A long weekend on idyllic Öland

It’s unheard of for me to have an entire weekend off and especially three days off – I hate doing nothing and even though I had to study for exams, I decided that the perfect way to do just that would be to explore a new place during the day, study during the evening and sleep when I’m old. After all, you (maybe) only live once and I want to make the most out of it! So after I’d decided where to go that weekend, which wasn’t easy at all, I headed off to Öland, a 137 km long island off the east coast of Sweden, on the 26^th of April, for three days of explorations, studying and relaxing.

The journey from Copenhagen up to the village of Borgholm on Öland took just under five hours, and although I was reading for the majority of the journey, I did get to see some stunning landscapes from the windows of the train. Sweden is and will always be one of my favourite countries. There’s just something magical about it, especially during the spring and summer time.

For the first time in forever, I’d booked myself into my own room! I usually always stay in hostels because I’m cheap and like to socialize, but that weekend I really needed to focus on studying as well as travelling, so a single room it was.

I arrived in Borgholm just before 8 PM and headed towards the harbour to catch the last few moments of the sunset. Borgholm is an extremely small town, so it only took me 10 minutes to walk from the bus station, watch the sunset and check in at my “hotel”, Villa Verdi, which is more like a bunch of small apartments in a villa. My little apartment was gorgeous. It was very tiny, but everything fit in so well; there was a small kitchen, a cabinet, a fridge, a sink, a table, two bunk beds and even my own little bathroom. So very quaint and so very perfect for me.

The owner of Villa Verdi is extremely nice and spent ages telling me all about the biking routes and prehistoric sights on the island, making me even more excited for the next few days!

The next day, I set out to rent a bike as I had planned on exploring the island by bike. Unfortunately, I hadn’t quite realized just how long the island actually is and when I found out that it’s 137 km long, I quickly knocked that one on the head. Biking would mean getting up extremely early and coming back to Borgholm extremely late only to be tired and frustrated with having biked all day and not actually seen all that I came to see. Also, it would leave me with no time to do my exams. Instead, I wanted to rent a bike and then take it on a bus to some villages north and south of Borgholm and then bike from there. But then the friendly man at the tourist office told me that the busses only run 4-5 times a day and the next one was two hours away and it would take another two hours to get to my destination of Byxelkrok, meaning I’d get there at 2 PM. I didn’t want to spend all day taking busses and waiting for them, so instead I decided to rent a car for two days.

I was able to rent a car at the OKQ8 gas station in Borgholm, which cost me 399 SEK per day + 80 SEK per day for insurance.  The price wasn’t too bad considering what I’d get out of it. Now I could just drive and stop whenever I wanted to – perfect!

During the next two days, I drove around the north and south part of the island. I saw so many beautiful nature spots and interesting archaeological sites, which I’ll be writing more about in the next few posts!

On my last day on Öland, I decided to explore Borgholm on foot. It was great to see some more of the village that I’d stayed in for three days.

I started the day off by walking through Storgatan, the main shopping street which I imagine is full of life during the high season. Unfortunately, I was there just before the season started, so quite a few of the shops along the street were closed and there weren’t many people about.

I walked to Netto, where I bought my breakfast and then sat on a bench in the nearby park, where I ate my breakfast and worked on my exam.

On my itinerary that day were the two castles located on the outskirts of Borgholm and also a walk along the shoreline and back to the village. I wanted to take it slow and really enjoy the village and the brilliant weather.

I walked from the park to Borgholm Castle, which is located a few km from the village center. Borgholm Castle is the ruins of a baroque palace constructed by Charles X Gustav in the 17th century. The first fortress on the site was built in the 13th century and rebuilt numerous times during the later centuries. In 1806, the castle was completely destroyed by a fire and became the ruin it is today.

900 meters from Borgholm Castle stands another castle, the summer residence of the royal family, known as Sollidens Slott.

Unfortunately, the gates were closed when I was there (again, everything is closed when it’s not high season…), so I quickly continued my walk towards the coast.

I walked through the forest in the Borga hage nature reserve to the Princess Estelle promenade, which runs along the coast, but with some trees in between. I wanted to see the ocean, so I followed a small path and came to the cutest little beach, where the sun was baking! Had I brought my swimwear, this would’ve been the perfect place to swim!

I then walked back to the town and headed to PizzaPlaneten for dinner, before catching a bus at 6 PM back to Kalmar, from where I caught a train to Hässleholm and from there a train to Copenhagen. 5 hours later, I was back home in Copenhagen.

I really enjoyed my stay on Öland, especially because of the many friendly locals and the beautiful nature. I asked for help quite a lot the first day to figure out what to see and how to do it, and everyone was so helpful! But that’s how I generally find Swedish people to be – extremely friendly and always happy to help!

I have now visited four Baltic islands; Gotland, Åland, Bornholm and Öland, and I only have three more to go (of the big ones, that is!). I can’t wait to see them as well and hopefully explore by bike next time, as that’s definitely what I prefer despite the comfort and easiness of a car!

Travelling on Öland

• Getting to Öland is quite easy. From wherever you are, you can take a train to Kalmar and from there take a bus to one of the villages on the island. Use https://www.oresundstag.se/ to plan your route.
• The island is 137 km long, so unless you have a week and plan on camping wherever you end up that night, don’t plan on biking around the island (unless you’re a professional biker ofc!), as you will end up tired and frustrated from a long day of biking without seeing any of your chosen sights.
• To rent a car, the safest bet is to ask at the tourist office in Borgholm. They are extremely friendly and eager to help!
• Car rental in Sweden requires having and using two credit cards – one to pay for the car and another to pay for the insurance. It’s a new law to help protect the rental companies from cars getting stolen and driven out of the country (don’t exactly know how two cards help that problem, but that was what I was told).
• I recommend staying in Borgholm, as it’s located in the middle of the island and has some restaurants and supermarkets. I stayed at Villa Verdi, which was very nice and decent priced.