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Late May to early September is the best time to visit, with long, mild days for the river paths and the lakes. Summer is also the wettest season, so pack for showers. Winters are cold and dark, with frost on most days and regular snow.

The biggest event is OpenART, a free outdoor art biennial. Every second summer, for about twelve weeks from June into early September, works by artists from Sweden and abroad fill the city's parks, streets, rooftops and riverbanks.

Örebro castle stands on an islet in the Svartån, at the heart of the city. A defence tower was first built here in the late 13th century, and Duke Karl, later King Karl IX, turned it into a Renaissance castle. Walk the riverbank around it for the classic view of its round corner towers.

S:t Nikolai kyrka on Stortorget is the city's medieval church, begun in the late 13th century and largely built of limestone. A long 19th-century restoration gave it its present Gothic look.

Wadköpings Friluftsmuseum is an open-air quarter of wooden houses and yards, moved here from the old centre when it was rebuilt. The oldest buildings date from the 15th to 17th centuries. Among them is the house linked to Cajsa Warg. Its lanes hold craft workshops, small museums, cafés and the Hjalmar Bergman museum, named after the Örebro-born writer.

Stadsparken, the large city park laid out in the 1860s, runs along the river towards Wadköping at its eastern end. It has themed gardens, sculptures, a big playground and old greenhouses with a café.

Svampen, the 58-metre, mushroom-shaped former water tower from 1958, stands about 2 km north of the centre. A lift takes you to the top for wide views over the flat Närke plain, and a café sits on the terrace.

Oset and Rynningeviken is a nature reserve on both sides of the Svartån by the shore of Lake Hjälmaren, a short bike ride east of the centre. Flat paths, bird hides and reed beds make it a good half-day walk or ride.

Most of what makes Örebro special happens outdoors and by the water.

• Art hunt during OpenART: every second summer, walk or cycle a route through the city to find the outdoor works. Entry is free.
• Swan watching at Tysslingen: from late March, when the snow melts, thousands of swans rest on this lake about 10 km west of the city. Watch them from the bird towers by the shore.
• Cycle to Lake Hjälmaren: follow the river paths east through Stadsparken to the lakeshore reserve at Oset and Rynningeviken.
• Summer evenings in Wadköping: the old quarter hosts open-air theatre, singalongs and concerts in summer.

Örebro sits between the Bergslagen forests to the north and the lakes to the south, so good day trips are close by.

• Kvarntorpshögen (about 25 min by car, south): a warm, 100-metre heap of ash left by a wartime shale-oil works. Today it is a sculpture park with around 30 works and a wide view from the top.
• Kilsbergen (about 30 min by car, west): forested hills with lakes and marked trails. The Ånnaboda recreation area is the easiest starting point for walks.
• Nora (about 30 min by car, north): a small, well-kept wooden town by a lake, one of the gateways to the old mining district of Bergslagen.
• Askersund (about 40 min by car, south): a small lakeside town with a harbour at the northern tip of Lake Vättern.
• Tiveden (about 1 h 15 min by car, south-west): a national park of rough forest, boulder fields and small lakes, with the sandy Vitsand beach.

Örebro sits in the middle of Sweden's main east–west corridor, so other destinations are easy to combine with it.

• East towards the capital: Stockholm and the university city of Uppsala.
• West coast: Gothenburg, Sweden's second city.

• By air: Stockholm Arlanda is the main international gateway. Trains from Arlanda to Örebro take about 2 h 20 min, usually with one change. Örebro Airport, 10 km south-west of the city, has only a few scheduled routes and mostly holiday charter flights.
• By train: Örebro Central is on the main lines to Stockholm and Västerås. Direct trains to Stockholm take about 1 h 50 min. SJ
• By bus: Long-distance coaches, including FlixBus, link Örebro with Stockholm, Arlanda and other Swedish cities.

• Public transport: Länstrafiken Örebro runs the city buses and the regional buses and trains. On city buses you can buy a single ticket from the driver with a payment card, or buy in the Länstrafiken Örebro app. Train tickets cannot be bought on board. Länstrafiken Örebro
• On foot: The centre is compact and flat. The station, the castle, Stadsparken and Wadköping are all within a 20-minute walk of each other.
• Cycling: Cycling is easy and popular, with a wide network of separate cycle paths on flat ground, including routes along the river to Lake Hjälmaren.

• Is a car worth it?: Not for the city, which is flat and easy on foot or by bike. A car is useful for the countryside, where buses are infrequent and many lakes and trailheads are hard to reach without one.
• Parking: Use the multi-storey car parks around the centre or paid street parking. Pay at a machine or with a parking app.
• Restrictions: Much of the core around the main shopping streets is pedestrian, so park on the edge of the centre and walk in.

Örebro is a good place for a classic Swedish lunch: look for the weekday dagens lunch deals in the centre. Cajsa Warg, author of Sweden's best-known 18th-century cookbook, came from Örebro, and her old home stands in Wadköping.

For eating out, head to the streets around Stortorget and the pedestrian shopping streets where most cafés and restaurants cluster. In summer, the cafés in Wadköping and along the river in Stadsparken are the nicest places for fika, the Swedish coffee break.

Örebro is a safe city for visitors. Normal care is enough: watch your bag in crowded places, around the central station and at night in the nightlife streets.

Cycling is popular, so keep off the cycle lanes when you walk. In winter, pavements can be icy; shoes with a good grip help.

Örebro grew up at a bridge over the Svartån, and the name means "the bridge by the gravel bank". It was a trading town by the 13th century and had its town charter by 1404. A defence tower built on the river islet in the late 13th century became the core of Örebro castle.

The rebel leader Engelbrekt Engelbrektsson, who led a rising against the Union king in the 1430s, was buried in S:t Nikolai kyrka after his murder in 1436. His bronze statue from 1865 stands in front of the City Hall. In 1529 a church meeting here pushed the Swedish Reformation forward. From 1573, Duke Karl, the youngest son of Gustav Vasa, rebuilt the fortress into the castle you see today, though it was restored again around 1900.

In 1810 the Swedish parliament met in Örebro and elected the French marshal Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte crown prince. His descendants still form Sweden's royal family. In the late 19th century Örebro grew fast as the centre of the Swedish shoe industry. When the old wooden district was cleared, many of its houses were saved and rebuilt as Wadköpings Friluftsmuseum, which opened in 1965.

Quick practical facts for Sweden at a glance: