Ystad is a small but charming city inScania, orSkåne, part of southernSweden. It is on the south coast of Scania and has good beaches west and east of the town. Its harbour is a meeting place of ship, train and bus connections. It has a new marina and makes a great base for exploring the area, as well as Skåne.
The area was first settled in the 12th century, and the town has an attractive medieval centre, and its coastal position, facing Germany across the Baltic, means that it was closely associated with theHanseatic League, which it joined in the 14th century. Until the 19th century, Ystad was one of Sweden's most important ports, but when the railway Södra Stambana was hauled to Malmö instead of Ystad, Ystad quickly lost its significance. On the other hand, this development meant that during a period when often old buildings from city centers were destroyed in the way of new ones, Ystad did not grow and this development did not gain momentum in the city. Therefore, there is still a large number of very old building stock in the center of Ystad, dating back to the Middle Ages. Ystad's cityscape with half-timbered houses and pleasant pedestrian streets is valued so that, for example, in 2017 the city was among the 20 candidates in the public vote for the most beautiful city in Sweden on the Arkitekturupproret blog.
Ystad hosts a number of festivals and has a decent art museum, plus a number of other museums and attractions. It is known internationally as the setting for many of the novels of Henning Mankell, featuring fictional Ystad police inspector Kurt Wallander (seeNordic Noir). There are regular Wallander tours in several languages, and even free showings of films in the main square (Stortorget).
The area around Ystad has a lot of farms, and many of them grow rapeseed. These flower around early May and last for a couple of weeks. Passers by will see a sea of bright yellow. There have been so many instances of tourists wandering into fields to take selfies with the magnificent vistas that farmers have put up signs and fences to discourage this practice. But you can still get grand views as you drive or bike by. There is a coastal biking trail along the south coast of Sweden ("Sydkustleden" - translation "the south coast trail") that passes through Ystad and you can see these fields from it. If you are biking east from Ystad, a better option would be to first hit the beach. There, a small unpaved gravel trail, runs along the top line of the beach and then later into woods. This continues for a few miles before it then swerves north a bit and merges into the Sydkustleden.
As in most small towns, as an English speaking traveler, you may encounter some friction when you find restaurant menus or other signs that are available only in Swedish. Google Lens can help to some degree. Obviously, an ever-helpful Swede who can translate would be best, but sometimes, even their knowledge can be stretched. Having them read out aloud into Google Translate ("Translate by Speech"), can sometimes get you past this.
Malmö (Sturup) airport (MMX IATA) is a 30 minutes drive away.Copenhagen (Kastrup) airport (CPH IATA) is a one hour drive.
From elsewhere in Sweden, travel toMalmö and take a local train ("pågatåg") from there operated bySkånetrafiken. From Copenhagen you will need to change trains in Malmö. Copenhagen also has rail connections from further south in Europe, evenCologne andBrussels.
Ystad has ferry connections fromRønne,Bornholm byBornholmslinjen. FromŚwinoujście,PolandPolferries andUnity Line operate ferries.
Walk. Everything is easily accessible on foot. There's also a little tourist street 'train'. Many locals bike, and there are bike paths all over town.
Several good eateries in town, including Japanese, Chinese and Thai.
See Möllers Bryggeri above, with its own brewery.
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