The story
Villa Anna stands on Odinslund, one of Uppsala's oldest walking paths — an avenue laid out by the botanist Carl von Linné. The building itself dates to 1874, designed by brothers Axel and Hjalmar Kumlien, the same architects behind the Grand Hotel in Stockholm. It was commissioned by factory owner Carl Edward Ekman as a gift to his daughter, Anna Gustafva Ekman, and her husband, Professor Knut Henning Geselius von Schéele. Over the following decades the villa housed the Kalmar Nation, a medical library, and a Christian girls' school before eventually serving as a parish hall. Today it operates as a small-scale boutique hotel, owned and carefully restored by the real estate company MIAB Förvaltning, with every room uniquely furnished and the soul of the original building kept firmly intact.
White Guide, which awarded Villa Anna a "Very fine level" rating for 2026, captures the place well: there is something unmistakably continental about settling into the lobby with a glass of wine or a cup of coffee, the kind of feeling that transports you somewhere further afield without ever leaving Uppsala. It is an illusion the house pulls off with quiet confidence, and it is precisely that quality — warm, personal, unhurried — that sets Villa Anna apart from larger hotel dining rooms.
The kitchen works within a New Nordic framework, described by the restaurant itself as "Nordic by Nature." The dinner menus — one shorter, one more expansive — are the main draw, and White Guide singles them out as the real attraction alongside an impressive wine cellar. Saturday afternoons bring another reason to visit: a proper afternoon tea, served in two sittings. Weekday lunches round out the week, making Villa Anna one of the few places in Uppsala where the same address rewards you at almost any hour of the day.
The New Nordic approach here is rooted in place — the avenue outside, the cathedral city around it, the long Scandinavian seasons — and the setting gives the cooking a sense of occasion that feels earned rather than performed.
Recognition
Ambience
Details
History
It is so temptingly easy to settle into the lobby with a glass or a cup of coffee and pretend you are on a much more distant journey. Some establishments manage to pull that off, transporting guests within the room to the feeling we casually refer to as continental. Villa Anna excels at this, and sometimes it is precisely that kind of illusion one longs for. An obvious spot for afternoon tea, in other words – it is indeed served here too, on Saturdays – but it is the dinner menus, a small and a larger one, that are the real drawcards. Along with the impressive wine cellar.
Location
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