"Mansions and lakes" Katrineholm by Sjalen

Katrineholm is primarily known for being where the Swedish PM Goeran Persson kicked-off his career as the town mayor before becoming national. As a town, it is quite boring as it is small but without any of the prettyness of wooden towns of similar size. However, it makes up for this by some lovely rural countryside full of mansions and lakes. It is in the middle of a county full of farms and mansions where the locals deliver produce (or offer weekend breaks) to nearby Stockholm which is also easy to reach by train. The ice age has left its traces in the landscape so that often you find glacial valleys with farms in and surrounded by forests. Add the lakes to this and you get excellent canoeing and horse trekking landscape.

• Pros:relaxing countryside with lakes and mansions, high speed train stop
• Cons:town itself is boring
• In a nutshell:Canoeing mecca