Sweden Guide
The southeast
Vadstena
With its beautiful lakeside setting, 95km north of Jönköping, VADSTENA is the most evocative town in Östergotland county, and a fine place for a day or two's stay. At one time a royal seat and an important monastic centre, the town's main attraction nowadays is its gorgeous moated castle, VadstenaSlott, planned in the sixteenth century by Gustav Vasa as part of his defensive ring to protect the Swedish heartland around Stockholm. Vadstena's cobbled, twisting streets, lined with cottages covered in climbing roses, also hold an impressive abbey, whose existence is the result of the passionate work of fourteenth-century Saint Birgitta, Sweden's first female saint.