Uppsala is Sweden's fourth-largest city and the home of its oldest university (1477). The Uppsala Cathedral - the largest church in Scandinavia - contains the tombs of Carl Linnaeus and Gustavus Vasa. The Linnaeus Garden, where the naturalist worked and taught from 1742, is a 15-minute walk from the station. The city is flat, compact, and sized for a post-marathon afternoon.
Getting There
SJ regional train or SL Pendeltag from Stockholm Central to Uppsala Central: 38-45 minutes. Trains run at least twice per hour. The station is at the west edge of the city; the cathedral and old town are a 10-minute walk east.
Uppsala Cathedral
Uppsala Domkyrka (entry free, donations welcome): the largest cathedral in Scandinavia, begun in 1270 and consecrated in 1435. The twin towers reach 118 metres. The interior contains the tombs of Gustavus Vasa (king of Sweden 1523-1560, who broke Sweden from Denmark and the Papacy simultaneously), his queen, and Carl Linnaeus.
The Gustavus Vasa Chapel is the set piece: the Renaissance monument over the king's tomb, with polychrome sculpture and gilded detail at a scale that communicates the ambition of 16th-century Swedish kingship. The Linnaeus grave in the nave is simpler - the floor slab is modest given what Linnaeus did for European natural science.
The cathedral is flat throughout; the nave is 118 metres long. June in Uppsala: the long Scandinavian evening light through the windows at 19:00 is considerable.
The Linnaeus Garden
Linnéträdgården (Uppsala University Botanical Garden, entry approximately SEK 80/€7, seasonal): the botanical garden that Carolus Linnaeus restructured in 1742 when he took the chair of medicine at Uppsala University. Linnaeus used the garden as a working scientific laboratory - he introduced and categorised plants by the system of binomial nomenclature (Homo sapiens, Rosa canina, etc.) that remains the basis of biological taxonomy.
The garden today maintains beds planted according to Linnaeus's own Species Plantarum (1753) - the publication that formalised binomial nomenclature. In June, the garden is at its best: over 1,600 species in the classification beds, the baroque garden layout with the gravel paths and the hedges.
Linnaeus's house (Linnémuseet) adjoins the garden - the modest house where he lived during his Uppsala years, preserved largely as it was. The collections of specimens, the correspondence, and the personal objects are on display.
The University and Old Town
Uppsala University (founded 1477, the oldest in Scandinavia) is distributed through the city. The Gustavianum on Akademigatan (entry approximately SEK 60/€5) is the original university building from the 1620s, containing an intact anatomical theatre from 1663 - a circular operating theatre in a cupola where public anatomical dissections were conducted. The Scandinavian collections (Viking Age objects, Egyptian antiquities) are in the museum below.
The River Fyris runs through the city centre; the flat riverbanks between the cathedral quarter and the station are good for post-race walking.
Where to Eat
Hambergs Fisk on Fyristorg: the best fish restaurant in Uppsala, in the market hall building on the river. Güntherska Hovkonditoriet on Östra Agatan: the historic cafe in Uppsala, open since 1876, for fika (the Swedish afternoon coffee and cake ritual). Domtrappkällaren on St Eriks Gränd: dinner in a medieval cellar adjacent to the cathedral.
Practical Notes
- Uppsala is 71 km north of Stockholm.
- Post-marathon timing: afternoon/evening day trip - leave Stockholm after the post-race recovery and return by 22:00 (last trains run late).
- The university is in session in June; the city is lively, not empty.
- Gamla Uppsala (3 km north of Uppsala by bus 2): the site of the pre-Christian royal burial mounds and the early medieval church. Worth the extension if energy allows.