Vaxholm

Vaxholm sits at the point where the shipping channel into Stockholm narrows, which is why Gustav Vasa fortified it in 1548 and why the fortress on the islet opposite kept being rebuilt - the present one dates from the 1860s and holds a museum of coastal defence, reached by a small ferry that runs constantly across the strait. The town itself is the usual first stop in the archipelago: wooden houses in the Norrhamn quarter with carved verandas and fretwork, a customs house, a hotel on the quay, and boats leaving for the outer islands. It is close enough to Stockholm to be a half day, and busy accordingly in July.

The main sights

• The fortress on the islet - 1860s, now a coastal defence museum.
• Norrhamn's wooden houses - verandas and carved fretwork.
• A working archipelago quay - boats out to the outer islands.
• A narrow shipping channel - the reason the town exists.

When to go

May to September, when boats and the fortress run. A full day.

Good to know

July is very crowded and prices rise with it. Out of season much of the town closes. The fortress museum is small. It is the least remote part of the archipelago and feels it.

Nearby

Grinda and Moja are further out; Stockholm is inland.

Key facts