Uppsala is a city of about 180,000 forty minutes north of Stockholm and eighteen minutes from its airport, which makes it an easier first stop in Sweden than the capital. It has the oldest university in Scandinavia, founded in 1477, and the tallest church in the Nordic countries.
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It was also the religious and political centre of Sweden long before Stockholm existed, and the evidence is three large burial mounds a few kilometres north that predate everything else here by five centuries.
What Is Here
UPPSALA CATHEDRAL IS THE TALLEST CHURCH IN SCANDINAVIA at 118.7 metres, which is the frame at the top of this post. It was consecrated in 1435, it is French Gothic in brick, and it holds the tombs of King Gustav Vasa and of CARL LINNAEUS, the botanist who gave the world its system for naming species.
LINNAEUS IS UPPSALA'S GREAT FIGURE and the city keeps his things. His garden, restored to its 1745 layout with the species he grew, his house, and the botanical garden the university still runs, are all here, and for anyone interested in the history of science this is a pilgrimage rather than a sightseeing stop.
GAMLA UPPSALA IS OLDER AND STRANGER. Three enormous royal burial mounds from the sixth century, raised over cremations, which were the centre of a pre-Christian cult site that medieval writers described with a mixture of horror and relish. There is a museum, a twelfth century church built over the earlier temple site, and a flat landscape in which the mounds are the only vertical thing.
The university is visible throughout the city. The GUSTAVIANUM with its anatomical theatre in a dome on the roof, the CAROLINA REDIVIVA library holding the sixth century Codex Argenteus, and the student nations, thirteen regional societies that run the city's social life and are an institution found almost nowhere else.
VALBORG ON 30 APRIL IS UPPSALA'S DAY. Students raft down the Fyris river, the city fills, and the celebration is larger here than anywhere in Sweden. It is spectacular and it is not a quiet weekend.
When to Go
May to September gives the gardens, the long light and the riverside at its best.
Late April brings Valborg, which is worth planning around in either direction.
September and October give the autumn colour in the frame in the middle of this post and the students back in full.
Winter is dark, cold and quiet, with the cathedral at its most atmospheric and the city compact enough that the cold is manageable.
Getting There
By train, Stockholm to Uppsala takes about 40 minutes and STOCKHOLM ARLANDA AIRPORT IS EIGHTEEN MINUTES AWAY, which is the single most useful fact here: you can land and be in Uppsala before you would have reached central Stockholm.
By bus, frequent services from Stockholm and the airport.
By car, the E4. Sweden's winter tyre rule is the firmest of the three in this group because it is a DATE RANGE rather than a condition. FROM 1 DECEMBER TO 31 MARCH, AND ANY OTHER TIMES DESIGNATED BY THE POLICE, ALL VEHICLES MUST HAVE WINTER TYRES. Romania's rule depends on snow being on the road and Norway's on snow or ice being present; Sweden's applies on a dry road in a mild December. The FCDO's sentence before it is the reason: DURING WINTER, SNOW AND ICE ON THE ROADS CAUSE ACCIDENTS DAILY. Confirm with the hire company that the car is on winter tyres rather than assuming a Swedish company will have done it, because the obligation lands on the driver.
In the city everything is walkable and Uppsala is a cycling city with hire available.
Is Uppsala Safe for Women?
Uppsala is a prosperous university city and is comfortable to walk at most hours in the centre. Sweden's crime section says something strong and it says it about three specific cities, which makes where it does NOT apply as much a part of the honest answer as where it does. The FCDO records that VIOLENT CRIME DOES OCCUR and that GANG-RELATED CRIME, INCLUDING KNIFE CRIME, SHOOTINGS AND EXPLOSIONS, HAS BEEN REPORTED IN MALMO, STOCKHOLM AND GOTHENBURG. Those are the country's three largest cities and the advisory names no others. The violence described is between criminal groups rather than aimed at visitors, and it is concentrated in residential districts rather than in the places a traveller goes. A smaller Swedish city is not covered by that paragraph and this page does not import it as though it were. What does apply everywhere is the ordinary part: PICKPOCKETS OFTEN TARGET TOURISTS FOR PASSPORTS AND CASH in major cities, so the passport belongs somewhere that closes.
Uppsala is not among the three cities the FCDO names, which are Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmo, and the pattern it describes is between criminal groups in particular suburbs rather than one reaching visitors.
