Skåne's beaches
Open-air swimming is the highlight of the summer for Swedes and a constant topic of conversation. “Have you been for a swim yet?” and “Was it cold?” are questions that follow us around from May to September. The issue of sand or rocks is also another (pardon the pun) watershed; ultimately there are few rock bathers that like sand between their toes and teeth, and even fewer sand-lovers that understand the charm of stony splashes and aches caused by sunbathing.
On Sweden's Riviera, from Åhus in the northeast, to Ängelholm in the northwest, you will find mostly sand; white and powdery or pale brown and coarse. What are the over-populated and highly exploited beaches around the Mediterranean compared to these endless miles of abundant space and natural splendour in our vicinity. As long as the weather is decent, they beat all of the playas in the world: conveniently close, much bigger and most importantly, free. Not one shameless sun lounger rental guy, or fenced-in or disco-pumping package tour bar in sight.
Join us on the beaches of Skåne!
Åhus -Yngsjö
The forty kilometre long coastal stretch called the Åla coast reaches all the way from Kristianstad down to Österlen and the sullen rock of Stenshuvud. It is the autumnal eel fishing and the many eel huts that have made the beach famous, but during the summer it's the beaches that matter. The sand is fine, white and shifting and it constantly reshuffles among the dunes and close-reefs, interacting with the weather and currents. In particular since the oak trees were demolished in the 18th century, the sand has generally had a free rein, despite the recent plantation of new pine forests. In the Äspet state forest south of the Åhus harbour, migratory birds rest during the late summer and turn the area into an El Dorado for bird watchers.
Mälarhusen-Sandhammaren
The second largest continuous playa stretches from Skillinge in the north to Löderup in the south. The fairly level beach at Mälarhusen turns into dunes the farther south you go; past Borrby beach with its camping areas and peculiar swimming pool in among the beach pines, to the high dunes of Sandhammar.
It is hard get closer to a more completely uninterrupted nature experience on the Skåne Riviera.
If you wander further south along the ever deserted beaches, the amount of clothing worn by bathers decreases drastically; there is an unmarked naturalist beach by Hagestad and the beach is also frequented by men who like other men.
The name Sandhammar comes from its dubious reputation among seafarers as one of Europe's most dangerous coasts to pass. The seabed off the beach is a cemetery for ships, housing thousands of wrecked ships.
Skanör-Falsterbo
Its proximity to Malmö and the extended railway quickly put the previous century's wealthy townsmen on track to the Falsterbo headland. Fine summer houses were built and the first (now demolished) beach hotel, as well as a considerable amount of small pretty bathing huts, erected beside the water. In 1908, the continentally-inspired luxury hotel, Falsterbohus, was opened and since then this fashionable south coast seaside resort has continued to develop in the same vein, now filled with exclusive summer houses and luxury renovated fishermen's houses. However, package tour tourism ruined the most exclusive hotels and even the casino which closed in the 1960s.
The beaches are several kilometres long and shallow, and you can still see the caramel coloured bathing huts, albeit now permanently erected up on the dunes, instead of the original dismountable huts that the owners took home every autumn. The ban on common folk changing clothes outdoors was supervised by guards with canes.
Today most bathers visit Kämpinge in the east, even if the crowds diminish further west, via Ljunghusen all the way to Falsterbo and Skanör. Here you can still see a number of house owners greeting each other familiarly on their way down to the water in their bathrobe for their usual morning dip, and woe betide the stranger that doesn't leave the long piers straight after their swim so that the next person can take their skinny dip without an audience…
Malmö-Ribersborg
‘Swimming in the middle of town!' is something that many Skåne towns promise, but few larger towns south of Stockholm get as close to that ideal as Malmö, whose urban Copacabana is called Ribersborg, a shallow 2½ kilometre long sandy beach only 20 minutes walk from Stortorget in the centre of town. Ice cream kiosks, beach cafés and fast-food stands line this playground for big and small children, which in addition to swimming, offers all manner of ball games, barbecues and windsurfing. Here you can swim with a view of the Öresund bridge, Copenhagen, Malmö's Western Harbour and the 54 storey Turning Torso building. For those who wish to extend the bathing season until December and shorten the distance to swimming depth, there is the distinguished old Ribersborg open-air swimming baths at the far end of one of the wooden piers. Complete with a wood-fuelled sauna and pavilions built in a genuine gingerbread house style in the early 20th century.
