SCANTOURS has introduced two tours in its 1999 Sweden programme.
The first is an eight-day bicycle tour on the island of Gotland, situated in the Baltic to the southeast.
Gotland is 4hrs 30mins by ferry from the mainland, is bigger than the Isle of Wight, but flat and ideal for bicycling.
Gotland has clean sandy beaches and some interesting old buildings, but Scantours sales and marketing director John Lawrence said the real attraction is that it is a complete escape. The tour, called Escape to Gotland, costs £695, including flights and cycle hire.
The second new tour is a four-day package called The Larsson Experience, and is based on a visit to the home of designers Carl and Karin Larsson, whose minimalist style is believed to have influenced Ikea.
They lived in Sundborn, near Falun, in the province of Dalarna, also famous for the brightly-painted Dala wooden horses. Scantours’ itinerary takes clients by train from Stockholm to Falun, where they stay three nights.
The tour costs £395, including breakfast, flights and rail travel. A rental car is available from £130 for three days and extra time in Stockholm can be added from £46 a night.
Sales and marketing director John Lawrence said: “Sweden’s problem is that it is sandwiched between Norway, which is well known for fjords and Finland which is known for lakes, so we are always trying to look for something different that will appeal to the UK market.”