The country around Jönköping offers some excellent day trips. Gränna, 40 km north along the lake, is a picture-postcard small town best known for its red-and-white striped polkagris candy, made by hand in shops you can watch from the street. It was also the birthplace of polar explorer Salomon August Andrée, and a small museum tells his doomed 1897 attempt to reach the North Pole by hydrogen balloon.
Astrid Lindgren's World, the theme park devoted to Pippi Longstocking and Lindgren's other characters, is about 90 minutes east in Vimmerby and is excellent for families with young children. Gothenburg is roughly two hours west — far enough for a long day trip, but worth it for the Liseberg amusement park, the fish market, and one of Sweden's best restaurant scenes.
