Helsingborg is your best introduction to Skåne, Sweden’s much-loved southern region, where wealthy urbanites from Stockholm and Gothenburg have built summer homes to spend time enjoying the pleasant climate, fish-filled lakes and the countryside dotted with medieval castles.

With a photogenic castle, a rebuilt 17th-century old town, a labyrinth of cobblestoned alleys and an imposing Baroque cathedral, Kalmar may seem like a port city whose prime time was in the past, but it seamlessly merged medieval history with late-19th-century industrialism.