An extraordinary example of 17th-century Swedish baroque architecture, with cupolas, towers and ornate plasterwork, Läckö Slott lies 23km north of Lidköping. The first castle on the site was constructed in 1298, but it was improved enormously by Count Magnus Gabriel de la Gardie after he acquired it in 1615.
Admission includes 40-minute guided tours. From mid-June to mid-August, bus 132 runs three times daily from Lidköping to the castle (Skr32, 50 minutes).
The lakeside castle has 240 rooms, with the most impressive being the King’s Hall, with 13 angels hanging from the ceiling and nine epic paintings depicting the Thirty Years War. Most rooms are largely unadorned, with the exception of their spectacularly painted ceilings.
Tours run on the hour and give you access to the most interesting rooms, including the representative apartments, the count’s private chambers, the Banquet Hall where guests sat down for their 55-course meals and the chamber with the German double-headed eagle, perhaps intended as mockery of the enemy. From mid-June to August there are English-language tours at 11.30am, 1.30pm and 3.30pm daily. Otherwise you’re free to bumble about in the kitchen, dungeon, armour chamber, chapel and the terraced castle gardens that overlook the lake. The lower floors contain shops and the atmospheric castle restaurant, Fataburen, which uses vegetables and herbs from the castle garden.
Classical-music and opera events are held in the courtyard several times in July and August; enquire at Lidköping tourist office.