Sweden's terrorism wording is at the higher of the two levels the FCDO uses for this group of countries, and it is worth knowing which. For Sweden and Austria it says TERRORISTS ARE LIKELY TO TRY TO CARRY OUT ATTACKS; for Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary and Norway it says attacks CANNOT BE RULED OUT, which is the weaker formula. Sweden's page adds that ATTACKS COULD BE INDISCRIMINATE, INCLUDING IN PLACES FREQUENTED BY FOREIGN NATIONALS, and that THE AUTHORITIES HAVE SUCCESSFULLY DISRUPTED A NUMBER OF PLANNED ATTACKS AND MADE A NUMBER OF ARRESTS. The useful reading of that last clause is the same as Austria's: a visible security presence is the system working rather than a sign of a current emergency.
The realistic daily risk is bicycles. Uppsala has a very high cycling rate, the lanes are fast and separate from the pavement, and walking in one is the commonest friction for visitors. Bike theft is the city's main property crime.
Valborg is the one day that changes the city's character, with very large crowds and substantial student drinking. Keep your drink with you, agree how the evening ends and expect the transport to be overwhelmed.
Winter pavements are gritted rather than cleared, which is the Swedish norm and the likeliest cause of injury.
Two Swedish laws are worth knowing in advance, one because it changed recently and one because Sweden was first in the world to pass it. PAYING FOR SEX IS ILLEGAL, and the FCDO notes that FROM 1 JULY 2025 THIS ALSO INCLUDES THE PURCHASE OF SEXUAL ACTS ONLINE, which is a genuine extension rather than a restatement. And PHYSICAL PUNISHMENT OF CHILDREN IS ILLEGAL, which Sweden banned in 1979 before any other country, and which is enforced as an ordinary assault matter rather than as a cultural preference. On drugs Sweden is at the strict end even by Nordic standards: illegal drugs are prohibited EVEN IN SMALL QUANTITIES, with the FCDO naming jail sentences of UP TO 10 YEARS.
The Uppsala Packing List
A flat walkable city with a cold stone cathedral at the middle of it.
Our merino base layers are 100% Australian merino at 17.5 micron, and a long sleeve merino wool base layer for women is the straightforward choice for a city trip of this kind: comfortable across a wide band, several days of walking without needing a wash, and genuinely useful in a cathedral that is 118 metres of unheated brick and markedly colder than the street in any season. A heavyweight merino base layer from November to March, when this is inland Sweden rather than coastal.
Over it, an insulated mid layer in winter and a Marmot PreCip Eco rain jacket for the rest of the year.
Comfortable walking shoes. The city is flat and entirely walkable, and Merrell Moab 3 waterproof hiking boots are more than it asks for unless you are walking out to the mounds in wet weather. Darn Tough merino socks for the distance.
Kahtoola MICROspikes from December to March for the gritted pavements and the slope up to the cathedral and castle.
Not linked and worth packing: a GOOD BIKE LOCK or the willingness to pay for one, since bike theft is the main property crime; a LIGHT SCARF for the cathedral; a REFILLABLE BOTTLE; and almost NO CASH, because Sweden is so thoroughly card-based that many places take none at all.
Recommended Tours and Experiences
Essential Resources for Women in Uppsala
Emergency numbers: 112 is the single number for police, ambulance and fire across Sweden and works from any phone including a locked mobile, with English-speaking operators. For a non-urgent medical question, 1177 reaches VARDGUIDEN, the national healthcare advice line, which has English-speaking nurses and is the number Swedes actually use before going anywhere. For police matters that are not an emergency, 114 14. As in Norway, note that the FCDO states SEARCH AND RESCUE IS LIMITED in the remote Arctic north, so distance rather than response is the constraint up there.
STOCKHOLM ARLANDA AIRPORT IS EIGHTEEN MINUTES FROM UPPSALA BY TRAIN, which makes this an easier first or last stop in Sweden than the capital itself. Uppsala has a very high cycling rate with fast lanes separate from the pavement, and walking in one is the commonest visitor friction while bike theft is the main property crime. VALBORG ON 30 APRIL fills the city completely with very large crowds and substantial student drinking. Winter pavements are GRITTED RATHER THAN CLEARED. Uppsala is NOT among the three cities the FCDO names in its Swedish crime section. Sweden is card-based and cash is frequently refused.
US State Department travel advisory: the Sweden advisory. Read the current level there directly rather than relying on a figure printed in any guide.
UK FCDO travel advice: gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/sweden, and read the safety and security page rather than only the landing page, because that is where the substance sits.
