Fjallbacka, Sweden (Photo: Frank Heuer)This little-known fishing village of 1,000 residents on Sweden's west coast is the perfect setting for a crime novel. It's remote. It's beautiful. And everyone knows each other. Before Stieg Larsson's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo debuted, Swedish crime writer Camilla Lackberg had already published two bestsellers set in her childhood hometown, Fjallbacka, that are now being made into feature films and a TV series called The Fjallbacka Murders. Reason enough to pick up a translated page-turner to read from a cafe table overlooking the harbor?
If You Go: For views of the many tiny islands offshore, climb the steps up from Ingrid Bergman Square to the top of the massive Vetteberget stone cliff. In the archipelago the Koster Islands and the Weather Islands are good places for sea kayaking, relaxing in a sauna by the ocean, and eating fresh seafood. Sunvil Discovery runs an Archipelago and Culinary Tour.
Getting There: Fjallbacka is 79 miles, or an hour-and-a-half drive, north of Gothenburg. Without a car, the best way to get there is by train to Uddevalla, 35 miles away.
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