One of the best ways to distinguish Sweden from the other Nordic countries is via its roads. Sweden often has white dashes on the sides of its roads. These dashes are different from the Norwegian dashes as they are shorter than the space between the dashes. Swedish road paint is typically white which contrasts Finnish and Norwegian roads which sometimes feature yellow road paint. Swedish roads are typically wider than standard Norwegian and Finnish roads. Another defining feature of Sweden is its warning signs. These are triangular shaped with a red border and yellow shading. The only other European countries to have similar warning signs are Finland, Greece, North Macedonia and Iceland. Poland has similar looking signs but they have a thin red outline as opposed to the thick red outline of the aforementioned countries. Sweden also has the same colour scheme for its circular speed limit signs- a red outline and yellow filling. The Swedish landscape is generally flat with some gradual undulations. The Swedish-Norwegian border is home to mountains but the rest of the country is largely void of sharp rises. Like both Norway and Finland, Sweden has thick vegetation. The country uses generic looking black and white European bollards and these occur quite frequently. Swedish street signs often end in the suffixes ‘…gatan’ and ‘…vägen’. Swedish directional signs are blue with white lettering- the same type used in Finland but different to the other Nordic countries. The Swedish language has three letters that occur in few other languages. These are ä, ö and å. Finnish has similar letters but has many double letters in words- something that Sweden typically lacks. The Swedish highway system is explained in detail in the ‘Highways Numbering Systems’ section further up this article. Sweden commonly has white dashed side lines and a white centre line. The Swedish dashes on the sides of the road have the gap between the dashes as longer than the dashes themselves. This contrasts Norway’s side dashes in which the dashes are longer than the gaps. Sweden is one of only a few countries in Europe to have this type of warning sign. It is triangular, has a thick red border and yellow colouring. Finland, Greece, North Macedonia and Iceland are the other European countries that have the same warning sign. Poland has similar looking warning signs with a very thin red border. Swedish Speed limits are also written in a circle with the same colour system as their warning signs. The Swedish landscape is much flatter than Norway’s landscape (other than the Sweden-Norway border which is mountainous). Like Finland and Norway, the country has thick vegetation. The Swedish roads are typically fairly wide and commonly have some form of white centre line. A typical scene from a Swedish town. Note the brownish-red houses, the warning and speed signs with a red border and yellow filling and thick vegetation in the distance where the town ends. Sweden mainly has fairly generic European bollards. Bollards are a regular sight in Sweden. The back of Swedish bollards. Sweden uses wooden, circular utility poles. Norway, Finland and a number of other countries also use these poles. Swedish street signs end in the suffixes ‘…gatan’ and ‘…vägen’. Swedish directional signs are blue coloured with white writing. These are the same colours as the Finnish directional signs. The other Nordic countries have different coloured directional signs to Sweden. It is often possible to work out where in Sweden you are located, just from the town name. For example, towns ending in ‘…vaara’ are most common in northern Sweden. The Swedish language has ‘eyes’ (two small dots) over the a and o sometimes: ä and ö. The letter ‘a’ also sometimes has a circle above it: å. Finnish has similar letters but stands out for its glut of double letters- something Swedish largely lacks.

Swedish licence plates are long, white, and have the standard blue EU strip on the left side. Licence plates on taxis have a yellow background instead of white.

On smaller roads, the outer road lines are white and dashed. They are distinctly shorter than the Norwegian dashed lines. In contrast to Norway and Finland, all road lines are white.

The outer road lines on highways look solid from a distance, but are typically divided into small sections with a unique pattern, which is different from the solid lines in Finland and Norway. Road lines in Denmark can have a similar pattern, however the individual sections should be rectangular.

Swedish bollards are black-and-white, typically with a grey reflector. Reflectors by intersections are commonly orange instead. They can be either wedge-shaped, round, or thin and curved.

Snow poles are typically orange, with a tall white reflector slightly above the middle of the pole. Some poles have a second, thinner reflector above the normal one.