Lomma-Bjärred
A moderately narrow playa, where the copiously washed-up seaweed is excavated away during the summer so that the bathers can get down to the extremely shallow beaches. In many places you have to wade for 500-600 metres to even reach knee deep water to splash about in. Even here, the beach culture is continental, with cafés, playgrounds for the children, golf, surfing and an abundance of campsites.
Appearing to stretch half way to Denmark is Långa Bryggan (the long pier), on the end of which proudly sits the relatively newly built open-air swimming baths, with its private membership and elegant restaurant.
Helsingborg-Råå
As in Malmö, the City Fathers and Mothers are proud of being able to offer bathing in the centre of this city, from which the beaches stretch for miles, both to the south and to the north. To the south lies Fortunabadet, followed by Rydebäcksbadet which is next to Örby Ängar, a several kilometre long beach area with fine sand and green fields behind it. Farther north lies Råå vallar, one of the town's finest and largest beaches. Almost three hundred years ago, in 1709, a Danish invading army came ashore here to retake Skåne from the Swedes. They were beginning to succeed but were eventually defeated by the Swedes in 1710 at the battle at Helsingborg and were forced back across the channel. Since then, the Danes have only arrived with peaceful intentions. The most central bathing area in Helsingborg is the Parapeten-badet, located on the harbour pier of the same name. Here you can swim with a view of the lively ferry traffic between Helsingborg and Helsingør, right in the middle of Scandinavia!
Mölle
At the end of the 19th century, in this fishing village at the foot of Kullen and with the Höganäs factory as the district's engine, there arose a Swedish equivalent to the major seaside resorts on the continent. Mixed bathing was invented, where men and women could spontaneously and without shame pursue open-air bathing together. It has to be said however that they attired themselves in more cloth than most protected themselves with when on land, but Mölle's reputation as a den of iniquity spread throughout Europe. It horrified many, and delighted some, and both categories were soon making loyal pilgrimages by boat or train to the fast-growing resort of Mölle. In order to not advertise their inclinations, many bathers chose to have their post sent to the neighbouring village of Arild, to which they walked every day – 12 km each way – to check their mailbox. King Oscar II and Prince Eugen visited in 1886 and 1894, and even the German emperor, Wilhelm II, visited Mölle in 1907. This contributed to attracting Europe's jetset. Here Danish, German, Swedish and French voices merged, walrus-moustached gentlemen in bathing frocks splashed around with nymphs in striped bathing dresses, while hotels and guest houses sprung up like mushrooms.
Charter planes have now taken the tourists to more southerly seaside resorts, but the continental touch still remains, as does the refreshing swimming around Kullaberg.
Ängelholm-Klitterhus
North of the Kulla peninsula, by Skälder bay where the river Rönne empties into the sea, there are traces of one of the oldest bathing cultures in Sweden. Here the water has managed to become more salty and the winkles have multiplied and become whiter than in the Baltic and the Öresund channel, and the sand is brown and coarse.
In the twenties, the townspeople's dream of a healthier summer life grew in the form of airy elegant houses. Before long even Ängelholm's lower level civil servants were able to build their own homes close to the beach, but they did not dominate the beach life in the area. It was the landed gentry's cheerful crinolines, sun parasols, decorated horse-carts, tennis courts and midsummer traditions that, on the other hand, did.
Klitterhus was originally a hexagonal bathing pavilion with a café, but after a storm in 1922 it was moved and this bathing temple was extended to its current continental-looking, if slightly worn, beach restaurant.
Staffan Sjöberg has been a journalist for 30 years, and has written books about the sea and sailing and run an inn in Österlen. He now works as a consultant for media training. |
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“Have you been for a swim yet?” and “Was it cold?” are questions that follow us around from May to September.
Below Stenshuvud, 97 metres high, stretch the mile-long sandy beaches.
Sandhammaren, one of the most unspoilt sandy beaches in Skåne.
Klitterhus Havsbadhotell (Seaside hotel) lies in the middle of the beach at Ängelholm.
What are the over-populated and highly exploited stretches of beach around the Mediterranean compared to the beaches of Skåne? |
