Skokloster Camping

If gazing at Sjöö Castle from the restaurant terrace isn’t satisfying, clamber into the car and head along to visit it in person. It’s a 25-minute drive from base and, if that just whets appetites for more, Skokloster Castle and its baroque museum are within a five-minute journey, and Wenngarn Castle, Steninge Palace, the royal Rosersberg Castle, Viks Castle, Ulriksdal Palace and Drottningholm Palace are all between 20 and 50 minutes away. Sticking with history is easy round here: the site’s 20 minutes from the town of Sigtuna, for poring over the ruins of St Olaf’s church, visiting the museum and wandering along Sweden’s oldest main street. For a touch more royalty, see the site where Swedish kings were chosen until the mid-15th century – the Stones of Mora are 35 minutes from base. Ease transitions from the past into nature with stops at Linnaeus’ Hammarby (40 minutes away) to explore the 18th-century house of famed botanist Carl Linnaeus and take a trip around his botanical garden, spend a few hours at the Disagården open-air museum (45 minutes) to learn how people lived in the 19th century, then really commit by embarking on a 50-kilometre hike from Upplandsleden, half an hour from base. Want to spend some time in cities? It’s 45 minutes to Uppsala to visit castles, museums – including artist Bror Hjorth’s house and a Carl Linnaeus museum – and gardens, and 50 minutes to the palaces, islands, Old Town and many, many museums (Abba, Nobel and maritime to start) of Stockholm.