One day in Sweden summer weeps and autumn gently creeps in, not with trumpet but with hush-puppies of gold. The air is made colder, trees are lit ablaze in shades of amber and copper, and lakes start to mirror skies which are somehow deeper, more pensive.
Regardless of how much the world is in love with the bright midsummer days of Sweden or the snowy Christmases, this country is best embodied by the fall.
It's a season of quiet change, a pause between the exuberance of summer and the long sleep of winter. Traveling here during this time feels like stepping into a painting that's still drying every leaf, every ray of light caught mid-transformation.
Whether you arrive by train or after a smooth flight followed by Cheap Stansted Airport Parking, the shift into this slower rhythm is unmistakable.
A Landscape Painted in Gold
Towards the end of September the Swedish countryside is turned into a travelling water-colour. The birch-trees glitter in yellow, the cones on the pines are deep green, and the hills featured in the heather are violet in the dying sunlight. All forest trails appear to be glowing, all the strides along a hiking route are like strolling in a fairy tale.
Such spots as Dalarna, Jamtland and Lapland become canvases of color breathtaking, but devoid of the tourist inundation of summer.
The paths are very silent; you may not pass another human being till hours have passed, except some of the elk wandering by, or a family gathering lingonberries without a whisper. That is the damp earth and pine needles mixture that Scandinavia alone can produce.
Note: always check long stay parking Luton and book according to your travel needs.It is the type of season that encourages leisure. You even stop in your walk without the idea of being tired, but because the silence is a gift.
The Joy of Fika in Autumn
Fika- the Swedish tradition of enjoying a cup of coffee and sweets is not the same during the autumn. Cafes are cozy in the cold, foggy windows where friends sit and have warm cups and cardamom buns. It is somehow reassuring when the days become shorter and this is a means of clinging to the light.
Harvest Season: The Taste of the Countryside in Sweden.
It is also the time of harvest in Sweden during the falling autumn and it is when the country is alive.Markets are full of pumpkins, root vegetables, mushrooms, and apples that are sold by farmers. In more small towns, people are celebrating the harvest season with live music, homemade crafts and tables made up of open sandwiches and hot cider.
And there is the algjakt the elk hunt of the year, a most traditional of traditions uniting people. You can be a non-hunter but you will feel its presence everywhere: in discussions, in the odour of woodsmoke, in the silent pride of a culture that still lives out of nature.
The Northern Lights Start to Dazzle Lapland.
In October, when you go to the north to Abisko or Kiruna, you can start hearing the first murmurs of the Northern Lights. The sky lives in shocks of green and violet and goes wave-like. And when you are standing in the dark with the silent wildness around you, you cannot help but feel something very ancient in you. In Lapland in autumn it seems as though the world was paused in a way between summer and winter, the warmth of summer and the coldness of winter not yet coming.
Cities Without the Crowds
Autumn is perhaps the best season to visit Stockholm, Gothenburg or Malmo in case you like cities. The crowds of tourists have disappeared and life is brought back to a normal pace. In museums, parks, and galleries, there is less noise; people do not hurry and walk. Djurgarden, the Island of museums and gardens, in Stockholm is made of a dream of fallen leaves and reflective water. It is possible to rent a bike and go on misty roads, to visit the cafes that look upon fairy-tales. Or in Gothenburg, you may improve on the Hundred Roads of Haga, where you can breathe the scent of roasting coffee and cinnamon.
