In paid partnership with Visit Skåne

SKÅNE

Having spent many summers in Skåne during my childhood, I associate Sweden’s sourthern most region with blissful memories – especially the unspoiled nature, the always freshly baked “kardemummasnurror”, and the moments spent foresting wild raspberries, mushrooms and cherries. My parents once brought home a bag full of cherry stones and today their garden flourish with a handful of fully grown Swedish cherry threes that produce the darkest and sweetest fruits. 

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Creating travel guides for my journal is one of my favorite things to do and equally the type of content I can see is creating a lot of value for you. It makes me happy to the bone when I receive holiday pictures from you from a spot you got to know through one of my guides. It reminds me of why its meaningful to write and create content; to help creating great experiences.

Therefore, when Visit Skåne reached out regarding this wonderful collaboration it was an instant yes (!!!). I love getting the opportunity to do more travel guides, and besides that, I had secretly dreamt of making a trip to Skåne for the past year and a half.

I hope the following travel journaling and tips to Skåne will spark inspiration for many of you for your next trip!

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STAY

Villa Sigrid

We drove from Copenhagen to Skåne via the Öresunds bridge in less than two hours and arrived late in the afternoon in Vejbystrand, the cosy little coastal town were we would stay for the entire 4-day trip.

We stayed at Villa Sigrid, a cute, black tree cottage located on a calm summer house street. Villa Sigrid is an one-bedroom – an intimate space with just exactly what you need; a kitchen, bathroom, living room (with no TV, yay) and a bedroom with an entrance to a wooden terrace where we enjoyed our breakfast or afternoon “fika”.

Check out

Villa Sigrid | Our private cottage in Vejbystrand
Klitterhus Hotel | Sea front hotel in Ängelholm as an alternative

Intuitive traveling

I did a bit of research prior to our trip to have some ideas of where to go and what to see. But besides seeing some of the more obvious sights I’ll go trough in a bit, we simply went along with the day as we felt like and what seemed suitable for the weather. Having homemade breakfast in the morning at Villa Sigrid and deciding on a direction for the day. On our way to a location we would usually make several unplanned stops at e.g. view points, flea markets and farm shops. I loved the intuitive travel style and felt it was easy to experience Skåne this way; without a grand agenda, but still get plenty of great experiences.

Torekov

On our first full day we headed north on Bjäre peninsula with Hovs Hallar as our main destination. By looking at google maps we decided on a route that would first take us west to Torekov, then north-east towards Hovs Hallar and finally east to Båstad.  

Torekov is a small, beautiful, coastal-town with a long history of; arts and craft; fishing; but also severe storms, ship accidents and piracy. Today it is an idyllic town full of great food and wellness options and people mostly come here to relax. We were immediately drawn to the harbor area and took a slow walk between all the red fishermen houses before we sat down for a lunch at Fiskhuset – an old fish smokehouse decorated with pictures of the owner’s fishing adventures dating back to the 70’ties.

We realized that one of the more well known photo spots was in fact located in Torekov: the scenic yellow fishermen house named “Torekovs Lotshus”. Right next to we found “Torekovs Warmbadhus” – a spa house from 1876 that my mom had told me about. They do all sorts of treatments but the one that caught my attention was the one where you lay in a bathtub full of seaweed. I didn’t succeed at talking Kenneth into doing it this time, but wanted to give away the tip anyway! 

Check out

Fiskhuset |Smokehouse
Torekovs Lotshus | Yellow fishermen house
Torekovs Warmbadhus |Spa

Hovs Hallar

After a short drive from Torekov we arrived at Hovs Hallar – a large and beautiful nature reserve located along the coastal line. It’s especially known for its characteristic red and dramatic cliffs and rich plant life. I would recommend to walk all the way down to the beach till the end where you’ll find a small cave. The walk is not too steep or hard - suitable for both elderly, children and animals. Retrospectively, I would have loved to spend a night in a tent somewhere close by or at Hotell Hovs Hallar. I imagine it being a very serene experience to go to bed and wake up so close to this scenery.

After Hovs Hallar we headed towards Båstad via the coast road. On our way we stopped at a few smaller fishing villages and harbors. One worth mentioning and stopping for was Kattvik - a tiny harbor located at the bottom of the hill side making the way down quite steep. It had a small café (however closed when we stopped by) overlooking the harbor and pier where a couple of locals were hanging out in the baking sun and occasionally cooling off in the clear water.

