World Heritage since 1993
Sweden's first town stood on an island in Lake Mälaren that can still only be reached by boat. Across the sound, on Adelsö, lies the royal estate that governed it. Together they form a World Heritage site, at the western end of Ekerö municipality.
Birka was founded around 750 as a trading place on Björkö and was in use for a little over two hundred years, until it was abandoned in the late 900s when Sigtuna took over. What can be seen today is the black earth where the town stood, the town rampart, the hill fort and the burial grounds with around 3,000 graves.
The royal estate on Adelsö, straight across the sound. The trading place was governed from here. On the site are the royal mounds, the rune stone and the ruin of Alsnö hus, the brick palace that Magnus Ladulås had built in the 1270s and where the Alsnö statute was issued around 1280. Hovgården is freely accessible all year, a short walk from Adelsö church, with the municipality's information point in the Adelsö heritage farm.
The monk Ansgar came to Birka in 829 on behalf of the Frankish emperor and founded Sweden's first Christian congregation. The Ansgar cross on the hill above the town was raised in 1834 for the thousandth anniversary, and the Ansgar chapel beside it was built in 1930.
The Birka museum shows finds from the excavations and models of what the town looked like. Next to it is the reconstructed Viking village with houses, crafts and a farmstead. The museum, the village, the guided tours and the restaurant are run by Strömma and are open during the boat season.
One of Sweden's smallest reserves, 1.6 hectares of coniferous forest with trees over two hundred years old, protected as early as 1944. The whole of Björkö is also part of the World Heritage area, so nothing may be dug, and the island is grazed to keep the landscape open.
Birka's predecessor. On Helgö, the island between Ekerön and Kungshatt, a summer-cottage owner found traces of a settlement in 1950, and the excavations that began in 1954 continued into the 1980s. The trading place was in use for at least six hundred years from the 200s. The finds included a small Buddha figurine cast in India in the 500s, an Irish bishop's crozier from the 800s and a Coptic baptismal ladle from Egypt, today at the Swedish History Museum. The site is an ancient monument area with signs, freely accessible.
Birka and Hovgården were inscribed in 1993 as the best-preserved example of the Viking Age trading network and of how the town and royal power were linked. No later settlement has been built on top: Björkö is essentially untouched since the 900s, which is why the excavations keep producing new answers about life in the Mälaren valley a thousand years ago.
Adelsö church, the Adelsö bathing spot and the rest of the island are under the islands. The Munsö–Adelsö ferry and the boats under getting here.
Information last checked 19 October 2026.