Top 10 Gardens in Sweden
Sweden's garden tradition combines a strong Linnaean botanical heritage with grand baroque royal parks and a modern interest in naturalistic perennial planting. The country's short, intense summer drives a distinctive flowering calendar, and many of the great gardens stage themselves around the long northern light.
1. Drottningholm Palace Gardens, near Stockholm
The Swedish royal family's primary residence, with a French baroque garden begun under Queen Hedvig Eleonora in 1681 and an English landscape park added under Gustav III. UNESCO World Heritage Site.
2. Linnaeus' Garden, Uppsala
Carl Linnaeus's working botanical garden, restored to its 1745 plan with the original beds arranged according to his sexual classification system.
3. Hagaparken, Stockholm
Gustav III's late eighteenth-century English landscape park north of Stockholm, with the Copper Tents, the Echo Temple and a Chinese Pagoda. Now a royal national city park.
4. Gunnebo House, near Gothenburg
A neoclassical eighteenth-century country house with a meticulously restored formal garden, ornamental kitchen garden, and orangery — the most complete eighteenth-century Swedish garden ensemble.
5. Sofiero Castle Garden, Helsingborg
King Gustav VI Adolf's beloved garden, with one of Europe's largest rhododendron collections (around 10,000 plants), set on a slope above the Øresund.
6. Gothenburg Botanical Garden
One of Europe's largest botanic gardens, 175 hectares with 16,000 species. The Japanese Glen, Rhododendron Valley and Rock Garden are highlights.
7. Visby Botanical Garden, Gotland
A nineteenth-century botanical garden inside the medieval walled town, with a strong rose collection and unusual subtropicals that thrive in Gotland's mild climate.
8. Wij Trädgårdar, Ockelbo
A contemporary public garden built around a former ironworks, with strong themed sections (Cottage, Monastery, Modernist) by leading Swedish designers.
9. Rottneros Park, Värmland
A romantic park around a manor house, with one of Sweden's largest sculpture collections, including works by Carl Milles and Vigeland.
10. Tycho Brahe Castle Gardens, Ven
On the island of Ven in the Øresund, the reconstructed Renaissance gardens of the astronomer Tycho Brahe's late sixteenth-century estate.
From reading to planning
All of the gardens mentioned in this article are pinned on the interactive map. Use it to plan a route, group nearby sites into a single trip, or compare gardens by style and season.