Geography in Brief

Occupying 449,964 square kilometers, extending 1574 km from north to south and 499 km from east to west at its widest points, Sweden is the third largest country in western Europe. It has 38,459 square kilometers of interior waters, 150,000 islands, 96,000 lakes and 7,624 km of coastline.

General Information
State: Kingdom
Government: Monarchy; democracy; parliamentary system made up of the king (Charles Gustav XVI as figure head), a prime minister and parliament (riksdag) composed of 349 members elected for a 3 year term by direct universal suffrage.

Capital: Stockholm
Currency: Krona, divided into 100 öre. In shops, the symbol for the krona is KR or SKR. In banks and in international exchange, the abbreviation is SEK. Banknotes come in 20, 50, 100, 500, 1000 and 10,000 denominations.

Coins: 50 öre, 1, 5 and 10 krona.

Languages spoken: Swedish is the official language. However many Swedes speak English very well, many speak German, though French is less widespread.

The Swedish alphabet has three extra letters: å, ä and ö. The letter o is pronounced ou. S is always soft; j is pronounced like y.

Principal industries: Lumber, significant nuclear industry; mining activity (7th in the world in lead production, 9th for iron, 10th for silver.)

Agriculture: Barley, oats, fishing, wheat

Climate
Thanks to the Gulf Stream, Sweden enjoys a temperate climate. The ocean temperatures, particularly on the west coast, are slightly higher in the summer than the English channel.

Tourism
A passport or valid identity card allows you to stay up to three months in Sweden.

In hotels, service is usually included in the bill, so tipping is not necessary except for exceptional service. In restaurants, service is always included in the bill.

In search of the midnight sun?
In the summer, the sun is visible around the clock at the Arctic Circle.
In Abisko from June 17 to 19.
In Gällivare from June 4 to July 12.
In Kiruna from May 31 to July 11.
In Kebnekaise from May 26 to July 17.
In Porjus from June 8 to July 3.
In Riksgränsen from May 27 to July 15.
Obviously the further north you travel the longer the midnight sun is visible.