Kronoberg County

Kronoberg is the Småland of postcards: red wooden houses, stone walls, birch trees, and more than 2,000 lakes. A vacation in Kronoberg means paddling a canoe, watching glassblowers at work, and strolling through lakeside parks in Växjö, the green capital.

Sights in Kronoberg

Växjö sits between several lakes and has earned a reputation as an especially environmentally conscious city. The cathedral with its modern glass artworks, the Swedish Glass Museum, and the House of Emigrants, which tells the story of the great wave of emigration to America in the 19th century, are the most important stops. A little outside town, the ruins of Kronoberg Castle perch on an island in Lake Helgasjön, which gave the province its name. To the east, the Kingdom of Crystal begins with the famous Kosta glassworks, where you can watch artisans in their workshops and buy glass. Älmhult in the south is the birthplace of IKEA; the IKEA Museum tells the company's story inside the first IKEA store. Ljungby is known as the town of legends and fairy tales, with a museum of folk tales and a storytelling festival. On the edge of Växjö stands Teleborg Castle, an Art Nouveau building on the lake, reached by a lakeside path.

Landscape and Nature

The province consists mostly of forest, crisscrossed by lakes such as Åsnen, which is protected as a national park with islands and old deciduous forests and is well suited to canoe trips. Lake Bolmen in the west is one of the largest lakes in southern Sweden. The landscape was long barren and rocky, which drove many farmers to emigrate in the 19th century – a story Vilhelm Moberg told in his emigrant novels. On Åsnen you can take multi-day canoe trips with overnight stays on islands, and sea eagles circle above the bays.

Food, Getting There, and Best Time to Visit

Småland's cuisine is simple and hearty: ostkaka with cream and jam, isterband sausage, kroppkakor dumplings, and, in the Kingdom of Crystal, hyttsill evenings with fried herring and bacon in the glassworks. Växjö has an airport and lies on the rail line to Kalmar and Alvesta, where trains stop for Stockholm and Malmö. The best time to visit for lakes and forests is June through September. Some glassworks offer classes where you can blow your own glass.