Finland and Norway both have similar orange snow poles. The reflector on Finnish poles is usually much thinner and very close to the top. Norwegian poles typically have either one or two slightly thinner reflectors, with one commonly being very close to the middle.

Swedish utility poles are usually wooden and can have a variety of poletops. There is commonly a small black metal cap on the very top, which is only found in Nordic countries.

Norway and Finland also use primarily wooden poles.

Swedish pedestrian signs have four stripes. There is notably a version featuring a female silhouette.

Finnish and Danish pedestrian signs have five stripes. Norwegian pedestrian signs usually have four stripes, but can also have five.

Most directional signs are blue with a white font and border. A thin arrow shows the direction. 

Yellow signs with a black font and red border are also common. Places showcased on yellow signs are typically very small.

Norwegian directional signs are yellow or white, and the white arrow on Finnish signs is filled in.

Swedish road signs have a red border and a yellow background.

Finnish road signs have a thin yellow border outside the red one.

Sweden is the only country in Europe whose chevrons have yellow arrows on a blue background.

While very rare, yellow on blue chevrons also exist in Luxembourg.

On smaller roads, it is common to see these blue signs with a large white M.

Similar signs can be found in Norway, however the font is distinctly different. The middle point of the M extends to the bottom of the letter. There are no similar signs in Finland.

Signposts will often have striped markings. Blue and white, and red and yellow are the two most common, but rarely you may also find blue and red.

Blue and white markings can be found in several other countries, such as Finland and Estonia, however the other colour schemes are essentially unique to Sweden.

Swedish is a North Germanic language that is closely related to Danish and Norwegian. The Swedish alphabet contains these special letters: Å, Ä and Ö.

The special letters found in Swedish can also be found in some of the other Northern Germanic languages:

Danish uses Å, but not Ä or Ö.

Norwegian uses Å, but not Ä or Ö.

Icelandic uses Ö, but not Å or Ä.

Finnish uses Ä and Ö. Å is also used, but is treated as Swedish. Finnish words are typically longer and often use double vowels, which are very rare in Swedish.

Swedish street names most commonly use the suffixes “vägen” and “gatan”. They are often shortened into “v” and “g” respectively on street signs. Street names can also use “väg” or “gata” as a separate word in a street name. Additionally, the suffix “gränd” can be found near city centres.

Norway uses veien or vei, gate or gaten, and gata attached to the rest of the street name, rather than as a separate word. Denmark uses vej and gade.

Houses in the Swedish countryside are most commonly wooden and often painted with a distinct dark red paint, which is almost exclusively found in Sweden, Norway and Finland. 

Urban architecture is usually modern and made of concrete and bricks, while suburban buildings are commonly freestanding single family houses built of either wood or brick.

Sweden has a varied landscape, with a lot of boreal forests, small to medium-sized farmlands and many lakes. The northern and western parts of the country are quite mountainous, with long, narrow lakes and rivers, while the southern and eastern parts are generally flatter.

The most common car brand in Sweden is Volvo, which makes up almost 30% of all passenger cars.

Approximately 10% of all passenger cars in both Norway and Finland are Volvo.

Sweden features a bollard style which are white, with a black rectangle around 1/3 from the top which contains a white rectangle inside of it.

A common sight also are these snow poles.

Road Lines:

Sweden features short, white, dashed road sides, and white central lines.

Road Signs:

Sweden features, green, blue, and yellow road signs.

Yellow signs are often used for important information such as speed limits etc.

While it may look like a traditional guardrail, its actually smaller than normal. It also seems to be a bit more square, and will have a white reflector inside.

Electricity poles:

Sweden features wooden electricity poles.

License plates:

Sweden uses the standard European style plate. Taxi’s will feature a yellow plate, and often the vehicle will have a town name on it.

Phone number:

Swedish phone numbers all begin with a 0, Mobiles beginning with 07.

Vegetation/Landscape:

Sweden is fairly flat, with some slight mountains closer to its Norwegian border or north. It is well forested.

Architecture:

Sweden features some fairly recognizable architecture, often red painted wooden houses can be found.
