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It was late August when I arrived at the outer limits of the Stockholm archipelago. Much of the Northern Hemisphere was still luxuriating in all-out summer splendor, but Sweden’s long summer days of nearly 24-hour sunlight had distinctly ended. I had traveled to the archipelago, an area covering 30,000 islands, islets, and granite skerries in the Baltic Sea, to immerse myself in the islands’ remote landscapes. I would be traveling along part of the Stockholm Archipelago Trail, a new 270-km hiking path (approximately 170 miles) that stretches across 22 islands off Sweden’s east coast, making it possible to venture deeper into the outer archipelago.
By the time I arrived, the archipelago had just entered a period of in-between, a sort of ethereal season between the summer and fall, when bright days move rapidly into longer, inky-dark nights. Gone were the boats that crowd the archipelago’s harbors in the midsummer, as were most of the visitors who keep the area’s inns and guesthouses buzzing through the season. Some islands had already returned to being completely uninhabited or were down to their single-digit year-round population. And yet the air and water temperatures were still warmer than in the rest of the country, a mild 68 to 70 degrees Fahrenheit.
Nature lovers have long flocked to the archipelago, hiking around the islands under the national principle of allemansrätten: the right to move freely in nature, even over privately owned land. It’s an essential tenet of Swedish culture, this concept of open access to the outdoors for all. Yet until the creation of the new trail, there was no formalized network of hiking paths in the archipelago, making the more remote islands a logistically intimidating place to explore—particularly when temperatures drop. When the new trail is formally completed by the end of October, it will extend the hiking season beyond the summer months, offering clearly delineated routes to safely explore the islands’ rural beauty without the crowds.
The hiking trail, when complete, will be divided into 20 sections and weave through a smorgasbord of landscapes, from accessible flat sandy walks to more vigorous treks through birch forests peppered with blueberries, lingonberries, and juniper, and challenging scrambles over lichen-covered granite boulders on the coast. Carved out painstakingly island by island, the trail unfolds an average of 9 miles of hiking paths per island (or about 4.5 hours of walking). It isn’t entirely completed on foot: The trek is connected by a series of boats, allowing hikers to move from island to island by public ferry, taxi boats, and private charters. While there’s the option to camp on every island of the trail, it is also possible to opt for inns, guesthouses, and even hotels during the summer (some do remain open throughout the year). And because this is Sweden, it’s worth noting that all but two of the islands have saunas on them.
Over the course of several days, I hiked across four of the archipelago’s islands—Sandhamn, Utö, Ålö, and Nåttarö. I chose a route with a starting point easily accessible by the public ferry from Stockholm and one that would allow me a variation in topography and roughly six miles of walking per day. Here are the highlights of my trip.
Stockholm to Sandhamn
I began my trip by boarding a public ferry in central Stockholm and sailing a little under three hours to the island of Sandhamn in the outer archipelago. Despite its remote location, the island has been popular among travelers since the 19th century, when wealthy Stockholmers were first drawn to its white beaches and built fashionable summer homes here. Today the island retains the architecture of its golden days and is home to the only year-round hotel on the archipelago, the Sandhamn Seglarhotell, filled with fashionable city slickers even in the late-summer shoulder season. Viveca Sten, one of Sweden’s most well-known Nordic Noir writers, set her Sandhamn Murder television series on the island and is a regular fixture here. (When I ran into her at the Seglarhotell, she gave me a map marking key locations around the island from her books.)
The Stockholm Archipelago Trail is steps from the hotel and transitions from a port walk into a stroll along a sandy path dotted with century-old summer homes straight out of Sten’s novels. Despite the presence of homes, the trail was quiet, uncrowded, and felt more like a private walking path than a public trail. From there, the trail continues on into the woods where late blueberries were still growing. Despite walking with a map of the Sten’s fictional murder locations, the hike was anything but ominous, circling around the island to the port where a handful of sailboats docked and families enjoyed a fika on their front porches.
