With twenty hours of daylight, 8,000 islands, and rocky inlets dotted with red clapboard houses, it’s no wonder the Bohuslän Coast is awash in sailboats come summertime. In Gothenburg, rent a 48-foot yacht with a skipper from Sjösport Charter (from $4,500 for up to eight people; sjoklar.se) and spend three days to a week gliding north to Norway and back—from the resort town of Marstrand up to the Koster Islands’ nature preserve—mooring overnight in some of the area’s 270 natural harbors. You’ll pass docks piled high with lobster traps on tiny islands like Åstol, where you can dine alfresco on house-smoked shrimp at the Åstols Rökeri (Hamnen 4, 471 44, Åstol; astolsrokeri.se). Or get a culture fix on TjÖrn at the Nordic Watercolor Museum ($11; Södra Hamnen 6, 471 32 Skärhamn; akvarellmuseet.org), which is hosting an exhibition of Alice Neel’s drawings this summer; nearby, walk around twenty-acre Pilane sculpture park ($12; Pilane Gravfalt, Klövedal; pilane.org), where you’ll browse the art in the company of sheep. Outside of refined fishing village Fjällbacka, on a bay flanked by granite cliffs, look for Ingrid Bergman’s modest summer house. Then step ashore at Bryggan Fjällbacka (Ingrid Bergmans Torg, 457 40; brygganfjallbacka.com), a popular spot to watch the 10 p.m. sunset, Grebbestad beer in hand. Need a night on dry land? Steer west to the remote Weather Islands, whose eleven-room Väderöarna Inn (from $230; vaderoarna.com), a former maritime pilots’ house, has outdoor saltwater hot tubs and a wood-fired sauna to soothe your sea legs.
The thrill-o-meter: Modestly madcap.