Ystad, Sweden
48 hours in Ystad, Sweden – an insider weekend itinerary
The town of Ystad looks almost suspiciously well behaved: pastel lanes, half-timbered houses, beach huts and Nordic light. In Skåne, southern Sweden, that kind of prettiness can feel too easy. If you ask us, the reward is what sits underneath: old port muscle, military leftovers, bath-hotel theatre, Nordic noir, scandalous art and a few restaurants with bite.
Table of Contents
Day 01
15.00
It’s check-in time
Start where Ystad is most persuasive: just outside the old town, close to the beach and the pine forest, in a house too specific to treat as a standard hotel. Villa Strandvägen is an ESS Group stay and the smaller sibling to Ystad Saltsjöbad, with seven rooms in a villa from 1899 and a country-style kitchen at the centre of it all. The style is warm, old-school and slightly theatrical rather than clean-lined or coastal-minimal: creaking wooden floors, individual rooms, generous dining spaces and a garden made for a slow arrival. Check in here before walking towards town.
Villa Strandvägen
Strandvägen 1
Ystad
Sweden
Affiliate link (what is it?)
Photography courtesy of Villa Strandvägen
16.00
Beach huts, pines and Nordic noir
Take the longer route into town. From Villa Strandvägen, walk west along the beach past bathing huts, sandy paths, low holiday houses and the flat, practical edge of Ystad’s seaside life. Then turn inland through Ystad Sandskog, the coastal pine forest and nature reserve east of the centre, where sand dunes are partly covered by trees. Continue towards Regementet, Ystad’s former military area, where the city had a permanent military presence from 1773 to 1997. Its old air defence halls were converted into Ystad Studios in 2004, later used for Wallander, the crime series that turned Ystad into an international Nordic noir address.
Photography courtesy of Visit Ystad
18.00
Take the lift to the old pool bar
Fritiden is Ystad’s strangest pre-dinner move, in the best sense. The building began as Fritidsbadet, a 1961 public swimming pool that served the town until 2014, then reopened in 2020 as a hotel with its bathing-past left visible: a diving board in the restaurant, starting blocks in the corridors. Take the lift to Rooftop 360 on the seventh floor, where the bar’s G&T fixation feels exactly right: crisp, unfussy and not trying to turn Ystad into Stockholm. Below are the station, marina, ferry port, red roofs and Baltic horizon.
Fritiden
Österleden 19
Ystad
Sweden
Photography courtesy of Fritiden
19.00
A small bistro with a long kitchen memory
Le Petit Bistrot is not old Ystad, even if it already feels sewn into the town. Jennie Fredman Benson and Jonas Benson opened the 22-seat restaurant on Stora Östergatan in 2021, bringing with them a family line that runs through Swedish restaurant history: Jennie’s father, Crister Svantesson, helped put Gothenburg on the culinary map with restaurant Johanna and later became part of the bistro’s story in Ystad. Come for classic Swedish-French cooking, proper sauces, a compact room, wines by the glass and service that explains why this tiny place won Skånes Gastronomipris for best hospitality.
Read our edit of Ystad’s best restaurants.
Le Petit Bistrot
Stora Östergatan 32
Ystad
Sweden
Photography courtesy of Le Petit Bistrot
Day 02
9.00
Breakfast with its own crumb structure
Start the day at Söderberg & Sara, the Ystad bakery that opened in 2010 as a small sourdough operation and became one of Skåne’s clearest arguments for skipping hotel breakfast. The bakery sits by Österportstorg, close to the edge of the old town, and still feels more production space than polished café. Bread is the point: naturally leavened, baked in a stone oven and made with flour from Skåne, Bornholm and small mills. Order coffee, something on their own bread, overnight oats and a cardamom bun.
Söderberg & Sara
Regementsgatan 2
Ystad
Sweden
Photography courtesy of The Nordic Nomad
10.00
Take the white-robe catwalk to a dip
Ystad Saltsjöbad is not the most sophisticated stop in the guide, but it’s a fun stop nonetheless, if you’re in need of some R&R. The spa hotel began in 1897 as a bath hotel in Sandskogen, with 12 rooms, verandas and separate warm and cold bathhouses. ESS Group took over in 2007 and sharpened it into a full resort. Book Lido Club & Spa for the treatments, heated pools, sauna, jacuzzi, ice bath and open fires, but do not skip the wooden sea pier. The walk down in a white robe feels like a small coastal performance, with the Baltic waiting at the end.
