Uppsala & its Guitar Festival: a guitarist's travel guide
Uppsala International Guitar Festival & Competition · Uppsala, Sweden
Uppsala, Sweden's ancient university city north of Stockholm, hosts what is widely called the largest guitar festival in Scandinavia. Founded in 2003 and grown from a tiny café gathering into a week of concerts across every guitar style, it is a warm, popular event in a graceful old town of cathedral and college.
Getting there
Uppsala is remarkably easy to reach: direct trains run from Stockholm in about forty minutes, and Stockholm Arlanda airport (ARN) is only around eighteen minutes away by train. The centre is compact and walkable.
Compare trains, buses & flights to Uppsala on Omio →
Where to stay
Stay near the centre, between the cathedral and the river, and the main concert hall and the festival venues are close by. Uppsala is student-friendly and easy to navigate, a calm base with Stockholm on the doorstep.
An interactive map of hotels, apartments and B&Bs across Booking, Expedia, Airbnb and more, centred on Uppsala.
See stays in Uppsala →What you'll hear
The festival is a broad, genre-spanning celebration, with concerts from classical to flamenco, jazz and fingerstyle, plus masterclasses, forums and a guitar fair, alongside a competition for young talent. Its stages have hosted true legends of the instrument over the years. The pleasure here is the sheer range of guitar music gathered in one week.
If you play as well as listen, explore J.S. Bach, a staple of the Nordic guitar recital on Sheet Music Plus →
Where to eat
Swedish home cooking is comforting: köttbullar, the meatballs served with lingonberry, pickled herring and gravlax, and the ritual of fika, coffee with a cinnamon bun. A slice of princess cake is the classic treat.
While you're there
Just north of town, Gamla Uppsala and its Viking-age burial mounds open a window on the deep past, and Sweden's oldest town, Sigtuna, with its runestones, makes a pretty day trip. Stockholm is close enough to fold into the visit. A rental car makes the day trips simple, and GetYourGuide lists guided tours and tickets across the region.
Enter the pieces you play, and GuitarComp shows how your programme maps to this competition's rounds and which other events you qualify for.
See full competition details →Competition dates, deadlines and the current compulsory work change each edition, so always confirm at the official site: uppsalagitarrfestival.se.