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St Olof's church ruin on a summer day with flowers in the foreground.

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Sigtuna with children: things to do by age

Sigtuna is small enough to walk with short legs, and most things are within fifteen minutes of the square: water, ruins to climb on, a street with ice cream and sweets. Here is what suits which age, what works in the rain, and what is a little further away.

Photo: Udo Schröter

Small children, 0 to 5

  • The playgrounds. Two are in the middle of town: Strandparken down by the water on the waterfront path, two minutes from the square, with a climbing frame, swings and benches for the picnic, and Borgmästarängen in the park by ICA and the bus station, with little playhouses and a sandpit for the smallest. The municipality has twelve playgrounds in town, among them Solängen on Munkholmen and Aludden with a view of the water.
  • The jetties and the ducks. The waterfront path is pushchair-friendly, the benches face the water, and the ducks come when they see a bag. Ice cream kiosk by the harbour in summer.
  • Swimming. Sjudargårdsbadet west of town has a sandy beach, grass, toilets and a kiosk in season, and is the town's beach for families. The bathing jetties in the middle of town for a quick dip. The rest of the year the Sigtuna Fritidscenter pool has a children's pool.
  • St Olof. Of the three ruins this is the one for small children: low walls, grass all around, the spring next to it. Five minutes from the square.
  • Sweets and ice cream. Augusta Jansson's sweet factory at Stora gatan 35 looks like 1900 and sells by weight. Sigtuna Gelato on the same street, Våfflan on the jetty in the harbour.
  • The library. Sigtuna library at Runstigen 1 has a children's section, a children's programme and a garden. Good on a rainy morning.
  • Into the countryside. Viby village next to Wenngarn is an 18th-century village you can walk round in fifteen minutes, free. Österby farm five kilometres north has pick-your-own sunflowers, corn and pumpkins in late summer and autumn. More on Farms and countryside.
  • Lilla Steninge at Steninge slottsby, six kilometres away on bus 575: a play park with a slide, a sandpit, a miniature greenhouse and a café, with the palace arcade next door.
  • Skogsmulle and the smaller groups. Friluftsfrämjandet Märsta-Sigtuna, the local branch of the outdoor association, runs children's groups from the age of one: Skogsknopp for 1 to 2 and Skogsknytte for 3 to 4 with a parent along, then Skogsmulle for 5 to 6, Skogsströvare for 7 to 9 and Frilufsare for 10 to 13. Groups meet about eight times a term, usually on a Saturday or Sunday, and not every age group is running at any one time. Free places are announced on the branch page. The Skogsmulle group in Hällsboskogen gathers by Hällsbostugan at Prästängsvägen 2 on Sundays from 9.30 to 11.30, seven times in the autumn of 2026, for children 4 to 6 with an adult along. The fee is 350 kronor and the child has to be a member of Friluftsfrämjandet. The sessions are in Swedish.

6 to 12

  • The rune stone hunt. Pick up the map at the museum reception or download it from Destination Sigtuna. Ten stones to find in walls, gardens and by the ruins, and runes to decipher. Takes a morning. The museum also has a discovery walk with six places, questions and pictures.
  • The museum. In the permanent exhibition Sigtunahistorier at Sigtuna museum there are things to touch and examine in every room, and a children's trail. In the school holidays the Studio runs craft workshops. Free under 20, adults pay 60 kronor. At the end of August, on Archaeology Day, children dig outside the museum with the same tools as the archaeologists.
  • A town walk for children. The museum's guides have a dramatised family walk where Estrid, Doter, Petrus, Erik and Signe tell of their own centuries. Booked through the museum. Sweden History Tours charges 90 kronor for children on its one-hour walk from the Town Hall. More on Guided tours.
  • Adventure golf on the waterfront, run by Sigtuna IF: twelve holes, each one a place in the town's history. Wenngarn has its own course in the castle park.
  • Disc golf on Harberget, nine holes in the woods above Stora gatan, free. Bring your own discs.
  • On the water. Kanotklubben Mälarpiraterna rents canoes and kayaks and has try-out sessions for beginners. Perch bite from the jetties in the middle of town all summer, fishing is free and a rod is all you need. More on Nature, swimming, fishing and hunting.
  • Bikes. Sigtuna Bike Arena at Stadsängarna is free and open to everyone: a mountain bike course, a skills area with obstacles and a downhill flow trail, plus marked loops in the Hällsbo woods next to it. Bring bikes and helmets.
  • Swimming. Sjudargårdsbadet has jetties to jump from, Munkholmsbadet has rocks, and Steningebadet by the palace has grass and a barbecue spot. Midgårdsbadet in Märsta is an adventure pool with a diving pool, open every day.
  • Nature. Rävsta nature reserve has grazing animals, an exercise trail and barbecue spots, Hällsboskogen north-west of town has floodlit tracks and an obstacle course, the Munkholmen shore path starts at the harbour, and at Wenngarn there is the bird tower at Askarehage with a barbecue spot next to it. More on Swimming, nature and outdoors.
  • Sausages in the woods. Embarsboda, the walkers' cottage in Rävsta at Rävstavägen 170, serves on Sundays from 11 to 14 through the darker half of the year, January to May and September to the end of November or December. Sausages the children grill themselves over the fire, buns and chocolate balls, coffee, tea and squash. The same Sundays there is a quiz walk of 2.5 kilometres for children and adults, 11 to 13. The barbecue spot is open all year for anyone bringing their own picnic.
  • Skokloster Castle, half an hour west by car, has Paradiset, a play park built on the castle's history, with a wooden horse and cart, garden houses and tools to balance on. Open all year and free, and in summer a museum educator is there to let the children sow, weed and harvest. The castle itself is best from about ten.
  • Gröna Ladan, the 1926 cinema on Gröna gränd, shows family films at weekends.

