Where to stay in Vaxholm
Most beds gather on Vaxön, the small island that holds the old town of Vaxholm, where a few hotels and guesthouses stand among the wooden houses within an easy walk of the quay, the church, and the boats out to the fortress and the islands. It suits travellers who want the archipelago at the doorstep and the steamers a short stroll away. Rooms here are few.
The town fills with day visitors in summer. Out across the municipality, on Rindö, Resarö, and the other islands, summer cottages, marinas, and small guesthouses suit travellers with a car or a boat who want quiet water and skerries. These lie scattered across the islands.
Choose the old town first for the quays and the steamers. The outer islands reward those after open archipelago calm.
Things to do in Vaxholm
Ranked by global recognition; descriptions from Wikidata (CC0).
Museums & Galleries
- Vaxholms Fästnings museum — museum of the Swedish Armed Forces
- J.A.G. Ackemuseet
- Vaxholms hembygdsmuseum — working life museum
Churches & Religious Sites
- Vaxholms kyrka Heritage-listed — Church of Sweden church building
- Resarö kapell
- Bogesunds slottskapell
Castles & Historic Sites
- Vaxholms fästning Heritage-listed — Swedish fortress
- Rindö redutt Heritage-listed — It is located on Rindö's western cape and was built to supplement fortress Vaxholm in the defense of the inlet to Stockholm and it was able to control the sector in the north and northeast.
- Pålsundsbatteriet — At Pålsundet there have been defense fortifications ever since the 16th century. The battery was armed with four cannons.
- 11:e batteriet, Rindö — It consisted of two bunkers walled in gray stone, the eastern bunker has a tunnel through its guard wall.
About Vaxholm
What is Vaxholm known for?
Vaxholm is known as the door to the Stockholm archipelago. Its old fortress guards the strait that ships must pass to reach the city, and the small wooden town on its island draws summer crowds to the quays, the cafés, and the boats threading out among the islands. Vaxholms fästning sits offshore.
Steamers call at the town quay. People know it as the first stop in the islands.
What are the main landmarks in Vaxholm?
Vaxholms fästning is the great sight, a stone fortress on its own islet in the strait, raised to bar the seaward approach to Stockholm and now holding the Vaxholms Fästnings museum. On the town island, Vaxholms kyrka marks the centre among the wooden houses and the quay. Old coastal batteries dot Rindö across the water, raised in stone and iron to extend the fortress guns across the wider channels and sounds of the inner archipelago.
On the mainland edge stands Bogesunds slottskapell. Resarö kapell serves the neighbouring island.
What is the history of Vaxholm?
Vaxholm grew up around its fortress. The strait here was the key seaward approach to Stockholm, so a fort was set on the islet in the sixteenth century to block hostile ships, and a small town of pilots, soldiers, and fishermen gathered on the island beside it. That fortress held the channel.
Its garrison and the sea lanes gave the little town its living. Through later centuries the defences were rebuilt in stone and ringed with coastal batteries on Rindö and the neighbouring islands, while Vaxholm itself became a summer resort drawing Stockholmers out by steamer to bathe and sail. Wooden villas and bathhouses rose along the shore.
The military works were stood down in time and turned to museums and homes, and the town settled into its role as the gateway hub of the archipelago. Vaxholm remains the seat of its municipality.
Where is Vaxholm?
Vaxholm lies in the eastern part of Stockholm County in eastern Sweden, in the inner Stockholm archipelago, where the town spreads across Vaxön and neighbouring islands among the strait and the open water. Skerries, sounds, and wooded islands fill the sea on every side, with the fortress islet guarding the channel and Rindö, Resarö, and Bogesundslandet close around. Stockholm sits to the south-west.
Pine and bare granite line the wooded shores, and boats thread the narrow sounds that wind between the scattered islands of the inner archipelago.
What is the climate of Vaxholm?
Vaxholm has a cool maritime climate set by the surrounding sea. Winters are cold but tempered by the water, with ice forming in the sheltered sounds while the open channels often stay clear through the darkest weeks of the year. Summers are mild and bright.
Long northern evenings draw sailors and visitors out across the sounds, and sea breezes keep the warmest days fresh among the islands through the height of summer. Rain and wind come off the water in every season.
How do you get to Vaxholm?
Vaxholm is reached by road and by boat. A road causeway and bridges link the islands to the mainland north-east of Stockholm, carrying buses and cars out from the city through the suburbs. The road is the quickest year-round route.
Archipelago steamers also sail from central Stockholm to the town quay, a slow and scenic way out among the islands. Stockholm Arlanda is the nearest major airport, well to the north-west.