Kronoberg County, Sweden — Towns & Travel Guide

Forests and lakes define this county. Växjö, its capital, sits among the woods and holds the House of Emigrants, which tells the story of the Smålanders who crossed to America. The eastern parishes share the Glasriket, the Kingdom of Crystal, where historic glassworks still draw visitors. Älmhult in the south is the birthplace of a furniture company known the world over.

Woodland, water, and craft shape its character.

Kronoberg lies on the South Swedish highlands, far from any coast. The land is high, rolling, and thickly forested, strewn with thousands of lakes left by the ice and laced with the small rivers that drain in every direction toward distant seas. Växjö sits near the middle of this lake country, ringed by water, with the great forests of Småland pressing close on every side.

The county takes in the central and western parts of the province of Småland. Its biggest lakes, Åsnen and Bolmen, spread their wooded shores and islands across the south and west. To the north the county borders Jönköping; to the east, Kalmar; to the south, Skåne and Blekinge; and to the west, Halland.

Glacial boulders and stony ground mark the soil, cleared with hard labour into small farms among the trees. Forest and water repeat without end. Space and silence shape the interior.

The county is deep Småland. That province is known for thrift, self-reliance, and small-scale enterprise born of poor, stony soil, and the trait runs through the self-image of the region. Emigration shaped the culture more than anywhere.

Hunger and hard farming drove tens of thousands of Smålanders across the ocean to America in the nineteenth century, a story the House of Emigrants in Växjö tells in full. Växjö carries the urban and intellectual side of the county as a cathedral city and a seat of learning. Glassmaking left a strong mark on the eastern parishes, where the works of the Kingdom of Crystal grew up among the forests and gave the area a name in design.

A free-church tradition took root here in the revival years, and the chapels still stand across the countryside. Outdoor life runs through everything. Fishing, canoeing, hiking, and lake bathing fill the warm months.

Emigrant history, the glass craft, and a forest-and-lake way of life together give Kronoberg County its quiet, hardy character.

The county takes its name from Kronoberg Castle. The ruined fortress stands on an island in a lake near Växjö and once served the bishops of the diocese. Växjö itself is an old cathedral town, a religious centre of Småland since the Middle Ages.

The county dates from 1687. Farming and forestry long ruled a poor and crowded land, driving the great wave of emigration, while glassmaking and later light industry slowly carried the region toward modern prosperity.

The county has a cool, damp inland climate. Its height on the southern highlands brings colder, snowier winters than the surrounding lowlands, with a cover that often lingers for weeks across the forests. Summers stay mild.

They bring long light and warm spells that draw people to the lakes and the woodland trails through the season. The many lakes hold some of the heat into autumn, softening the first frosts near the water. Rain falls steadily through the year, fed by the highlands, and the great forests turn to colour in the fall.

Växjö sits on the railway between Alvesta and Kalmar, with Alvesta itself a junction on the southern main line that links Stockholm, Göteborg, and Malmö. Through trains make the county easy to reach. Växjö Småland Airport handles a few domestic and charter flights, and drivers come on the roads that cross the highlands from every direction toward the capital.

Regional buses link Växjö with Ljungby, Älmhult, and the glassworks towns. Rail through Alvesta is simplest.