Uppsala Castle in Uppsala, Sweden

Sweden is a place with such extensive history, which usually means a fair bit of conflict in wars with its neighbors. Sweden and Denmark are close Nordic allies today, but they actually have been at war with each other 11 times in the past. You will often find fortresses and castles in both countries that were used by one another, depending on who controlled the land that they stood on. Combined with the gorgeous nature of Sweden, you have incredible structures with storied histories, set across gorgeous landscape backdrops.

You’ll find plenty of well-preserved and defunct castles across the Swedish landscape. Some have fallen into disrepair, others have been refurbished and are manors, with only some open to the public. If you’re lucky, the one you plan to visit is a museum, showcasing the history and relics from the era when the castle was in its heyday.

In this post, you’ll see my latest video from this spot, my best photos of Uppsala Castle, and tips on how to get there.

Uppsala Castle, A Brief History

A 16th century royal castle located in Uppsala, Sweden, Uppsala Castle is probably the only castle in the world that has a bright pink facade (maybe). Constructed in 1549, it played a large role in the formative years of Sweden, built during the reign of Gustav Vasa I, the father of modern Sweden.

The castle complex initially included apartments as well as two bastions, in addition to the castle itself and a cannon battery called Styrbiskop, facing Uppsala Cathedral (due to hostility between the church authorities and the King). Although the apartments are gone today, the bastions and other features of the castle remain. A fire in 1702 decimated much of Uppsala including the south wing of Uppsala Castle. The remains of this part of Uppsala Castle were used to repair the Tre Kronor Castle in Stockholm, which had also fallen victim to a fire five years prior.

Uppsala had slowly become less relevant due to the emerging power of Stockholm, which delayed any renovation of Uppsala Castle until the year 1815 where it was then used as a prison. Currently, the castle is a museum and exhibition site, and the centerpiece of the city. The Styrbiskop is still visible today along with its cannons, juxtaposed to the Gunilla Bell, a small clocktower with a bell that was cast in 1759.

Uppsala Castle Photos

Getting to Uppsala Castle

If you’re traveling from abroad, the best way to get here is to fly into Arlanda-Stockholm Airport (Airport Code: ARN), and from there you can catch either a bus (Bus 801), a train, or a taxi to Uppsala city center. From there, if you just look West, you will see Uppsala Castle and can navigate your way there yourself.

As far as which vantage point to photograph the castle from, you can’t go wrong with just walking around the structure. Though if you like to plan, here are a few places that are promising:

Svandammen - A lake sitting near the Fyris river, flanked by trees with a view directly below the castle.
Linneanum - A botanical garden containing an orangery on the west side of the city, located opposite Svandammen.
Tornerparken - Located to the south of the castle, it features a line of old trees that leads right to the structure. This place is best in the autumn time.
Gunilla Bell - Just a literal stone’s throw away from the castle, you can get great views and shots of the Castle facade from up close.
Gunnar Wennerberg Monument - monument located in the park surrounding the north part of the castle. This park is gorgeous in the fall with orange and yellow hues where you can capture the corner tower of Uppsala Castle.

When to see Uppsala Castle

Obviously one would imagine that the best time to see the Castle would be in either mid to late autumn or in late spring and early summer. While this is definitely an amazing time to see Uppsala Castle, especially with the fall foliage wonderfully juxtaposed to the pink castle facade, I would definitely not count out winter as well. A sunny winter day with snow already on the ground gives you that great, warm light and pure white landscape, coupled together with the pink castle, it’s a great combination.

Given how popular Uppsala Castle is, it is nice to capture with not so many people around. If you are an early riser, this will bode well for you. In the summer, the time of sunrise in this part of Sweden can be as early as 3am! You may even find the occasional student coming back from a party then, but most will not be stopping by the castle on their return home.

In the winter, the sunrise can be as late as 8-9am. The city can be considerably more busy at that time, but if you catch it on a weekday, most people will just be headed to work. It works out well if you are not an early bird, but still want to catch that morning light.

Speaking of sunrises and sunsets, you will want to be on the west side of the castle for the sunrise, around the areas of Linneanum and the Gunilla Bell, and on the east side of the castle for the sunset, in places like Svandammen and even Uppsala Central Station.

