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Wednesday, January 14 | 2026
Spring in Sweden is here! It’s finally happening: days are getting longer, blue skies, it’s getting warmer and warmer and Swedes start to crawl out of their shells! You may have noticed that there are some significant differences happening in Sweden this time of the year.
You see people standing everywhere in just the smallest ray of sunlight
The street can be 99% covered in shadow; but there will always be at least one person standing in the 1% of sunlight, faced to the sun, with their eyes closed. It might seem a bit weird at first, but remember we haven’t had sunlight for like a third of the year! Let them get “tanned” (well…) on those hot days (basically anything above 5 degrees Celsius).
People stop wearing their jackets really fast
“It’s boiling hot today!” I hear, as it’s 6 degrees outside and I can’t feel my toes anymore. The vikings are used to the cold, but not so much to heat.
People are much more open
People smiling at you on the street and are much more likely to start a conversation with you! It’s Sweden so there’s a great chance they’ll just say “It’s such nice weather today!” (if you don’t really know how to start a conversation, just start with mentioning the weather, everyone does it).
Runners.. runners everywhere!
I’m probably not the only one who ate too many semlor the past month… It’s really great to see so many different people running in Djurgården and on the streets, whether they look like an Olympic athlete or just doing it for fun 🙂
It almost makes me want to start running too… but watching Netflix with wine and pizza in bed is another option! On a serious note though, respect for all the runners out there! You rock!
Shops get ready for Easter
Okay, when I heard about the Swedish Easter tradition for the first time, my reaction was a mixture of amusement and being slightly terrified. Instead of having a cute Easter bunny like most countries, Swedish kids dress up like Easter witches (påskkärringar). This tradition is really old and goes all the way back to the witch-hunt, thinking that those witches would fly off to Germany to dance with Satan.
Yeah… But don’t worry, it’s actually a cute tradition for kids as they get sweets when they go from door to door, and of course there are many chocolate Easter eggs as well!
Written by Lydia Hallie
I’m Lydia, a 19-year-old Dutch girl living in Stockholm. I try to write many helpful posts to help younger people who recently moved to Sweden to get to know the country and how everything works here!