Check out

Hotel Hovs Hallar | Hotel nearby the nature reserve
Bäckdalens Handelsträdgård | Farm shop and café with greenhouse. Great selection of homemade sweets.
Kattvik | Tiny harbour and café

Båstad

Båstad seemed like a well equipped middle-sized town with many cultural options. As with most Swedish coastal towns the harbour area felt like the natural meeting point, and with a serious ice-cream craving we parked the car there and went searching. Tucked away from all the regular "frisko” vendors we found a small booth selling nothing less than the best mango and the best passion fruit ice cream I’ve had in my entire life. No exaggeration. You need to try it!

Besides getting ice cream you should definitely check out the white sand beach next to the harbor. I was completely taken by the sight; the combination of the white sand in the foreground, Hotel Skansen’s cold bath house, and the green lush forest meeting the ocean and making up the back drop. It was this sight that made me realize that Skåne is somewhat very exotic in a Scandinavian way. Lush, fresh, and clean. I’m so sad we forgot to bring our swimsuits – don’t make the same mistake!

Check out

Glassboden Båstad hamn | Insanely good ice cream
Hotel Skansen | Hotel, spa and cold water house
Gårdskrogen Café Utsikten | Café with a beautiful view perfect for lunch or fika

Mölle & Kullaberg

We had planned to spend our last full day hiking a trail stretching along the coastal line from the fishing village Mölle ending up at a well known light house at Kullen. This was a “must do” on our otherwise very loosely defined travel plan because of the anticipated dramatic and picturesque nature sceneries. We were especially looking forward to see a certain rock beach and to fly the drone to try and capture this from above.

However, the day we ventured out to do this ended up being very rainy and with non stop thunderstorms. We stopped at the lovely café and pottery Mölle Krukmakeri to snap a few pictures for the guide and fill up our cups with warm coffee for the trail, and before we knew it the rain was pouring down. We waited for a while to see if it would pass, but realized that it wasn’t going to stop for the rest of the day and night. So, we gave in to the nature’s will and stayed for some hours at Mölle Krukmakeri and had a lovely lunch – together with all the other guest who were also caught up in the rain. After lunch we reluctantly headed home, but ended up having the coziest night in; enjoying hot chocolate with whipped cream on the sofa at Villa Sigrid.

Check out

Kullaberg | Nature reserve
Kullens fyr | Lighthouse at Kullen
Ransvik Havsveranda | Café next to the sea and concrete platform to swim from. Try the waffles!
Mölle Krukmakeri | Café and pottery. We had lunch, but heard really good things about the neapolitan pizza they serve at night.
Mölle Brandstation | Café next to the harbour front serving lunch, sweets and coffee.

Vejbystrand and around

The little charming coastal town Vejbystrand - and home of Villa Sigrid - is located in between Hovs Hallar and Kullaberg which made it a really convenient base for us. The city has just exactly what you need and nothing more - a grocery store, one or two restaurants, and a few farmshops.

Check out

Friluftsbadet Vejbybadet | Simple outdoor pool
Sandgårdens skafferi | Farm shop with local product in Vejbystrand. We especially loved the seasonal jam and cheese they sell
Lillaro | Café which is only open on sundays between 11-16
The Sleepy Collection | Organic nightwear pop up shop

Vejbystrand has a great long sand beach with big sand dunes, and I must say that being able to walk/bike to the beach in a bathing robe was my absolute favorite thing about staying in this town. There is something so soul nourishing about being this close to the ocean. Another great thing is that the beach is facing west so you’ll will be able to catch sunsets from the beach throughout most of the year.

After thoughts

In general, I would say that the trip to Skåne was a pleasant reminder that we don’t necessarily have to travel long and far for grand vacation experiences. There was something truly satisfying and relaxing about Skåne. I guess its the result of many things; the many opportunities to see and be in nature; the intuitive way swedes seems to live a life that is tightly connected to the nature and the seasons - e.g. in terms of food and activities - that rubs off on you as a visitor; and the fact that it is possible for me as a dane living in Copenhagen to drive for just two hours and get this vacation feeling which feels too good to be real.

But it is, and we’re already dreaming of going back to both Malmø and Österlen for a fall or spring trip.

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Finally I would like to thank the team at Visit Skåne for being so understanding of my family’s current situation. To give a bit of background story, this guide was supposed to go out around July and there has been no pressure what so ever. Besides offering a partnership that gives the creator full creative freedom, it’s be really comforting to experience such an empathic reaction from a commercial partner in such a turbulent time and it is something worth mentioning. I greatly appreciate it.

Until next time Skåne!

Checking in to announce that I have finally put together a travel guide to traveling around Iceland by car - one of my favorite travel experiences of all time. The travel guide includes our personal itinerary, experiences, favorites and general tips to traveling in Iceland. I’m also sharing a private link to our google map with location pins for all of our favorite or starred spots for your convenience.

