Sea Kayaking Sweden: Guided Sea Kayaking Adventure Holiday in Koster Marine National Park

At a glance

Duration: 3 days

Dates/Period: 13.08-15.08.10

Groups of min.8 can book this experience on other dates by arrangement.

Price: from £362/person

Accommodation: Tented accommodation.

Required: General good health. Some previous kayaking experience may be helpful but is not essential. Minimum age 15 if accompanied by adult, otherwise 18.

Photos: Joakim Hermanson

Kayaking > Sea Kayaking in Koster Archipelago

Map of Sweden

The Koster Islands

Around 300 inhabitants live on the islands year-round, the majority on South Koster. The islands and surrounding area have recently been designated as Sweden's first Marine National Park.

The island of South Koster, with an area of 8 square km, is vegetated, while North Koster, with an area of just 4 square km, is mostly rocky. Until very recently, there were some inhabitants who had never visited their neighbours on the other island, and even today a friendly rivalry exists between the islanders!

Guided sea kayaking in the Koster Marine National Park through Sweden's sunniest archipelago

Kayaking holidays in Sweden: Koster

"The Koster Archipelago has been designated a national park to protect its unique marine life, heather-clad moorland and sandy beaches." Recommended by National Geographic Green magazine

"Surrounding the main islands lies an archipelago of countless uninhabited skerries. Most are barren, but attractively so. The pinkish-grey granite and gneiss rock (occasionally streaked with volcanic black diabase) forming the islands was left smooth by the ice age, and they barely rise out of the sea, resembling whales breaking the waves or basking seals." Recommended by Chris Madigan in The Guardian

"The Koster islands are one of Sweden's best kept secrets." Recommended by Richard Hammond on Green Traveller

The Koster Archipelago has the most hours of sunshine of any location in Sweden - but that's by no means the only reason to go paddling here! The islands, rocks and skerries that make up the Koster Archipelago offer some of the best sea kayaking in Sweden.

The great attraction is the labyrinth of gneiss islands, which seem almost to have been created for kayakers. The Koster Islands and the surrounding archipelago are Sweden's most westerly outpost into the western ocean. Here the islands, rocks and skerries are made from gneiss rather than granite, sometimes lying so tightly together that even a sea kayak can sometimes barely squeeze between them - which means that you will have many of these very special places to yourselves, as larger boats cannot travel here!

In relative solitude you will be able to glide amongst the islands, watching common seals as they sun themselves on the rocks, backed by the silhouette of the mighty lighthouse at Ursholmen in the distance.

Photo: Joakim Hermanson

At the end of each day's paddling adventure, you will choose a suitable spot and camp wild each night, very possibly on your very own island! Fall asleep to the lap of waves against the rocks, the call of the seabirds, and the fading rays of the sun as it dips reluctantly below the horizon at the end of another long summer's day...