My 5 favorite summer hikes in the Höga Kusten

The Höga Kusten is know as one of the best hiking areas in Sweden. You can find a sheer endless amount of hiking trails of all sorts of length and difficulty. I have hiked along many of these trails in the past few years and loved every single one of them. But beyond the well-known viewpoints, there are beautiful paths and lesser known spots that give the area its character. Living here has allowed me to discover both the highlights and the lesser-known trails.

In this blogpost I will share my 5 favorite summer hikes in the Höga Kusten and it is honestly quite hard to choose. If you are eager to get to know more of my favorite hikes and places in the beautiful Höga Kusten, feel free to download my Guidebook for free.

Hultomsberget

Hultomsberget lays on the beautiful island of Hemsö. It is a rather short but diverse hike of about 2,5 km roundtrip and 130m elevation. You will start walking through a nice forest and up along a magical little riverbed, which feels like right out of a fantasy book. The trail is well marked and will lead you over rocky ground right to the top cabin. You can sleep all year around in the cabin on top (one bunk bed). You can`t reserve it, but it was never occupied when we went up.

On top the entire High Coast lays outstretched in front of your eyes. Enjoy the amazing views with a picnic or start a fire in the available fire pit.

How to get there

Hultomsberget lays in the southern part of the Höga Kusten. You will need to take a 5 minute (free) ferry ride and drive 10 minutes to the other side of the island. Parking is available right next to the starting point of the hike.

Tips: Combine it with visiting beautiful Prästhushamn and the surrounding beaches, which you can find on Hemsö island. At Hemsö Fästning you can find a great restaurant.

Valkallen

There are several ways of exploring Valkallen and the area. Either way you can park at the picnic stop on the bottom of the mountain.

The way up onto Valkallen is a 1,3km long hike with 130m elevation. It goes along a forest path all the way to the cabin on top. There you can enjoy the views, have a fika at one of the picnic tables, make a fire or sit cozily in the stuga. You can either go the same way down or continue on the path going down on the other side of Valkallen.

You can continue going all the way to the bay of “Halsviken” at the ocean. That would be around 4km one way. The way back is faster, because you can skip going up to Valkallen and just follow the orange marked path back to the parking.

Tip: At Valkallen and Halvsviken are grill spots. Wood can be available, you may need to chop it. Please only start fires in designated fire pits.

Balesudden

Balesudden nature reserve lays on the northern end of the Höga Kusten. The hike is one of the longer day hikes with 12km roundtrip and 190m of elevation, but has many highlights to offer. I would recommend starting the trail from the parking at Sandlågan. There you can find a nice little sand beach, from where the trail starts going through the forest along the ocean.

You will walk along an overnight cabin and a nice little bay, to then come to one of the most famous lakes of the Höga Kusten - Balestjärn. It is so well known because of its clear blue water. I can definitely recommend taking a dip there! From the lake you can walk another 1,4km to arrive at the end of the trail and the amazing lookout over the ocean. It is not a round, so you will need to walk back the same way.

Interesting to know:

This trail is part of the 130km long Höga Kusten Leden, which guides you through many beautiful parts of the Höga Kusten. On every section of that trail are overnight cabins in which you can sleep max. 2 nights for free. It’s first come first serve.

Nordingrå

I know I said my 5 favorite hikes, but these two hikes are laying just 5 minutes apart and have both breathtaking views. So let's do some double trouble, because Nordingrå is my favorite area of the Höga Kusten.

Rödklitten

Rödklitten summarizes the Höga Kusten very well in one picture. Hilltops, islands, inlets, and always the open ocean in the back. You can park on the side of the road and enjoy a 2km roundtrip hike through the Swedish forests. Always follow the trail straight and up, the other signs to the left and right are once for a grotta/cave (not too exciting) and once for the Världarvleden, another more day hike. I can recommend stopping at Häggviks guest harbour if you continues going to Stortorget. It is also a very cute place to check out.

Stortorget

You can park at Mannaminne, a place worth checking out as well. Walk right through it (you don't need to pay for getting to the hike) to the airplane and take a left. Further up on the right side you will find a sign for the hike. This hike is just as short as Rödklitten, which makes it possible to do both in one day if one likes. It will take about 2km roundtrip through a magical birch forest, which reminds me of Ghibli movies, all the way to the top. There you can enjoy one of my favorite views of the Höga Kusten.

Lilla Höga Kusten Leden

This hiking trail carries the name of its big brother, the 130km long Höga Kusten Leden, because it gives you a taste of what to expect throughout the Höga Kusten.

You will park on the rest area Hornöberget, which lays right with the Högakustenbron (famous bridge) and the Höga Kusten Hotell. The views there are already spectacular. Be aware that this is a very well used parking lot, so start early to avoid parking problems. I promise you, you won’t feel anything from the amount of people on the rest area while hiking.

The trail will first guide you up to the grillhut and viewpoint over the Högakustenbron. You continue along several viewpoints on a forest path, always with the ocean right by your side. It is a 3km round trip, which you can extend into a 7km round trip. You can find several grill and picnic spots along the way.

Interesting to know: Opened in 1997 the Högakustenbron is called the gateway into the Höga Kusten and it is the symbol of this region.

Summer hiking vs Winter hiking

Why do i write specifically summer hikes in this blogpost? Well... The Höga Kusten lays quite a bit north and thanks to that still has to offer a real winter with snow, ice and cold weather. Because of the amounts of snow, you will not be able to hike most hikes with normal gear. You will need snowshoes or skis to actually make it to the top. BUT there are a few hikes that are made easily accessible also in winter, check out my blogpost about my favorite winter hikes for those.