Main hospital: Uppsala University Hospital is one of Sweden's largest and a national referral centre, so this is a city cases are transferred TO rather than from. Sweden is in the EU, so a UK Global Health Insurance Card or an EU European Health Insurance Card gives you state-provided medically necessary care on the same terms as a resident, which in Sweden means paying the standard patient fee rather than nothing. Travel insurance sits on top for repatriation and for anything in the far north. START WITH 1177 RATHER THAN AN EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT for anything that is not urgent: the Swedish system is built around that line directing you to the right place, and walking into a hospital is the slower route. A pharmacy is an APOTEK, they handle minor problems without an appointment, and note that in Sweden ALL MEDICINES INCLUDING PAINKILLERS are sold through pharmacies and a limited supermarket range rather than in any shop, so bring what you normally rely on. Tap water is excellent everywhere. TICKS are common in southern and central Sweden, with Lyme widespread and tick-borne encephalitis present particularly around the Stockholm archipelago and the east coast, so a tick check after any walk in long grass or woodland is ordinary practice here rather than caution. In the north, the environmental risks are cold and distance, and in summer the MOSQUITOES AND BLACKFLY of Lapland are genuinely formidable and worth a head net.
Official health authority: the Public Health Agency of Sweden. covers Uppsala University Hospital and the region
US Embassy: the United States Embassy in Stockholm.
Official tourism authority: Visit Sweden, the official tourism website. publishes the cathedral and Gamla Uppsala opening arrangements and the Valborg programme
Takeaways
Land at Arlanda and come here first. Eighteen minutes, against forty into Stockholm.
Walk out to Gamla Uppsala. Three sixth century mounds, and the reason the city exists.
Stay out of the bike lanes. The single most common visitor mistake in this city.
Decide about Valborg. The biggest student celebration in Sweden, and not a quiet weekend.
Solo women safety assessment: Uppsala is a comfortable and easy city to travel alone in. It is a prosperous university city of 180,000 with a large student population, a flat compact centre, excellent trains and a culture in which a woman alone in a café, a library or a museum is entirely unremarkable. It is also eighteen minutes from Arlanda airport, which makes arriving and leaving unusually simple. THE FCDO'S SWEDISH CRIME WORDING NEEDS PRECISION rather than repetition: it records that violent crime occurs and that there have been gang-related shootings and explosions, and it names STOCKHOLM, GOTHENBURG AND MALMO, describing a pattern between criminal groups in particular suburbs rather than one directed at visitors. UPPSALA IS NOT NAMED. On terrorism Sweden sits at the HIGHER of the FCDO's two formulas, that TERRORISTS ARE LIKELY TO TRY TO CARRY OUT ATTACKS and that attacks could be indiscriminate including in places visited by foreign nationals, which justifies ordinary awareness at transport hubs and large public events rather than anything more. THE REALISTIC DAILY HAZARD HERE IS A BICYCLE: Uppsala has one of the highest cycling rates in Sweden, the lanes are fast and physically separate from the pavement, and stepping into one is how most visitors have a bad moment; bike theft is also the city's main property crime, so lock a hire bike properly. VALBORG ON 30 APRIL is the one day the city changes character entirely, with enormous crowds, students rafting the river and heavy drinking, and the ordinary sense applies: keep your drink with you, agree in advance how the evening ends and expect the transport to be overwhelmed. In winter the pavements are gritted rather than cleared and stay polished for months. Paying for sex is illegal in Sweden, including since 1 July 2025 the purchase of remote sexual acts, and the country is so card-based that cash is often refused outright.
Reading On
Uppsala is forty minutes from the capital. The Stockholm packing list covers the city south, with the Drottningholm packing list for the royal palace beside it and the Gotland packing list for the Baltic island. Inland and west, the Dalarna packing list covers the lake and forest country, the Gothenburg packing list and Smogen packing list the west coast. South, the Malmo packing list, Lund packing list and Helsingborg packing list cover Skane, and north the Kiruna packing list Swedish Lapland. For the country the Sweden travel guide for women and the Sweden packing list carry the transport, the advisory and the practical material in full. For why wool suits a walking city with a cold cathedral in it, read the guide to merino wool base layers for women. Every destination we cover is indexed at the travel packing guide for women, and the base layers are at the Roman Trail collection.
If the outer journey is calling you, the inner one usually is too. Explore SoulMap at romantrail.com/blogs/soulmap.