I sincerely hope it will be a great help to many of you — make sure to ask any questions you may have.

Love, Alona

— FIND the iceland TRAVEL GUIDE HERE —

After months where the thesis has controlled our life to a large extent (mine the most but a partner never goes free from the tensions) I decided what we needed was a short trip away without thesis or work in focus. I wanted to be present around Kenneth’s birthday – despite the fact that the day doesn’t mean much to him. It does to me. I think a yearly celebration of the existence of your loved ones is meaningful.

With only 2 days’ time to afford and inspired by last years wonderful trip to Skodsborg, Sweden and spa felt like a great solution. A bit more exotic and adventurous than staying at home in Denmark. In theory; the perfect getaway. In practice, however, we honestly felt it was a waste of money.

I hate to complaint. I can’t stand putting people in unpleasant situations which is essentially what happens when you complain about something. But I do feel that by sharing things on my social media channels comes a responsibility of telling the whole story. In case anyone should be inspired to try out something I showed or talked about – whether it is a product or an experience. Consider this the motivation for this post.

Stockholm

We stayed a night at the Strand hotel in the center of Stockholm to get half a day in the city. We wanted to indulge in Italian food at Babette that was recommended by this lovely swede. But with the winter darkness upon us at 15.30 we were already starving at 16 which did not match Babette’s opening hours. Instead we had Neapolitan pizza at Giro, and later candy in bed.  

We liked the hotel – although, the rooms are quite small for what you pay. The bathroom, for instance, was too tiny for me to blow-dry my hair. It felt cramped. But I guess that’s a Scandinavian thing – high sq m prices.  

Yasuragi

The last day and night we spent at Yasuragi – a Japanese bath and hotel tucked in the woods 10km outside of Stockholm. As an award winning spa with promises of tranquility and with matching solid prices, the expectations were high. However, these were sadly not fulfilled for a number of different reasons.

I had booked a spa package that included access to the baths, ‘superior room’ with Japanese ablution, and a teppanyaki dinner – and to paint the fairest picture I’ll cover both the positive and negative remarks on this experience.

First and foremost, the newly renovated indoor baths were architecturally beautiful and very photogenic – note that the baths are a digital free zone so don’t plan on capturing it (explains the few photos in this post). In times of digital invasion, I loved this principle.  

The thing is, that it felt so pretty, while it failed to instill a feeling of intimacy that allows for both bodily and mental self-care which is essentially what you come for in a spa; to rest and rejuvenate. Furthermore, the spa treatments were really expensive and judging from google reviews not worth the money.

That being said, I absolutely loved the outdoor pools with steamy hot water. I believe there were four or five pools spread out on different levels that followed the hill side with a view of the pine trees and Stockholm archipelago. It immediately made me dream of building a hot top in my imaginary and future home.

Outdoor pools Via Yasuragi

 Staying the night

The rooms are made with good intentions but it felt like a covered up conference slash hostel (‘vandrehjem’) room. The place aims to be luxurious, but underneath the surface there are cracks or something not quite adding up. To provide a specific example, the floor was damaged and a few lamps were not working. The best thing about staying the night was the view to the archipelago at sunset captured at the picture.

With the location out in the woods you don’t really have another choice but to eat at Yasuragi. Our experience was a friendly staff, but the 5 course teppanyaki dinner lacked flavor, felt impersonal and we walked out from there smelling like we had been to a grill bar. Not exactly the feeling you want to have after having spent the day purifying yourself in the bath facilities.

The breakfast buffet was also disappointing – you know – just tasteless and it left us with a feeling of regret. Like we should have saved the appetite for something at the airport. As a massive breakfast lover that is not a feeling I’m familiar with.

 

Would I recommend it?

In terms of staying over for the night we sadly do not think it’s worth the money.

All in all, it felt too commercial, polished, noisy, and crowded, and we left with a feeling of not having received matching value for what we paid and pure disappointment. The sad thing is that is has so much potential.

I would recommend visiting Yasuragi for a day. It’s fine if you live in Stockholm, or are in the area either way. Although, I would advise you to go by car as with public transportation it takes at least 1 hour to get there from the city center and includes min. a metro and two bus rides. It took almost 2 hours of transportation to get to the airport.

The moment I think back at to sort of justify the money and time spent on this trip was when we sat in the steamy hot water outside, and felt the cold air pinch our face, while the sun went down and the sky gradually turned blue, then pink and finally completely dark. It was beautiful. It was just a shame that this feeling wasn’t present throughout most of the experience.

Generally, I would advise you to save your money and go to Japan instead. After all, the expenses were not far from matching two plane tickets to Tokyo. A fact we try not to think too much about.