Visiting Sweden's Best Kept Secret

NYNASHAMN, STOCKHOLM ARCHIPELAGO, Sweden, July 27, 2009 — -- For centuries and up until the end of the Cold War foreigners were unwelcome in the Stockholm archipelago as Sweden worried about invasion and spying submarines.

But since the fall of the Iron Curtain, most of the cannons and the signs forbidding foreigners on the archipelago's shores have disappeared, and more foreigners are starting to find their way out into the archipelago.

This year Visit Sweden, an official center for tourism and travel information, has noticed a growing number of visitors from Sweden's neighboring countries, but also from Germany, France and Holland, its information director, Bo Soderstrom, said.

Cissi Grape of Visit Skargarden, an association for archipelago businesses, said a weak local currency, the crown, and cheap travel have boosted the interest.

"We are seeing a big jump," she said, adding that even Britney Spears took time off to see the archipelago while on tour in Stockholm a few weeks ago.

"But for most people the archipelago is still a white spot on the map," she continued, referring to a U.S. ship captain who recently sailed through Stockholm in the world spanning Volvo Ocean Race and wondered why he had never heard of it or its challenging sailing before.

The archipelago's barren, windswept islands and islets, shaped by an ice sheet for centuries during the Ice Age, and its lush, quiet bays with centuries-old oaks have attracted people for thousands of years. Permanent communities with small fishing villages were established by the Viking era while mining of iron ore flourished in the 12th century.

But it was not until the middle of the 19th century that the archipelago opened up to a wider public, when steamboats started to traffic the islands. The wealthy and cultural elite built grand and airy villas in white, yellow and green, that stood in stark contrast to the small signature red or grey (unpainted) wood houses of the poorer locals.

Katherine Moreau, a vacationing engineer from Paris, was surprised to discover the expansiveness of the archipelago.

"This must be Sweden's best kept secret. You can travel by boat for hours, and there are still more islands on the horizon," she said as she returned to Stockholm from a trip out to the island of Uto.