Lido Club & Spa
Saltsjöbadsvägen 15
Ystad
Sweden
Photography courtesy of Ystad Saltsjöbad
12.30
Lunch in the historic courtyard
Back in town, just off the main pedestrian street, Grändens Mat is a go-to for lunch. The restaurant sits inside Per Helsas gård, a protected half-timbered block with building traces from the 17th century and later 18th and 19th-century additions around a large courtyard. That setting is the draw: old timber, brick, cobbles, outdoor tables when the weather plays along and a menu that stays fairly steady. What changes is what you should order: poké bowls and lighter plates in summer, meat stews in winter and plenty of local soft drinks and beers either way. It gets lively in summer, so book ahead or prepare to queue.
Read our edit of Ystad’s best restaurants.
Grändens Mat
Besökaregränd 3
Ystad
Sweden
Photography courtesy of Grändens Mat
13.30
Enjoy gelato with an Italian endorsement
After lunch, cut across to Glassmakeriet, a small gelato shop where the counter usually carries around 24 flavours, with sorbets and vegan options alongside the dairy-heavy classics. The gelato is made daily in-house with Italian recipes, fruit, berries, roasted nuts and cooked sauces. Italian friends have judged it better than what they get back home, which is dangerous praise for a place this modest. Test the claim yourself, but do not get democratic about the order: browned butter with candied nuts is the one to beat. Take it into the street and keep walking.
Glassmakeriet
Teatergränd 1
Ystad
Sweden
Photography courtesy of The Nordic Nomad
14.00
Take in a room-sized art provocation
Ystads Konstmuseum is a neat functionalist museum from 1936, but come for the room-sized provocation: Oscar Matthiesen’s Skånska dragoner rida till bad. Painted in 1906, the 4.6-by-10-metre canvas shows naked Scanian dragoon officers riding bareback into the sea at Ystad beach, many of them portrayed from real officers at Ystad’s cavalry regiment. It was a scandalous proposition then and still feels slightly illicit now, partly because its scale makes enjoyment feel physical. Sun, saltwater, horse muscle, military bodies, no apology. Afterwards, reset with the collection’s Skåne line: Tora Vega Holmström, Inger Ekdahl, Gerhard Nordström, Gittan Jönsson and the Billgrens.
Ystads Konstmuseum
Sankt Knuts torg
Ystad
Sweden
Photography courtesy of The Nordic Nomad
15.00
The city inside the cloister
After Matthiesen’s ten metres of sun, skin and military exhibitionism, Klostret i Ystad changes the register. The former Greyfriars monastery was founded in 1267 by the knight Holmger and his wife Katarina for the Franciscan order, the urban preaching friars who moved through the messy world of commerce, piety and ordinary town life. Today the red-brick complex is Ystad’s city-history museum, with exhibitions on the monastery, folk decoration and the tower watchman tradition from S Maria church. Go for the medieval walls, the cloistered calm and the scented rose gardens, which bring the city back down to earth.
Klostret i Ystad
S:t Petri Kyrkoplan
Ystad
Sweden
Photography courtesy of The Nordic Nomad
16.30
Walk the postcard streets properly
After the monastery, take the long way through old Ystad: Lilla Västergatan first, then Pilgränd, Stora Västergatan, Garvaregränd and the passages around Per Helsas gård. The colours do the obvious work – ochre, orange, pink, blue trim, red roofs and hollyhocks – but the better detail is the name. Per Helsas gård sounds ancient, yet comes from Per Hansson, who owned the block in the early 20th century and ran a soft-drink factory called Helsan there. Nearby, S Maria’s tower watchman has been guarding the city since 1748.