Photography

You can use a variety of lenses to capture Uppsala Castle. At most places in the city, including some of the ones I have mentioned, medium to telephoto focus lengths will work well, between 70-200 mm. You can great excellent details of Uppsala Castle’s facade and its ornate features.

A wide angle lens works extremely well when you are actually parked at the castle itself. You can walk the grounds of the castle and photograph it at any distance to allow you to capture the entire landscape with a lens focal length of around 10 mm.

For normal focal lengths of 24-70 mm, all castle views from the nearby parks as well as Gunilla bell are rife with photographic opportunities. Working in other subjects such as the plethora of trees, low hanging leaves, morning fog are all possible if the conditions are right.

You can see that some of my photos of Uppsala Castle were taken by drone. At that time, the drone laws were not as restrictive as they are now. Unfortunately, there is a 10 meter high drone height limit around the castle and it also sits in a restrictive zone due to the presence of a helicopter pad just nearby. So flights here require authorization from the helipad first and foremost. Should you get it, you still must limit your elevation as there are often flights coming in and out of the military base just north of Uppsala.

The safest place for drone flying in this case would be at Linneanum which would give you panoramic views of Uppsala Castle while being slightly further away from the hospital helipad.

Enjoy!

Purchasing Photos

Conclusion and Further Resources

Uppsala Castle is worth coming to Uppsala to see. The area and grounds around the castle are gorgeous to the eye, not to mention the camera lens, at most times of the year. If you plan it right, you can capture wonderful sunrises and sunsets in the pure snow or the autumn forest colors. You can view the homepage of Uppsala Castle here.

Uppsala Castle in Uppsala, Sweden

In this post, you’ll see my latest video from this spot, my best photos of Uppsala Castle, and tips on how to get there.

Uppsala Castle, A Brief History

A 16th century royal castle located in Uppsala, Sweden, Uppsala Castle is probably the only castle in the world that has a bright pink facade (maybe). Constructed in 1549, it played a large role in the formative years of Sweden, built during the reign of Gustav Vasa I, the father of modern Sweden.

Uppsala Castle Photos

Getting to Uppsala Castle

As far as which vantage point to photograph the castle from, you can’t go wrong with just walking around the structure. Though if you like to plan, here are a few places that are promising:

Svandammen - A lake sitting near the Fyris river, flanked by trees with a view directly below the castle.

Linneanum - A botanical garden containing an orangery on the west side of the city, located opposite Svandammen.

Tornerparken - Located to the south of the castle, it features a line of old trees that leads right to the structure. This place is best in the autumn time.

Gunilla Bell - Just a literal stone’s throw away from the castle, you can get great views and shots of the Castle facade from up close.

Gunnar Wennerberg Monument - monument located in the park surrounding the north part of the castle. This park is gorgeous in the fall with orange and yellow hues where you can capture the corner tower of Uppsala Castle.

When to see Uppsala Castle

In the winter, the sunrise can be as late as 8-9am. The city can be considerably more busy at that time, but if you catch it on a weekday, most people will just be headed to work. It works out well if you are not an early bird, but still want to catch that morning light.

Speaking of sunrises and sunsets, you will want to be on the west side of the castle for the sunrise, around the areas of Linneanum and the Gunilla Bell, and on the east side of the castle for the sunset, in places like Svandammen and even Uppsala Central Station.

Photography

You can use a variety of lenses to capture Uppsala Castle. At most places in the city, including some of the ones I have mentioned, medium to telephoto focus lengths will work well, between 70-200 mm. You can great excellent details of Uppsala Castle’s facade and its ornate features.

A wide angle lens works extremely well when you are actually parked at the castle itself. You can walk the grounds of the castle and photograph it at any distance to allow you to capture the entire landscape with a lens focal length of around 10 mm.

For normal focal lengths of 24-70 mm, all castle views from the nearby parks as well as Gunilla bell are rife with photographic opportunities. Working in other subjects such as the plethora of trees, low hanging leaves, morning fog are all possible if the conditions are right.

The safest place for drone flying in this case would be at Linneanum which would give you panoramic views of Uppsala Castle while being slightly further away from the hospital helipad.

Enjoy!

Purchasing Photos

Conclusion and Further Resources

If you like cities in Sweden as well as the castles and fortresses they may contain, check out my related blog posts below:

Related

You May Also Like…

Your donation helps cover the cost of gear, website hosting, and those long nights of writing articles and photo editing.

www.ecksplorer.com