5 days of hiking Skåneleden (Österlen)

Last week, I hiked part of Österlen with my family, a path that follows the southeast coast of Sweden.

Why Österlen? A couple of reasons: we first intended to go explore the Swedish Lapland in Abisko (Kungsleden), but realised that we would have to carry everything for an 8-day hiking trip (at least food-wise) and my family came from France by train and going up north would add a good day to the train trip.

We then searched for a really nice hiking trip and stumbled upon STF (Svenska Turistföreningen – Swedish Tourist Association) and found the STF Signature trails: trails that are between 4 and 8 days long, selected for their beauty in nature and culture, with accommodation at the end of every part.

We had already visited Linköping and Stockholm, so we decided to go toward Gothenburg and Malmö and look for trails nearby. That’s how we found Österlen, a trail in Skåne (Malmö’s region).

Enough talking about how we came to do this trail, let’s dive into the parts we did and the photos!

Day 1: Nybrostand -> Backåkra (17 kms)

We started strong with our biggest distance on the first day. We took a regional train and bus from Malmö to drop us at the start of the hike. The first part was not the most interesting as we walked near the road, under the sun and around a military field (with cows). We found some nice fruits and vegetables in an unmanned stand and continued our hike, with a higher point of view of the sea. We finished by walking in the sand, which was a bit tiring.

Day 2: Backåkra -> Borrbystrand (13 kms)

After a nice morning in the forest, we arrived at the earliest safeguards lighthouse created in Sweden, either to prevent ships from falling into quicksand or to prevent the stickinesses of the survivors. The beach was covered in a thick fog. We then walked the whole afternoon in thin sand, having difficulties going forward. The fresh air from the sea was really nice.