The first thing you need to know as a prospective bicycle tourer going to Sweden is that it is a rather big country geo graphically speaking but there are only 9 million inhabitans. As a result, even the more populated areas in the south are nowhere near the same density as in Central Europe. I have only bicycled myself in the southern parts os Sweden (read from Stockholm and south) so I am not personally aquainted with the conditions of riding a bicycle in the north but if you go there I receommend that you carry yourown cocking facilities and a lot of water as it may be a long stretch between villages and towns.

One thing the prospective cycle tourist should bare in mind when preparing a trip in Sweden is that it is not allowed to bicycle on the motorways (expressways) and I advice you to not do this. It is common that many motorways are two-way-lanes with a cable separating them. Thus, it makes it more difficult for cars and trucks when they want to pass you. Adding to the dilemma is the fact that the shoulders are of relatively poor quality on these two-way-lane motorways which mean that you will not enjoy your bicycling at all.

Instead of the motorways, I urge you to have a look at the various cycling routes that will make it possible for you to travel through Sweden on backroads with little or no traffic. These roads may not be the best (read gravel, washboard) but you will be much more relaxaed and get an opportunity to enjoy the landscape you are passing through,

The weather in Sweden and the summer weather in particular is a favorite conversation topic for any Swede. It is very hard to actually state what kind of weather to expect during a normal summer in Sweden and it also varies enormously depending on you are in the arctic north or the more continental south. However, I will try to give you an indication on what weather to expect in different seasons. All statitics have been gathered from SMHI:

In the northern parts of Sweden, the temperature goes down to around minus 20 degrees celsius on average during the winter months, whilst it goes up to around 15 degrees plus during the summer months. In the central and southern parts of Sweden, the temperature drops to around minus 5 to minus 15 degrees celsius in the winter and goes up to between 18 to 35 degrees during the summer months.

For information specific and accurate temperatures around Sweden, visit SMHI or go to temperatur.nu.

In contrast to many European countries that are members of the European Union (EU), Sweden does not use the Euro as curreny. Instead, the monetary currency in Sweden is the Krona (plural Kronor).

Credit Cards are a widely accepted throughout Sweden in any business but sometimes there is a surcharge of a few kronor when shopping at smaller stores as the rate the bank charge the owner of the store is transfered to you - the consumer.

Sweden has a reputation of being expensive, but with the devalutions of the Krona in the 80's and 90's has lowered the difference between Sweden and other European countries. The only two things that stand out in a comparsion is the price for tobacco and the price for alcohol. As these two items are heavliy taxed, it is not recommended to stock-up on these items prior to going elsewhere (Funnily, Norway is even more expensivewhen it comes to these two items, so there is some serious border trade going on along the border citites)