Götene - Norrköping

It is our last day in this Airbnb with sauna and we check out around midday. Today we have a long stretch ahead of us: 3.5 hours of pure driving time, to be exact.

Our first stop is Tiveden National Park near Tived. In this national park the forest develops entirely naturally, undisturbed by the large-scale forestry of recent decades. Such a large, continuous area of old forest is very unusual in southern Sweden. The age, the mighty forest and the wild shaping of the landscape make up the character of this national park. The national park covers an area of 2030 hectares. The very hilly terrain and the abundance of boulders make for exciting but in places also demanding hikes.

We really enjoy the hike around the beautiful lakes and in the dense forests, which are completely covered in vegetation right down to the ground. We choose a route that leads directly past several lakes and is actually meant as a circular hike that would take over 6 hours. We can at least do the beginning of the hike and after a little while walk the same way back. Along the way there are again and again wonderful viewpoints over the lake, which is coloured reddish and yellowish by the humus there. The colourful water and the forest all around look very impressive. The rays of the sun fall through the dense canopy onto the soft, moss-covered ground and add warmer shades of green to the already rich palette of greens. The fairytale mood is hard to describe. We can say that of the ones we have visited so far, this is our favourite national park for hiking!

Unfortunately we can’t hike all day, as we have to drive on to our next Airbnb. On the way we stop at the ICA and also go into a dollar store to see what they have. Most of it is just junk but there is a good selection of tools, which would be of no use to us though, as we are only visiting Sweden and can’t take much home with us on the plane.

Our next Airbnb is outside Norrköping and is located on a lake. It is a small, newly built cottage with a terrace. We are very happy with our choice of this Airbnb and after our usual aperitif we cook mashed potatoes with Vegobullars and lingonberry jam for dinner.