Sundsvall Sweden
Sweden
7
Cruises availables
At departure or passage at this port
Frequently Asked Questions
At Tunadalskajen, an industrial quay about six kilometres from the first shopping streets. The port area cannot be crossed on foot: a shuttle takes passengers to the edge of Stenstan, the historic quarter, in about fifteen minutes.
No. Six kilometres of port installations separate the ship from the centre, and the area is not built for pedestrians. Once the shuttle drops you at Stenstan, however, everything is a few minutes apart on foot.
The stone town: the district rebuilt after the fire of 25 June 1888, which reduced Sundsvall to ashes in a few hours. Rather than rebuild in wood, the timber merchants brought in architects and stonemasons and raised an entire centre of urban palaces within a decade. It is the most homogeneous 1890s ensemble in Sweden.
The façades, with your eyes up: worked cornices, corner turrets, carved pediments and pastel tones, each bank and company of the day wanting its own small palace. The dates on the gables fall almost entirely between 1888 and 1891 — rarely has a reconstruction been carried out so fast.
At the interpretation space in the city hall: archive film, interactive tables and photographs bring back the night of the fire and the vast building site that followed, when timber-trade fortunes were converted into cut stone.
Four former brick warehouses between the shops and the water, holding the Sundsvall museum and the municipal library under one roof. The lane that separated them has been glazed over: you move through it like an indoor street, a café on one side, exhibitions on the golden age of the sawmills on the other.
Stenstan and Storgatan for the architecture, the city hall interpretation space for the story of 1888, then the Kulturmagasinet, and a fika under the moulded ceilings of a tearoom. The climb to Norra Berget fits in if the shuttle schedule allows.
An open-air museum — old farms, craft workshops and wooden buildings moved in from the surrounding countryside — and a view taking in the roofs of Stenstan, the industrial fjord and the forests. Allow 20 to 30 minutes to walk up, or take a taxi.
The Kulturmagasinet is the best refuge: museum, library, exhibitions and café under one glass roof. The city hall interpretation space rounds out the morning, and the Storgatan tearooms close the loop.
A fika: coffee with a cardamom bun or an almond cake. The tearooms on Storgatan suit it particularly well, under moulded ceilings that remind you even the pastries here are eaten in an 1890 setting.