18.00
Drink at the old grand hotel
Continental du Sud is where Ystad stops feeling like only a small town. Opened in 1829, across from the station and close to the ferry harbour, it still carries the confidence of a place built for arrivals, departures and people passing through. Go for a pre-dinner drink in Bakfickan, the hotel’s summer courtyard, when the weather allows. Order a glass of Champagne, Crémant or a very cold dry white and let the setting do the work: chandeliers inside, old travel money in the walls, port-town history outside and dinner waiting a few streets away.
Continental du Sud
Hamngatan 13
Ystad
Sweden
Photography courtesy of Continental du Sud
19.30
Order someting truffle-related in the old station
Tryffelsvinet sits in Ystad’s former railway station from 1865, with Stationen B&B upstairs and the tracks, harbour and town centre all close by. The setting gives the place its charge: old waiting-room scale, high ceilings, movement outside and tables set for Italian-leaning food with enough truffle to justify the name. Start with the beef tartare, which is the strongest order, then add the tuna tartare if you are sharing. Burrata, vitello tonnato, pasta and wine can do the rest. It is generous, busy and best when dinner is allowed to run long.
Read our edit of Ystad’s best restaurants.
Tryffelsvinet
Köpmansgatan 15
Ystad
Sweden
Photography courtesy of The Nordic Nomad
Day 03
9.00
Have breakfast with Wallander completists
Fridolfs Konditori is a plain central café with an oversized fictional shadow. Kurt Wallander, the detective created by Swedish crime writer Henning Mankell, helped turn Ystad into one of Scandinavia’s best-known crime settings, and Fridolfs sits on that map as his regular café. Go with clear expectations: this is not a posh breakfast spot. Order coffee, an open sandwich, a cinnamon bun or the blue-topped Wallander pastry. You may well have breakfast with other die-hard fans, which is half the point.
Fridolfs Konditori
Lingsgatan 3
Ystad
Sweden
10.00
Pick up a little something to take home
In all honesty, Ystad’s retail scene leans more into everyday practicality than destination shopping, so pick the stops with character. Start outside the centre at Kompass Kafferosteri, run by Märta Skillmark, who has managed cafés, and Philip Lundberg, whose coffee path includes roasting at Johan & Nyström. Back in town, try Konsthantverkarna i Ystad, a 2005 craft association in 1640s Jens Jacobsens Hus, then Bäckströms Hattar, founded by Aqvilina Möller in 1847 and now run by sisters Carina and Christina. Add cheese from Ostkällaren, tea and chocolates from Gourmethörnan and, for the oddest souvenir, Ystad Skeppshandel for ship brass, lamps and rope.
Kompass Kafferosteri
Koppargatan 19
Ystad
Sweden
Konsthantverkarna i Ystad
Tvättorget 2
Ystad
Sweden
Bäckströms Hattar
Stora Östergatan 16
Ystad
Sweden
&Kött
Malmövägen 28
Ystad
Sweden
Ostkällaren
Stora Östergatan 1
Ystad
Sweden
Gourmethörnan
Stora Östergatan 20
Ystad
Sweden
Ystad Skeppshandel
Spanienfararegatan 1
Ystad
Sweden
Photography courtesy of Kompass Kafferosteri and The Nordic Nomad
12.30
Chase the schnitzel for your final lunch
Tumült sits in Regementet, Ystad’s former military area east of the centre, and makes a strong final lunch if you want to leave town on a louder note. Chef Daniel Müllern, a Ystad native with earlier years at Villa Strandvägen, runs it as a generous neighbourhood restaurant with snacks, sharing plates, serious protein and enough noise to cut through the polite small-town finish. At lunch, the order is the schnitzel if it is on: jalapeño butter, green peas, red wine sauce and bravas fries. Add something cold to drink and let subtlety wait for another trip.
Read our edit of Ystad’s best restaurants.
Tumült
Björnstjernegatan 5
Ystad
Sweden
Photography courtesy of Tumült
Share this
You might also like
Book your stay in Skåne
Stay in the know
Sign up for the latest hotspot news from the Nordics.
Currently most read
Before you rent: the must-read car rental guide for the Nordics
The 2026 hot list: the 11 best new hotels in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden
The 2026 hot list: the 44 best new restaurants in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden
By air, land or water? Pick the best travel route from A to B
Before you book: the must-read guide to Norwegian fjord cruises
Insider guides
