Sundsvall — A glimpse of Sweden’s High Coast ⛰
Having gotten back from a 1,000km road trip to Sundsvall over 3 days, I have more to tell than I thought I would. Especially considering the unanimous reactions that our Swedish colleagues at my wife’s and my workplaces have been giving us to hearing about our trip — “Sundsvall of all places? Why?”
To be fair to them, I must admit that we didn’t spend a whole lot of time within the city itself but rather at places around it. Sundsvall by itself might indeed not have been worth the 400km drive from Stockholm for such a short stay, but for me, this trip exceeded every expectation that I had from it. In fact, I wish we had planned to stay there for longer!
For starters, the landscape is totally different from the typically plain area around Stockholm and it was very refreshing to see windmills and hills around us as we drove through roller-coaster-like (really, at times!) country roads that swerved and wiggled. Every moment of our onward drive as we neared Sundsvall was a treat to the senses. I had somehow failed to realize until then that Sweden had such hilly terrain too and that it wasn’t just in Norway.
Check-in at Hotell Södra Berget
We picked this hotel even though it’s a bit outside the city (just about 5 minutes away by car, but no public transport can get you here) based on its glowing reviews on Booking.com. It turned out to be just OK — 🤷♂ service and 👌breakfast. We later noticed slopes and ski-lines leading right up to the hotel, which led us to believe that it’s perhaps a great option for a ski resort, but not so much in the summer. We would have had much more time to roam around in the city had our hotel been right within it though — a lesson taken for our next trip!
We arrived on a Friday evening, and after setting our things in our room it was almost dinner time already. We managed to find a parking spot close to where most of the restaurants in the city centre were and strolled around for a while. At just 1kr/hour for parking there in the evenings, it is cheaper than any parking lot in India even, let alone Stockholm!
After dinner, we drove back to our hotel via streets that were so steep that our car averaged a mileage of just 20l/100km on some stretches. Just like in Stockholm, we easily spotted the usual stores — Åhlens, Espresso House, ICA, Coop, H&M. Coming to think of it, most of these stores are constants no matter which city in Sweden you visit.
Tranviken Beach
We started Day 2 off with a short but scenic 30-minute drive to this beach and it was the first time in Sweden that I visited a place that actually bore similarities to what comes to my mind when I hear the word “beach”. Within Stockholm, the definition of a beach is often too loose — it feels like any place near a pond or lake that has some loose sand gets called a beach. Tranviken though had the vibes of a real beach.
There was a small ice cream bar at the location, which was unfortunately closed when we visited. Nevertheless, we had a good time walking along the water and messing around with the small zip line on the beach.
After enjoying our time in the sun, we started off towards the next attraction on our list — which turned out to be one of the highlights of our trip. We took a longer route and drove past Spikarna, which is supposed to be an iconic fishing village in the area. However, we either lost our way a bit or had dumb luck as with the ice cream parlour and didn’t see anything particularly noteworthy.
Höga Kusten Bridge
The 17th longest suspension bridge in the world — while that doesn’t sound super-impressive, the sight of this marvel of engineering was breathtaking.
Pro-Tip: If you’re driving from Sundsvall, a good view point to observe the bridge from lies at the north-end of the bridge, so you need to cross the bridge first. Don’t waste your time heading off on random roads on the south-end like I did, trying to get a good view of the bridge!
What piqued our curiosity a lot — almost more than the sensation that was the bridge itself — was the windmill that one can see from the rest stop just past the bridge. At first, it looked like any other windmill and did not seem worthy of much excitement but then we realized that there was a rocky hiking path to take you to the base of the windmill in about 20 minutes. Now that was something exciting! I had always only seen windmills from a big distance, usually while driving or from inside a train, but the prospect of actually standing at the base of one and looking up at its whirling blades got us charged up and we ended up enjoying the experience thoroughly. Have a look at the photos (and especially the video) below and see for yourself!
Pro-Tip: Here’s the exact location of this windmill so that you can make sure you hike up to it! https://goo.gl/maps/fyd4p1QWKnx. The rocks leading up to the windmill are marked with paint to show you suggested hiking routes so look out for paint (blue when we went) if you feel like you can’t figure out how to get up there.
Norra Berget “Friluftsmuseum” (Open-Air Museum)
Day 3, our last day of this trip, started with a filling breakfast like all good days ought to start. After checking out from our hotel, we headed to Sundsvall’s open-air museum. While not as expansive as Wadköping in Örebro or Skansen in Stockholm, it had a much cosier and more personal aura. The folks there were very friendly and explained local traditions cheerfully and patiently.
Open-air museums? For those of you who may not yet know, open-air museums are popular in various parts of Sweden and their main purpose is to showcase ‘life in the olden days’ in the area. These museums typically feature traditional houses and places of business and people dressed in traditional attires to answer any queries you might have.
As we were finishing up with the delicious lingonberry drinks that we got to try for free, another stall with people queueing outside caught our attention. It turned out to be a small kitchen serving samples of freshly cooked pancakes, which we later found out was the typical “party food” in the area back in the day. We enjoyed the friendly reception and tasty food, especially in a slower and more laid back setting compared to the hustle and bustle of Stockholm.
Full of food and energy, we strolled past the exhibits at the museum — A typical house, the lumberjack’s workspace and a few others. We also hiked through the adjoining forest for a short while, and it was a nice experience — to be surrounded by nature and far away from other human beings! Also to see at the location are enclosures with piglets and bunnies in case that’s your kind of thing.
It’s amazing how “normal” a thing it is in Sweden, to stroll around alone through a forest like this. In India, to contrast with, even though there is an abundance of natural beauty it is probably not a sane idea to go wandering alone into the wilderness like this!
“Sveriges Geografiska Mittpunkt“ — Sweden’s geographical midpoint
Someone once decided to make a cardboard model of the shape of Sweden and try to balance it on a needle to figure out where the centre of mass would lie, and this point happens to be about a 1-hour drive away from Sundsvall. So obviously, it became our last stop before we headed back to Stockholm. If like us you decide to check this place out on your way back southwards, it is approximately a 2-hour detour. However, if you’re up for some stunning views and spiralling narrow (and at places pothole-ridden, unfortunately) uphill roads to drive on, then it’s a detour that’s worth the time.
Pro-Tip: It’s quite steep for the last 15 minutes or so before you get to this place. Make sure you engine break on your vehicle for the ride back down, and your break discs will thank you.
The view from atop the hill is stunning. On a clear day, it is possible to even spot Sundsvall’s waterfront (over 40km away) and other neighbouring towns from up there. Apart from the refreshing views, there’s a small cafe. They didn’t serve any real meals, which is understandable given the lack of civilization in the proximity, but they did have tasty (and cheap) apple pies and good coffee — sort of a reward for braving the potholes and making it to the summit.
Pro-Tip: As of August 2018, Mittpunktsvägen stretching southwards from the Mittpunkt is an unlaid dusty gravel road (not even on Google Maps yet). It stretches for more than 40km before meeting the E4, and is quite frustrating to drive on. Consider backtracking a bit towards Sundsvall before heading southwards so that you’re on the E4 sooner.
And just like that, we were done with our vacation and ready to head back home, and until next time — hejdå!