Sandhamn to Utö and Ålö
From Sandhamn, I took a smaller boat to Utö, one of the largest islands in the southern archipelago and the furthest outward in unprotected water. If Sandhamn retains the glitter of its history, Utö is its quiet-luxury alternative. The island has a year-round population of just 120 people, but in the summer that number swells to 70,000; when I arrived, it was quiet with no trace of summer visitors. The island’s single school was in session (I watched some young students arrive by boat, where their first lesson was held). There were just a few guests at Utö Värdshus, the island’s historic hotel where I stayed the next two nights. First opened in the early 18th century, the hotel was a favorite spot of Greta Garbo (she both danced and slept here, I am told)—it still feels like she might be lingering somewhere, cocktail in hand.
I set out in the afternoon light to continue the hike, the trailhead but a short walk from the hotel’s front door. After I walked through woods home to boar, red deer, and moose, the forested path emerged at the rocky coast where I took a long pause to watch the wild swans swimming in the Baltic and sea eagles flying overhead.
After hiking back to the hotel, I visited Utö’s free public sauna, sweating out the day before plunging into the still warm-ish sea. Dinner was a feast of arctic char and skagen at the inn’s 130-year-old restaurant, which is open until Christmas and was distinctly tranquil after the summer rush.
Ålö is connected to Utö by a small land bridge, and the next day I reached the island by a 30-minute car ride. Though Utö’s population is small, Ålö’s is even smaller: There are just two remote houses on the island, four residents, and one farm. This is a more wild, remote section of the trail with more technical sections that require you to watch your footing over rocky coasts, sandy beaches, and wetlands. Outside of peak travel months, you’re unlikely to encounter other hikers. Come summer, a pop-up restaurant serves day-trippers and hikers. Although shuttered when I arrived, nearby was an ice cream freezer complete with a jar for honor system payments. Instead of camping on Ålö, I drove back to Utö for a second night and another delicious dinner at Värdshus.
Ålö to Nåttarö
From Ålö, it’s about an hour by boat to Nåttarö, a nature reserve island renowned for its beaches. The trail here has more elevation gain and a few scrambles on granite boulders in addition to sand dunes—something of a rarity on the archipelago. I hiked to Storsand on the eastern side of the island, which is one of the longest beaches in the area. After a few hours of hiking, I ended at Nåttarö Tavern, a cozy local restaurant open from April through August. There were a dozen or so other people dining there, most likely staying at the campground or there for a day of hiking or swimming. Nåttarö has a year-round population of just one (yes, one), and after the summer season ends and the public ferry stops its regular north-south trips, the island is reachable only by private boat. I, for example, reached the island in the boat of the owner of Utö's Värdshus, who is formalizing hiking packages for future hiker guests. The hope is that a network of micro travel companies will spring up around the trail.
After the meal, it was time to take my weary legs home. I took a taxi boat less than an hour to Nynäshamn and caught a commuter train back to Stockholm.
If You Go
Getting to the Archipelago
While there is no true beginning or end, the Stockholm Archipelago Trail was designed using the country’s north-south ferry line as its backbone. The ferry runs regularly in the summer, and the hope is that in the future, the ferry line will extend its limited run. For now, hikers can jump from island trail to island trail thanks to a network of boats—public ferries, taxi boats, and private charters. From Stockholm, you can reach many of the archipelago’s islands via the Cinderellabåtarna. Private operators such as Öppet Hav are available for hire, and hotels and guesthouses can help arrange boat transport.
Planning Your Route
The Stockholm Archipelago Trail website has thorough information in both Swedish and English, with suggestions of routes based on difficulty level and directions, as well as interactive maps of island trails.
Suggested Routes
Sandhamn to Utö, Ålö, and Nåttarö offers a mix of easy to challenging. Sandhamn is accessible year-round by the public ferry (Cinderellabåtarn) from Stockholm and is home to the only hotel in the archipelago open year-round. Finnhamn to Ingmarsö and Brottö is another highly accessible route and has the added benefit of passing by Ingmarsö Bageri, one of the best places to enjoy kanelbullar (cinnamon buns) in the archipelago.
