel to Sweden?
- Attractions & Travel Community – What Does the Travel Community Say About Sweden?
- Capital City Rating – Is Stockholm a Good Travel Destination?
I feel lucky to have been able to grow up in and travel around Sweden and the rest of the Nordics throughout my life. Whether it has been historical and educational trips with family or adventurous and explorational trips with friends, I have never run out of new places to discover and new things to do in my native Sweden.
But just because I love the country I grew up in doesn’t mean everyone would, so I was curious to find how Sweden is like for the average traveler.
To find out how Sweden stacks up travel-wise, and in an attempt to give you an unbiased and balanced view of how Sweden rates as a travel destination, I set out to collect all the relevant data points I could find from different reliable indexes and surveys where countries around the world are compared in ways that relate to traveling experience and satisfaction.
So let’s take a look at how Sweden rates as a travel destination for the average tourist, based on relevant data points and survey results:
You can click on each category for a deeper look into the data and the sources, or simply keep scrolling to look at how we arrived at these ratings, one by one.
Visitor Accessibility – How Easy Is It to Travel to and in Sweden?​
For this category, we’re trying to establish how convenient it is to travel to Sweden, and how easy it is to get around in the country when you’re visiting. If you’re visiting Sweden as part of a bigger trip we’ll look at distance in travel time from different European cities, and we’ll also try to gauge how the country’s infrastructure holds up compared to other countries in order to figure out if it’s easy to get around in Sweden.
| Data Points | Sweden 🇸🇪 |
|---|---|
| EU member Country is part of the European Union | Yes |
| Number of major airports Number of airports servicing international airlines and 10M+ pax that visitors can fly in to/out of | 2 (ARN + CPH) |
| Car drive from Berlin How long it takes to drive from Berlin to the nearest major city, Google Maps 2021 | 6 hrs 30 min |
| Train ride from Berlin How long it takes to drive from Berlin to the nearest major city, Google Maps 2021 | 7 hrs 48 min |
| Car drive from Amsterdam How long it takes to drive from Amsterdam to the nearest major city, Google Maps 2021 | 8 hrs 30 min |
| Train ride from Amsterdam How long it takes to drive from Amsterdam to the nearest major city, Google Maps 2021 | 11 hrs 16 min |
| Road connectivity 8th out of 141 countries – Global Competitiveness Index World Economic Forum 2019 | 96% / 8th |
| Quality of road infrastructure 20th out of 141 countries – Global Competitiveness Index World Economic Forum 2019 | 72% / 20th |
| Railroad density 37th out of 141 countries – Global Competitiveness Index World Economic Forum 2019 | 59% / 37th |
| Efficiency of train services 40th out of 141 countries – Global Competitiveness Index World Economic Forum 2019 | 49% / 40th |
| Airport connectivity 35th out of 141 countries – Global Competitiveness Index World Economic Forum 2019 | 67% / 35th |
| Efficiency of air transport services 13th out of 141 countries – Global Competitiveness Index World Economic Forum 2019 | 78% / 13th |
| Score Weighted score out of 100%, higher is better (adjusted for relevant factors such as size, quality, etc.) | 80% |
Visitor Popularity, Demand, Total Area, and Global Reputation
Looking at how popular Sweden is for visitors, how long they stay, and how the country’s reputation ranks globally, we can get a good sense of how people in general rate Sweden. I’ve also chosen to include total area to get a sense of how much there is to explore in the country as a whole.
| Data Points | Sweden 🇸🇪 |
|---|---|
| Number of visitors Number of yearly foreign visitors to country – World Tourism Organization 2019 | 7.62 million |
| Length of stays Nights spent in accom. by international guests – World Tourism Organization 2019 | 16 million |
| Total Area Land + water area in square kilometers – CIA The World Factbook 2020 | 450 000 km² |
| Reputation Out of 55 countries – Country RepTrak study 2018 | 1st |
| Score Weighted score out of 100%, higher is better (adjusted for relevant factors such as size, quality, etc.) | 80% |
Quality of Life Index – How Does Sweden Compare Globally?
