A doctor’s prescription to travel to Sweden is now a real thing. Visit Sweden has launched a global campaign in which physicians from four countries recommend visiting the country as part of a science-backed wellness plan.
Sweden has just become the first country in the world where a doctor can prescribe a vacation. This isn’t a marketing gimmick. It’s a real initiative, complete with clinical paperwork, academic backing, and licensed health professionals willing to put their names behind it.
The campaign, The Swedish Prescription, was launched by Visit Sweden in September 2025. It lets anyone in the world download a medical recommendation form from visitsweden.com. The form is meant to be taken to a doctor’s appointment as a starting point for a conversation about how a trip to Sweden might benefit the patient’s health.
The idea grew out of an international YouGov survey that found most respondents had never heard of “nature prescriptions,” “social prescriptions,” or “cultural prescriptions.”
Yet two out of three said they’d be willing to follow such a recommendation if it came from a doctor.
That statistic became the springboard for the campaign. Visit Sweden worked with Associate Professor Yvonne Forsell of the Karolinska Institute to identify activities in three areas: nature, lifestyle, and culture.
Four physicians have publicly endorsed the initiative. Among them is Dr. Sam Everington, vice president of the British Medical Association, who has long argued that spending time in nature and taking part in cultural activities are evidence-based ways to improve both mental and physical health.
Other backers include Dr. Stacy Beller Stryer, associate medical director of ParkRxAmerica in the United States; Dr. Maaike ten Thije-de Boer, a specialist in physical and rehabilitation medicine in the Netherlands; and German researcher Michael Jeitler, who focuses on green-space interventions at the University of Tübingen.
What the Swedish Prescription Includes
Visit Sweden put together a list of activities that are both quintessentially Swedish and proven to deliver real health benefits. These include hiking through forests, open-water swimming, Nordic spa traditions, and local cultural events. Also on the list is fika, the beloved Swedish tradition of taking a break for coffee and something sweet.
The program, reviewed by researchers at the Karolinska Institute, suggests specific experiences: forest bathing to reduce stress and lower blood pressure, cold-water immersion to boost circulation and energy, sleeping under the stars to regulate circadian rhythms, and dancing at a summer music festival to lift serotonin levels.
Swedish saunas, for instance, are linked to a 65% lower risk of Alzheimer’s and dementia, according to a 2018 study cited in the campaign.
The Science Behind the Initiative
The Swedish initiative didn’t come out of nowhere. In Japan, doctors have been recommending shinrin yoku, or forest bathing, since 1982. The government even invested $4 million to make it part of a national health program.
In 2020, the British government allocated £4 million to a two-year pilot program for green prescriptions as part of its post-pandemic recovery plan.
The body of evidence is compelling. According to a systematic review published in The Lancet Planetary Health, nature prescriptions had a moderate-to-large effect on reducing symptoms of depression and anxiety. They also increased participants’ daily step counts by an average of 900 steps compared with control groups.
What sets the Swedish initiative apart is its scale. According to data cited in the campaign, frequent travelers report life-satisfaction scores up to 7% higher than those who travel less often.
A Tourism Campaign With a Clinical Twist
The campaign includes a video that blends a clinical tone with dry Nordic humor.
In the ad, a stone-faced physician stands waist-deep in a frozen lake or basks in the midnight sun of an Arctic summer. The video ends with pharmaceutical-style side-effect warnings, including “a sudden fondness for pine trees” and an urge to “read as though it were the 19th century.”
The irony is intentional, but the underlying message is serious. Susanne Andersson, chief executive of Visit Sweden, explained that the Swedish way of life naturally promotes well-being — from open access to forests and lakes to fika breaks and a thriving cultural scene.
Sweden isn’t the only country leaning into wellness tourism this way. In 2025, the Tourism Authority of Thailand launched a wellness campaign centered on Phuket, Koh Samui, and Chiang Mai. Singapore, meanwhile, promotes 16 therapeutic gardens across the city as part of its mental-health tourism push.
But none of them have gone so far as to put an entire country on a prescription pad.
