Selfie tourism has taken some of the world’s most popular destinations by storm, with travelers queuing for hours to get “the” photo without really caring what they are pointing their camera at.
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A Swedish destination has found an original way to stop this phenomenon: an “IQ tourism” program.
Rather than directing visitors to the most photographed sites, Uppsala, a university town just 40 minutes by train north of Stockholm, uses an IQ symbol to direct them to experiences that offer “depth, clever stories and unexpected layers of history.”
“We want curiosity to be the first reason to come here,†says Helena Bovin, marketing manager at Destination Uppsala.
“It’s an evolution toward travel focused on meaning and context rather than just another experience to check off a list. HAS”
Uppsala: where to experience “IQ tourism”
One of Sweden’s youngest cities – almost half the population is under 30 – it’s no surprise that many of the places in the IQ tourism program (source in English) are linked to Uppsala’s status as a university town.
Uppsala University is the oldest in Sweden and its most famous alumnus is Anders Celsius. Yes, this Celsius: in the 18th century, Anders developed the 100 degree thermometer, the original of which – which sets 0° for boiling and 100° for freezing – is on display at the Gustavianum. The university museum also houses a 17th-century anatomical theater, with numerous scientific instruments, anatomical pieces and historical objects.
You can do like the locals by going to Ofvandahls Hovkonditori, a student café first opened in 1878, or to Arrenius, a café-roaster where you will have every chance of getting into lively discussions with your tablemates, in the spirit of the English cafés of 17th century.
Just outside the town is the Gamla Uppsala Museum, built near royal burial mounds dating from the Vendel period (AD 550-800). There you can discover this history as well as the importance of the site during the Viking Age (800-1050 AD), when it was used for sacrifices to gods such as Thor, Odin and Freyr.
As part of the program, Uppsala also designed a mobile red spyglass, aimed at small details that most people pass by without noticing.
She will point in particular to the never-cleaned window of Uppsala Cathedral, which gives a glimpse of what the building looked like before its 19th-century renovation, the paving stone in front of Östgöta Nation which proclaims that “nothing happened here” in 1965, and the small houses of mice created by artists Jekaterina Pertoft and Zilmara Suarez, scattered throughout the city.