To get a sense of how Sweden ranks as a destination for expats and visitors, we’ve looked at a massive global index that ranks countries based on factors relating to quality of life.
| Data Points | Sweden 🇸🇪 |
|---|---|
| Stability Political & economic stability – WorldData 2020 | 100% |
| Rights Legal system, civil rights & freedom of expression – WorldData 2020 | 100% |
| Health Life expectancy, water cleanliness, health services – WorldData 2020 | 87% |
| Safety Crime/homocide rate, displaced persons – WorldData 2020 | 96% |
| Climate Assuming optimal climate is 25 C / 77 F and 55% humidity – WorldData 2020 | 18% |
| Relative cost Cost of living, ease of doing business – WorldData 2020 | 18% |
| Popularity Happiness, migration rate, number of tourists – WorldData 2020 | 39% |
| Score Weighted score out of 100%, higher is better (adjusted for relevant factors such as size, quality, etc.) | 65% |
Quality of Life Surveys – What Do Actual Expats and Visitors Think of Sweden?
We can definitely learn a lot from looking at the big data in the previous section, but I also wanted to include how actual visitors of the country rate Sweden in different areas related to quality of life, which can give a good idea of how it is to visit the country. A great way to find out how good a country is for travelers is to ask the people who have actually visited the country.
I looked at three independent surveys which asked expats and visitors what their experience in Sweden was:
| Data Points | Sweden 🇸🇪 |
|---|---|
| Quality of living – employees working abroad 23rd out of 231 cities – Mercer 2019 | 90% |
| Quality of life – expats survey Out of 60 countries – Expat Insider 2019 | 29th |
| Quality of life – user survey Out of 83 countries – Numbeo User Survey 2020 | 13th |
| Score Weighted score out of 100%, higher is better (adjusted for relevant factors such as size, quality, etc.) | 68% |
Reported Cost of Food, Drinks and Shopping – How Expensive Is It to Travel to Sweden?
We’ve touched on the cost of travel in Sweden already, but I wanted to give an idea of actual costs travelers may be interested in, as reported by visitors (and confirmed by myself).
| Data Points | Sweden 🇸🇪 |
|---|---|
| Cost of eating out Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant – MyLifeElsewhere 2020 | $12.00 |
| Cost of drinking Cost of a domestic beer in an inexpensive bar – MyLifeElsewhere 2020 | $7.82 |
| Cost of shopping Cost of a regular dress from H&M or similar store – MyLifeElsewhere 2020 | $43.29 |
| Score Weighted score out of 100%, higher is better (adjusted for relevant factors such as size, quality, etc.) | 50% |
Attractions & Travel Community – What Does the Travel Community Say About Sweden?
Other important factors for travelers to consider before deciding on their travel plans are how many attractions there are, how excited other travelers seem to be about the country, how attractive the country’s natural assets are, and what the country’s main attraction categories are:
| Data Points | Sweden 🇸🇪 |
|---|---|
| Number of attractions Number of attractions listed on Tripadvisor June 2021 | 7 000+ |
| Community topics Number of community topics listed on Tripadvisor June 2021 | 17 363 |
| Attractiveness of natural assets Out of 140 countries – World Economic Forum Travel & Tourism report 2019 | 41st |
| Most popular attraction categories Most popular attraction types – Lonely Planet 2021 | Culture, Nature, Cuisine, Old Towns |
| Score Weighted score out of 100%, higher is better (adjusted for relevant factors such as size, quality, etc.) | 71% |
Capital City Rating – Is Stockholm a Good Travel Destination?
Finally, you get a pretty good sense of a country by looking at its capital city and how it stacks up against other capital cities, specifically when it comes to factors that are relevant for travelers.
| Data Points | Sweden 🇸🇪 |
|---|---|
| Average temperature Average maximum temperature | 11°C / 51.8 ℉ |
| Rainy days Average amount of rainy days in a year | 99 |
| Universities Number of universities in city | 16 |
| Museums Number of museums in city | 100 |
| Theaters Number of theaters in city | 6 |
| UNESCO World Heritage Landmarks Number of UNESCO World Heritage Landmarks in city | 2 |
| Cost of living Estimated monthly living expenses for a single person (excluding rent) – Numbeo 2021 | $ 1068 USD |
| Quality of city living The annual survey ranks 221 cities using 39 quality of life criteria – Mercer 2021. | 20th |
| Michelin restaurants Number of restaurants listed in Guide Michelin that are currently open – Guide Michelin 2021 | 44 |
| Population density How densely populated the city is | 4600 people/km² |
| Average salary Average yearly salary in USD | $ 31 524 USD |
| Score Weighted score out of 100%, higher is better (adjusted for relevant factors such as size, quality, etc.) | 76% |
Data sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18
