Uppsala- few days before RS Scandinavia tour- ideas?

Judy, you can catch a direct train from Stockholm-Arlanda central station (aka Arlanda C) which is the name of Stockholm’s airport’s rail station to Uppsala (30-minutes).

Here are some Uppsala sights I have on my list--reposted from the earlier thread about glass in Sweden:

Uppsala Domkyrka (1435), Domkyrkoplan: Cathedral and treasury. English tours in the summer. www.svenskakyrkan.se/uppsala/welcome-to-uppsala-cathedral

Uppsala Castle: Only viewable on tour. The Uppsala Art Museum is in the castle. At the time of my research it was open Wed-Thu and Sat-Sun, which is quite odd and could well be wrong.

Gustavianum, Akademigatan 3: University museum with mostly-scientific displays and archeological holdings. www.gustavianum.uu.se

Linnetradgaarden, 27 Svartbacksgatan: 2.5 acres; very nice. Annuals right, perennials left. Gardens daily 0900-2100 (1800 Sep); may be free after 1700. Museum Tue-Sun 1100-1700. Kr 60, incl audio guide. Daily 45-min Eng tour 1430. (I assume the entry fee has gone up.) www.linnaeus.uu.se

Riverfront has sidewalks on both sides and artworks that double as benches.

Gamla Uppsala: royal burial mounds (always open and free), museum with artifacts (daily 1100-1700, Kr 70), 12C church (daily 0900-1800 and free), and tiny church museum (Sat-Sun 1200-1500, free). Museum entry includes 40-min English tour of mounds daily 1500. www.raa.se/gamlauppsala

Hammarby: Linnaeus’s summer home, 9 mi from Uppsala. Old-fashioned garden flowers, nature walk and cafe. Tour via lake steamer, vintage bus and steam train Sun 1145 Jun-Aug. Or rent bike near Linnaeus Gardens (Cykelstallet, 20 Svartbacks gatan, $9.50 a day—old info). Park Tue-Sun 0800-2000; museum Tue-Sun 1200-1600. Fee

MaryPat and acraven,
Thank you for sharing. Excellent resources you have given me. I will do more digging and then share these ideas with my friends to see what they want to do. We also need to decide on how many days in advance we will arrive.

As mentioned there are direct trains from Arlanda airport to Uppsala in about 20 minutes, they are however a bit expensive so another option is the bus. It is a bit slower (40 min) but also cheaper.

Acraven has made a great list, including the treasury in the cathedral is really good. It is a small but excellent museum in the northern tower with some unique pieces of medieval clothes. but there many things I can add. Close to Linnéträdgården is also the Linnéan museum, his old city house. And apart from Linnéträdgården, the old botanical garden, the new botanical garden is also worth a visit. As well as the small museum, or rather exhibition, at the university library.

For older history, Gamla Uppsala (Old Uppsala) was mentioned and I can really recommend the museum. It is small but great, and if you have any question don't hesitate to ask the staff. As far as I know all people working there are either historians or archeologists so they know a lot about the are. In addition there are plenty of rune stones in and around Uppsala so there is a lot of Viking history to see. There are even a couple of rune carvings on the bedrock itself, which is not that common. For even older history there is Hågahögen, the Håga mound (also known as Kung Björns hög, King Björn's mound), a bronze age burial mound in the western outskirts of the town.

For more modern culture, you need to make sure you have time for some fika. It is not only a very important part of life in Sweden, Uppsala is also a great place to explore it. In my opinion the cafés in Uppsala are far better than the ones you'll find in Stockholm. They are an important part of life and studentculture in the town.

If you want to do a day trip somewhere Öregrund is not a bad idea. A charming 19th century town on the coast, about 1:30 by bus from Uppsala. A more odd sight that might be of interest for those that like military history is a field in the southern parts of the town named Pattons hage (Patton's meadow) after the US general that visited the field in 1945.

That is a very short introduction to Uppsala. But if you tell us a bit more about what you are looking for and what you are interested in, I might be able to give you a bit more specific advice. There is also a pretty good article on Uppsala at wikivoyage: https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Uppsala

Badger, thanks again for your suggestions. I will need to discuss with my friends what they are interested in doing. I will bookmark this thread.

Judy.... just following since we are going end of July next year.

Kim

Kim,
I will keep you posted. This is so exciting to be planning our future travels!

A few things I forgot to mention:

If you need something to read during the tour, or after, a visit to the Uppsala English Bookshop is a great idea. A small independent bookshop that specialises in books in English. Won the prestigous award "Bookshop of the year" at the London book fair in 2018. https://www.themayor.eu/fr/a/view/the-world-s-best-bookstore-is-in-uppsala-sweden-871 For a bit more Scandinavian culture, they have a decent selection of Scandinavian literature in English. And if you need something to accompany the book, they even have their own tea blend.

And the old cementary has its beauty. Many old impressive tombstones, and many famous persons are buried there. Not sure how many are known on the other side of the Atlantic, but UN secretary general Dag Hammarskjöld is at least a bit famous.

Badger,
I would be very interested in the small independent bookshop in Uppsala. Many interesting ideas!

I will discuss with my friends.

I found this video on youtube that might also be of interest (a quick guide to 3 sights in Uppsala): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqj_30VuG_I

Thanks, Badger. I will check it out.

I would like to put a plug in for renting a bike - Uppsala is the ultimate biking small university city, though lock it with the rear tire and a serious lock, as stealing bikes is also common! Bike paths usually have right of way and even some cross walks, if posted with a picture of a biker. I would still look carefully and give way. Ski Total Cykel in the town center rents them by the day or longer.
My Swedish mother in law & I love to bike to Gamla Uppsala, (4.7 kilometers each way). The bike path takes you through a small forest and along country sown-fields. Views of the mounds as you arrive are AMAZING but frankly 'Fika" (dessert) at "Odinsborg Cafe" makes it all worthwhile. It is a lovely old wooden building. They have exceptional coffee. We always sit outside, dress warmly for changes in weather. The very old church is lovely, but my favorite part is riding around the church and down the hill, turn left and stop at the Disagarden, a small country museum you can wander before turning back to Uppsala, take the less steep road around by the small museum and back across the fields. The main roads into town are not interesting, stick to the countryside. It's been a big hit with our foreign visitors.

Lagoon Lady,
Thanks for this wonderful tip. I love riding bicycles and this seems like an idyllic day in the beautiful Swedish countryside. I will pitch this idea to my friends.
By the way, I see Redwood City in your forum name, I lived in Redwood City years ago in my youth. I worked in San Francisco downtown. Those were the days! I loved living in California, it was paradise to me.