What to do in Västmanland - what to see and experience? Here you will find beautiful Västerås, Köping, royal castles, Sweden's largest ancient burial mound and even further down you will find the Sala silver mine where you can stay. Västmanland also has Bergslagen and the famous Kloten, so go for it!
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Things to do in Västmanland
Västmanland is a landscape in the hinterland of Svealand. Its neighbour to the north is Dalarna and Gästrikland, to the west is Värmland, southwards Mälaren, Hjälmaren, Södermanland and foolishness, and to the east lies Uppland.
Engsö Castle
Engsö Castle, or Ängsö Castle, was built in the 1480s and is located just outside Västerås. In the summer you can see the interior of the castle, as well as the famous Engsö chain, which Johan Sigismund Sparre won in a "dice game with the devil himself".
Sala silver mine
The Sala silver mine was in operation between the 15th and early 20th centuries, and is now a major visitor attraction. You can go down into the mine where guides tell you about the history and the hard life as a miner.
Anundshög in Västerås - Sweden's largest ancient burial mound
Anundshög and Badelundaåsen are today one of Sweden's foremost archaeological sites with lots of ancient graves. In the Middle Ages, people held things here and the king's Eriksgata also passed by. In other words, this was a very important place!
Vallby open-air museum
The Vallby Open Air Museum also tells the story of gardens and agriculture in the past. For example, you can learn about the important bumblebee farms. In Sweden, until 1860 there were laws that forced farmers to grow a certain amount of hops in order for Sweden to be self-sufficient and produce beer.
Things to do in Västerås - 17 experiences and attractions
What to see and do in Västerås? In fact, Västerås has a lot to offer. Here you will find charming old alleys on Kyrbacken, nice walks along the eastern harbour and lots of ancient monuments, castles and museums.
The holiday village of Kloten in Bergslagen
Beautiful Klotensjöarna and the large holiday village that we will be at several times in 2021. Here we will build parking spaces and a few other small things.
Tidö castle in Västerås - with a bike and motorbike museum
Tidö Castle in Västerås is a beautiful 17th century castle. If you come here during the summer season, you can book a guided tour of the parade floor, or visit the castle's bicycle and motorbike museum. There are also two cool church ruins nearby.
Strömsholm Castle
Strömsholm Castle is one of the eleven royal castles in Sweden. The castle can also be said to be the castle of queens and horses. Queens Hedvig Eleonora, Ulrika Eleonora the Younger and Sofia Magdalena have all had a hand in it. For hundreds of years, it has also been a place for breeding, riding and competing with horses.
What to see and do in Västmanland - facts
- Part of the country: Svealand
- County: Västmanland County, Örebro County and Dalarna County.
- Pin: Diocese of Västerås
- City of residence: Nyköping
- Biggest lake: Lake Mälaren, Åmänningen
- Largest island: meadow island
- National parks: Garphyttan National Park
- Titular: Duchy
- Highest point: Fjällberget - 466 metres above sea level.
- Surface: 8 363 km 2
- Population: 316 912 (2019)
- Landscape singing: I see the land of my fathers
- Landscape moss: cranesbill moss
- Landscape flower: mistletoe
- Landscape mushrooms: Funnel chanterelle
- Landscape apples: Fagerö
- Landscape stone: Quartz-banded bloodstone ore
- Landscape animals: Roe deer
- Landscape fish: Gös
- Landscape bird: Tofsmear
- Landscape insect: Book net butterfly
- Element: Nitrogen
- Constellation: Perseus
- Star: Algol
- Largest centres: City of Arboga, City of Fagersta, City of Köping, City of Sala and City of Västerås.
- Largest watercourse: Great Perch Lake
- Landscape law: Roasted, lightly grilled walleye fillet on forest mushrooms and cucumber tagliatelle with horseradish crème fraîche and tomato vinaigrette or Tjälknöl on deer with potato gratin à la bredsjö. More about Swedish food here.
- Main sights: Sala silver mine, Anundshög, Royal Strömsholm castle, Kyrkbacken in Västerås, the knights' games in Arboga in August, Björnön, Östra holmen and Ridön outside Västerås are hugely popular, the Åsbyskanzen area,
- Fine nature reserves: Jägaråsen nature reserve outside Kungsör, Stengärdet nature reserve south of Kungsör, Strömsholm nature reserve at Billingen, Ängsö nature reserve with the 6 km Prästgårdsrundan and the 2.5 km Grevens stig starting at Engsö castle, Ormdalsstigen outside Skinnskatteberg with troll forests, running streams and the Hedströmmens rapids, Landsberget south of Fagersta with primeval mountains and canyons.
- Cultural reserve: Bråfors Bergmansby, which is part of the Bergslagen ecomuseum, in Norberg municipality in Västmanland's landscape with a farm environment (mountain farm) and agricultural landscape. Bråfors bergsmansby. Bråfors is one of the country's oldest mining villages. Iron was produced in the smelter and agriculture was practised on the farm.
- Gäddeholm in Västerås municipality in Västmanland landscape with industrial environment (mill and mine environment). GäddeHolm Manor landscape with park, garden, buildings and surrounding land characterised by agriculture and brickworks.
- Gamla Pershyttans Bergmansby in Nora municipality in Västmanland with Industrial environment (mill and mine environment). Gamla Pershyttan is a well-preserved mining village where people mined ore and produced iron from the 14th century until modern times.
- Famous people: Musician Loreen, artist Mikael Genberg, entertainment personality Maria Montazami, author and writer Åsa Linderborg, Erling Persson, entrepreneur and founder of H&M, Nicklas "Lidas" Lidström, hockey player, Gustav Vasa, king and builder of the country, director Rickard Wolff, footballer Pontus Kåmark, goalkeeper Tommy Salo and actress Helena Bergström.
- Unnecessary knowledge: Erik XIV is buried in Västerås Cathedral and the coffin was so short that they had to cut off his feet and put them next to it to make room.
- Gustav Vasa changed two things for Sweden in Västerås and the first was that he abolished Catholicism in 1527 and established the monarchy in 1544.
- Västerås has the largest inland harbour in Scandinavia
- Sweden's first upper secondary school was founded in Västmanland in 1623.
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