Astrid Lindgren's World

A Theme Park Built From The Stories Of Astrid Lindgren, In Her Home Town: Villa Villekulla, Noisy Village And The Emil Farm At Child Scale, With Actors Playing Scenes All Day · Vimmerby, Kalmar County

Astrid Lindgren's World is a theme park in Vimmerby, the small Smaland town where the author of Pippi Longstocking was born in 1907. It opened in 1981 and is not a ride park at all: it is a walk-through world of the books, built at child scale and brought to life by actors. Children climb through Villa Villekulla with Pippi and her horse, visit the Katthult farm where Emil carves his wooden men, run between the three red farms of Bullerbyn (Noisy Village), peek into Madicken's Junibacken and climb to Mattis castle from Ronja the Robber's Daughter. Short plays run all day on outdoor stages, and the cast stay in character between shows, so children meet their heroes up close. Families come because it is gentle, green, uncommercial by theme-park standards and rooted in stories Swedes grew up with. The honest caveat: nearly every performance is in Swedish, there are few or no mechanical rides, it suits children of about 3 to 10 best, and it is open only in summer plus short autumn or Christmas seasons.

Astrid Lindgrens Varld, on the edge of Vimmerby in northern Smaland, Vimmerby, Kalmar County, Sweden

Seasonal - check the current calendar before you travel. The main season runs roughly mid-May to late August, often daily from about early June to mid-August with a full programme of plays, and weekends or a reduced programme at the edges. Short extra seasons have run in the autumn school holiday and before Christmas in recent years - confirm whether they run this year and what is open. The park is CLOSED the rest of the year. Daytime opening only, roughly 10 am to 5 or 6 pm; confirm. Getting there: by car, Vimmerby is about 4 hours from Stockholm or Gothenburg and 1.5 hours from Kalmar or Linkoping; the park is signposted on the edge of town with a large car park. Regional trains on the Linkoping-Kalmar line stop at Vimmerby station, a walk or short local bus ride away - confirm connections. Buy day tickets online ahead for July, and book the on-site campsite or cabins months ahead for summer.

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