Uppsala walking tour & city guide

The city

Uppsala Cathedral is the tallest church in Scandinavia. The Gustavianum museum has an anatomical theater, and the Linnaeus Garden recalls the botanist Carl Linnaeus. Uppsala Castle overlooks the city.

Old Uppsala

Gamla Uppsala, just north of the city, has large royal burial mounds from the 6th century, an important pagan center in the Viking age.

A day in Uppsala

Visit Uppsala Cathedral, the largest church in Scandinavia, and the Gustavianum, a museum with an anatomical theater. Walk through the botanical garden of Carl Linnaeus.

In the afternoon, go to Gamla Uppsala, where large Viking-era burial mounds rise from the fields.

Good to know

Uppsala is Sweden's oldest university town, about 40 minutes by train from Stockholm. On Walpurgis Night, 30 April, students celebrate the arrival of spring.

The river Fyris runs through the town.

Why it is worth the trip

Uppsala has been Sweden's religious center since pagan times, when a great temple stood at Gamla Uppsala, and its university, founded in 1477, is the oldest in the Nordic countries. Carl Linnaeus, who created the system of naming plants and animals, taught here, and his home and garden are museums. The pink Uppsala Castle overlooks the town, and on Walpurgis Night, students race homemade rafts down the river in a famous tradition.