Kristianopel

Christian IV of Denmark founded Kristianopel in 1603 on the border with Sweden, naming it after his newborn son, and fortified it with a bastioned wall, intending a town that would hold the frontier and trade on the strait. It was stormed and burned in 1611, rebuilt, and lost its importance entirely when Blekinge became Swedish in 1658 - after which nothing much happened, which is why the seventeenth-century plan is still legible. What stands is a stretch of the rampart, the church of 1618 inside it, a grid of small streets and perhaps a hundred residents. In summer the harbour fills with boats and there is a guesthouse, a bakery and a rose garden along the wall.

What's there

• A stretch of bastioned rampart - from the Danish founding of 1603.
• The church of 1618 - inside the walls.
• A seventeenth-century street grid - preserved by the town's failure.
• A small harbour - busy in summer, empty otherwise.

When to go

June to August, when the village is open. Two hours.

Good to know

It is very small - an hour or two covers it. Almost everything closes outside summer. Parking is tight in season. There is no museum.

Nearby

Karlskrona is south-west; Kalmar is north.

Key facts