Lakes in Sweden

Sweden is shaped by water as much as by forest. Tens of thousands of lakes pool across the country, from Vänern and Vättern — among the largest in Europe — to Mälaren reaching inland from Stockholm and Siljan set in the heart of Dalarna. They are not scenery held at arm's length but places to live alongside: a morning swim from a wooden jetty, a canoe drawn quietly across still water, a lakeside town where the shore is the centre of things rather than the edge.