Teenagers

  • Mountain biking. The course at Sigtuna Bike Arena is built to Olympic standard, with obstacles, berms and a flow trail. The loops in the Hällsbo woods are five to six kilometres.
  • Kayak on your own. The Kayakomat by the water is unmanned and booked on your phone, for those who have paddled before. The bay is sheltered. Munkholmen and St Per are the right distance.
  • Padel Sigtuna in town, outdoor courts at Erikssund. Disc golf on Harberget. Court hire at the tennis club by Prästängshallen.
  • Winter. Humbacken behind Prästängshallen is the county's smallest ski slope, with a lift and a snow park with jumps, run by volunteers at Sigtuna Alpina Klubb. When the ice holds a skating track is sometimes ploughed from the harbour. The Pinbackshallen ice rink in Märsta has public skating.
  • The real history. The museum's Viking silver and the rune bones, the ruins from 1187, Sweden's first coins. Free entry to the museum up to 20.
  • Further afield. From Märsta, Mälartåg gets you to Uppsala in twenty minutes and Stockholm in eighteen, the commuter train to Stockholm in forty. How to get there: Getting here.

When it rains

The museum with the children's trail and the Studio, St Mary's, the Sigtuna Fritidscenter pool, the library, the sweet factory and a film at Gröna Ladan. If that is not enough: Steninge palace arcade with Lilla Steninge, and Midgårdsbadet in Märsta. The Town Hall is open from July to mid-August.

A rune stone set into a building by St Mary's church.
The rune stone hunt: the stones are in the walls. Photo: Jopparn
Jetty with benches out into Lake Mälaren.
The jetty on the waterfront. Photo: Arild Vågen
Rosersberg palace park down to Lake Mälaren.
Rosersberg palace park, picnic by the water. Photo: Szilas
The ice on Sigtunafjärden in January.
The bay in January. Photo: Jssfrk

Winter

  • Sledging. Humbacken behind Prästängshallen has a sledging hill beside the ski slope, and you can sledge on the slopes of the golf club and in the park in front of Wenngarn.
  • Skiing. Sigtuna Alpina Klubb runs Humbacken with a lift and a ski school when there is snow. Equipment can be hired through club members for 50 kronor a day.
  • Skating and cross-country. A track from the harbour when the ice holds, never alone and always checking the ice. The municipality grooms ski tracks at Rävsta when there is enough snow. Pinbackshallen in Märsta when the ice does not hold.
  • The Christmas market on the Sundays of Advent: pony rides, Father Christmas and Elsa Beskow's aunts on Stora gatan. More on Markets.

A little further away

  • Uppsala, forty minutes by car or train via Märsta: Pelleparken with Pelle Svanslös in Carolinaparken, the cathedral, the castle.
  • Stockholm, an hour: Skansen, Junibacken and the Museum of Technology on Djurgården, all by direct train from Märsta.
  • Rosersberg Palace, ten minutes: the park down to the lake for a picnic, Rosersbergsbadet next to it.

Good to know

  • Free entry for everyone under 20 at Sigtuna museum. The Town Hall is free and open from July to mid-August. The ruins are open around the clock.
  • SL. Children under seven travel free with an adult who has a ticket, and up to six children under twelve travel free with a paying adult every day of the week. Bus 579 from Arlanda and 570 from Märsta are low-floor.
  • School holidays. The municipality collects holiday activities for children and young people up to 19, free or nearly.
  • Toilets: free public toilets by the adventure golf on the waterfront, and at Sjudargårdsbadet in season.

Updated 2026-10-04