Which is the best season to explore the Swedish High Coast / Höga Kusten

The Swedish High Coast, which is called "Höga Kusten" in Swedish, is an area that lays geographically in the middle of Swedens east coast. It is UNESCO world heritage with mountains rising right out of the baltic sea and known as one of the best hiking areas in Sweden. It lays quite a bit up North and thanks to that it has to offer all four seasons - Summer, autumn, winter and spring.

But which season is the best to explore the Swedish High Coast? My name is Sarah and I lived in and explored the area for a few years now and will share my point of view to this question, but it surely also belongs to your way of traveling and your personal preferences. Spoiler alert... It is not only worth visiting in the summer, we also have a gorgeous winter up here.

Summer in Höga Kusten

Summer is definitely high season in the Höga Kusten, pretty much like in entire Sweden. From June till end of August every restaurant, every shop, every hotel and every attraction is open. As you can imagine it is also the time when the most amount of people are around, even though it is still quite calm in general in the Höga Kusten given the fact that it is further north and quite a big area.

To get the real summer vibe with hiking up to a mountain top, stopping for a dip in a lake or in the ocean and then enjoying a fika at a cute café in one of the many red housed fisher villages, you will need to come in high season. There are hundreds of kilometers of hiking trails to explore but also lots of water sports. You like to kayak, SUP, sail or even surf? There is nothing you can't do in or on the water here. You just wanna chill in the sun and read a good book? Well choose one of the many bathing spots or beaches and find your favorite one.

Tip: On the most known spots like the Höga Kusten Bron (High Coast Bridge) or at the Skuleskogen nationalpark / Skuleberget it can be quite crowded especially parking wise. Be early for parking... while hiking you will still be able to enjoy time for yourself.

Autumn

The Swedish High Coast is one of the first places where I actually really enjoyed autumn. When the leaves slowly turn color the Höga Kusten looks absolutely magical. In September and October you can still get warm and sunny days with less people around and for me personally even prettier views. Enjoy a walk through the colorful forest or get some stunning shots of the scenery at one of the many viewpoints.

The days are slowly getting shorter so you can cozy up in the evenings or maybe even get to experience the famous northern lights.

Tip: I personally find autumn the best time to experience the northern lights. They are often quite strong in the beginning of the season (even though it is quite hard to make a general statement about this) and it is not so crazy cold as in the winter, so you can actually enjoy watching the norther lights dance over the sky.

Winter

You wanna experience a real winter? Well I can absolutely recommend winter in the Höga Kusten with lots of snow, the lakes all frozen and many possible winter sports. And you will pretty much only be surrounded by locals. BUT be aware that it can get really cold up here. Temperatures can vary from an easy 0 degrees to periods with up to -30 degrees. And trust me, I was not used to temperatures like this but with the right clothing - snowpants, winterboots and a good winterjacket - it can be incredibly beautiful. The colder it is, the prettier it gets.

There are a few hiking trails, which are made usable for hiking in winter. Walking through a forest with snow packed trees, along frozen lakes with ice crystals glittering in the air is quite magical. In general you can get almost anywhere in winter (even over the then frozen water) but only with snowshoes or trekking skis, because the snow is too deep to walk through it.

If you are a winter sport lover you are also in the right spot. The Swedish High Coast has several ski slopes, which are size wise not comparable to the alps, but they are way more affordable. You can also find maaaany kilometers of beautiful cross country ski tracks everywhere which you can mostly use for free. You wanna do a dog sled or a snowmobile tour? No problem.

Tip: I can partly understand the hype about Lappland in the winter... but I personally think that the Höga Kusten region has more to offer. Only the skislopes are bigger further north. :D We even have herds of reindeers here.

Spring

Now I gotta be honest... In spring I am mostly gone traveling somewhere, so I never really experience a full spring. And that has a reason... After months with loads of snow and ice on top, nature takes a bit to come alive again. So around April is the time I recommend the least, because nature is quite yellow, grey and a bit sad looking. It only takes a few weeks and everything is starting to bloom, but this is the least pretty time.

Weather in General

I am originally from Germany and I have to say that the weather up here in Sweden is MUCH nicer from my point of view. It is hard to make a general statement about this but I feel like there are much less grey and rainy days in the Swedish High Coast. It for sure happens and nature also needs it, but doesn't matter which season there are lots of sunny days. One can always be unlucky and get a bad weather period, but in general there are always some sunny days in between.