The significance would then be that berg- is the correct interpretation, and support for this can be found in Gotlandic, where borg can mean beach hill or high sand dune, and that berg-meaning has been well spread throughout the East Nordic area.

The city received its charter in 1816 and emerged as a spa-town in the shadow of the ruins of the once mighty Borgholm Castle, which burned down in 1806.

So important and magnificent was this castle, that it has become the city arms, and the ruins are the best known attraction in the municipality, perhaps on the entire island of Öland.

The air on Öland and especially in Borgholm was considered beneficial, and well-to-do guests flocked in from the rest of Sweden, often by boat.

At the turn of the century in 1900, tourism also began to gain momentum, especially after the royal family's residence Solliden was completed.

The Swedish Royal Family has its official summer residence at Solliden Palace a couple of kilometres outside the city centre.

There are small reaches of the Stora Alvaret geological formation in the environs of Borgholm, which level exposures of limestone host a variety of rare species of butterflies and wildflowers, some of which are endemic to Öland.