Road trip - Vaxholm

Vaxholm is more than home to the world's best vanilla bun, it's also a charming little border archipelago town about 50 minutes drive northeast of Stockholm. You can also take a bus to Vaxholm, or hop on a boat in Stockholm that'll take you to Vaxholm while enjoying a lovely boat trip through the archipelago.

Most houses are old, lovely wooden ones, villas as well as tenement buildings, with a lot of Pippi Longstocking-feeling to them, and the streets are narrow and winding. I'm not exactly sure I'd like to live there myself, since I can imagine the hordes of tourists can be somewhat daunting right outside your house/garden. The privacy perhaps rather compromised...

But I most definitely wouldn't mind taking one, or two, or more, the problem is to chose just one, of the Vaxholm houses with me to a more secluded place. They're just delightful!

One person who's said not to have been very impressed by Vaxholm, or at least not the Vaxholm fortress, is German count and military von Moltke. He's said to have laughed only twice in his lifetime, once when his mother in law died and the second time when he saw the Vaxholm fortress...

Be as it might, the fortress gives quite a lovely view from one of Vaxholm's many restaurants, don't you think? This particular restaurant is situated on top of a shop called Magasinet/The Warehouse, with which it shares its name. Where I had a delicious tuna mix on rye bread.

There are many restaurants in Vaxholm, offering different kind of food, both in price and quality. Many of them concentrate on different kinds of seafood, since this is a place where fresh seafood is easily obtained. One thing is for sure, you'll definitely don't have to go hungry for long sauntering in Vaxholm!

And before or after eating you might want to go for a little dip in the sea. The small beach in town is lovely. And just on the other side of the small cove there's a charming little café with a wonderful garden to sit in if the weather permits. The coffee bread, as far as I can remember, isn't nearly as good as the world's best vanilla bun though...

But personally, what I most love about Vaxholm is to be able to saunter on the cobbled streets, all the wooden houses, many in bright colours, savor the atmosphere of it all.

Browse through the handicraft shops and galleries - it's not easy to leave town without having bought something of one necessity or other... - some shops even have fierce guard dogs you have to fight your way to get passed...

It is very much a summer town indeed. I'd imagine it isn't exactly as charming to live in during the winters when the cold, harsh winter sea breeze enfolds the town... And an outdoor café-visit definitely isn't an option then. But the world's best vanilla bun is!

A little bonus information, for the sport devotee, is that the well-known Swedish former ice hockey player Börje Salming lives in Vaxholm. I'm as far from a sport devotee as one can be, and then some, but since he's also a benevolent sponsor of the Vaxholm's animal shelter, mainly for cats, I thought this was indeed something worth mentioning!

On the very outskirts of Vaxholm the local Lion's Club have their flee market lodged in an old three storey barn, open every Saturday 11 am-2pm. They have a mean collection of secondhand books, all very neatly listed, and loads of interesting stuff. I mostly head for the floor with the books, but I bet this can be a place for real finds...

Just before you enter the outskirts of Vaxholm, on your way into town, you'll find the turnoff to little sleepy "suburb" of Resarö, where nice houses of many different sizes and styles are embedded in lush gardens.

At the Resarö Marina you'll find quite a winsome, unpretentious looking small café, more of a kiosk really, but with such a gorgeous veranda overlooking all the sailboats. They serve a pretty decent latte too! A perfect place to just sit and wind down, enjoying the sun and the mild winds.

In Resarö they also have this wonderful old pavilion, which is nonprofit run by the local Swim & Tennisclub. It can be rented for special occasions and also host summer-cinema and local celebrations. I think it's so beautiful and fantasy stimulating I just had to mention it...