Uppsala
Seven centuries of students can't be wrong.
59.8586° N — 17.6389° E
~250,000 residents (municipality)
Introduction
Home to the Nordics' oldest university (1477), Uppsala runs on bicycles, research grants and student traditions old enough to have their own traditions. The cathedral spires are visible from everywhere; Stockholm is thirty-eight minutes away by train.
- Rent, 1-room (second-hand)
- 9,000 SEK
- Transit, 30 days (city zone)
- 1,150 SEK
- Weekday lunch (dagens rätt)
- 130 SEK
- Municipal tax
- 32.9 %
The light
Daylight swings hard at this latitude. December's debt is repaid, with interest, in June.
The weather
January
-3.1°
July
+17.9°
Proper inland winters, colder than Stockholm — and proper student springs that make up for them.
Getting in & around
- By air
- Arlanda (ARN) — 18 min by train. Uppsala is closer to the international airport than Stockholm is.
- Day to day
- A genuine bicycle city: flat, compact, with more bikes than residents. UL buses cover the rest.
The feel is a college town with a capital's brains: thirteen student nations with their own pubs, choirs and balls; biotech labs next to medieval streets. On April 30th the whole city wears white caps and loses its composure — once a year, precisely.
“Everyone in Uppsala is either twenty-two or has a Nobel theory. Often both.”
Uppsala · 59.8586° N — 17.6389° E
Where people live
01
Luthagen
The classic mix: students, young families and professors sharing leafy streets a short cycle from everything.
02
Fålhagen
Central and practical, right by the station — the commuter's choice, with the city core five minutes on foot.
03
Kåbo
Quiet villa streets between the botanical garden and the hospital campus. Where the professors end up.
Loved
- Nation life: student clubs with their own pubs and balls
- Thirty-eight minutes to Stockholm by train — and 18 to Arlanda
- A city genuinely built for bicycles
Grumbled about
- July, when the students leave and the lights go out
- The autumn housing scramble, every autumn
- Small enough that everyone knows
Best for
Students & academicsLife-science careersStockholm salaries, calmer rents