After a long summer of travelling all around the globe, I spent quite a little bit of down time at home in Switzerland. The funny thing about being a Swiss person that spends most of their time abroad, is that you quite often get mixed up with being Swedish. And not that the mix up is in any ways derogatory, I just never had the chance to explore that country that most people always accidentally thought I was from.

So, when the opportunity arose that I could drive around the Southern part of Sweden, I didn’t even blink before saying yes, and off I was on another adventure to an unknown place.

I flew into Copenhagen and took the train to Malmö, straight from the airport and spent the first night of my trip at the OhBoy hotel, in the Northern part of town, by the sea docks. I felt at home straight away (bonus points for the amazing hammock) and explored the streets of the cute city of Malmö and tried all of the coziest places recommended by my friend Johanna (@beautelicieuse), like Noir Kaffekultur and Eida.

The next morning, the real adventure was about to start. I was about to pick up my first ever camper-van, which would be my transportation mode but also my base for the next 4 days and 3 nights. As soon as I saw her, Birgit, in all of her colourful beauty, I knew this was going to be one of the most fantastic adventures ever. Jimmy from www.rentmh.se gave me a tour of the camper-van and made sure I felt 100% secure and safe before hitting the road.

As soon as I started driving, all nervousness I could have felt just went away. The roads of Sweden are some of the best I've ever driven on, and I directly made my way up North the coast, direction Torekov. On the way I stopped by Torna Hallestad Lanthandel, a little shop and cafe with local produces, where a basket of fresh food, including bread, sausages and cheese was waiting for me, to last me for the next few days.

As I arrived in Torekov, I took my bike off the back of the camper-van and started cycling through the cute little streets of this charming seaside town. I weirdly knew a little bit about Torekov and its cute little houses, as my friend Alexandra (@whatalexloves) spent most of her summer there in their family home, and it felt so special to go explore those streets by myself. I walked to the pier by the ocean and looked at the wild waves crashing on the pier. Alexandra had told me that in the summer, the streets of the town are usually full of people in their bathing robes, on their way or coming back from the sea. The season for summer dips in the sea was already gone, but I loved imagining this town just a few months earlier, as I cycled on the cobble stones and past the pastel coloured houses.

I got to Båstad Camping at around 5pm and connected Birgit to the electricity, took my bike out of the rack and drove it to the supermarket and came back “home” to cook my own little dinner (Swedish meatballs with pasta) and enjoyed a cozy little early night. After a good night’s sleep, I woke myself up with some fruit juice and a Kanelbullar and a little cycle through the forest, before leaving the camping and making my way exploring through Båstad, looking for coffee and spending time walking through the harbour.

Back on the road, I stopped in Hovs Hallar, where the crazy wind was blowing so much that I took shelter under some tunnel of umbrella trees, making me feel like Alice in Wonderland. 

Later on that day, I was sitting on the rocks at Kullaberg, watching the hue and intensity of the light changing subtly on the wind swept trees in the horizon, drawing orange shadows on the cliff sides, the crazy intense wind blowing the waves wild, and them crashing onto the shore. All the elements brought together created this breathtaking spectacle and I was so thankful to be there, alone, sitting on my rock, as always, taking it all in (I really need to compile a book of all of those times I sat on rocks and loved life). I could have stayed there for hours, waited until the sun had completely gone down, but I felt like it was time to go, somehow. I got up, turned back and looked up to the sky, towards Kullens Lighthouse. I could see in the distance this flock of wild geese flying in a V formation. I followed it along with my eyes as it flew over me, just looking at it disappear in the distance, and smiling to myself.

I started to feel a little bit hungry and peckish. I saw Mölle Harbour on my way out from the Nature Reserve, and there was this amazing blue light that was basking the city. I parked Birgit and walked the pier where the crazy wind was making the waves crash and spray the ground. The light was mesmerising, so I followed it and made my way towards the lighthouse and hid behind it for shelter, as the huge waves crashed onto the pier. The city looked so peaceful, the blinking lights of the homes slowly switching on. I saw some surfers in integral wetsuits trying to catch the waves there just next to me and really wanted to go catch some waves with them.

It was quite late when I remembered my tummy rumbling and decided it would be a good idea to find somewhere to eat. Luckily, Mölle is full of restaurants and cafés, the hardest part was to choose which one to go to. in the end, I walked to Mölle Krukmakeri and Café, a little ceramic shop that doubles up into a pizzeria in the evening. The restaurant was full, but I managed to find a little table just lit by a candle somewhere by the window and ordered a pizza, one of the best I had eaten in a while. The place was filled with laughters and the energy was just so joyful it was infectious.

That night, as I went to bed in the back of my camper-van called Birgit, and stared out at the full moon from my tiny square window, I held my labradorite stone that’s now always hanging around my neck and just silently thanked that peaceful feeling within me. Somehow these few days driving around Sweden made me feel more energised and peaceful than ever. 

And then came the time to leave the coastline of Skåne and make my way South. I wanted to check out Helsingborg on the way, a decent sized city with a great cycling path next to the sea (my newly found passion!) and some lovely cafés (my other life passion!). I had lunch and a great flat white at café Brutale, and then cycled back to Birgit before hitting the road.

I arrived at the Hörby Ringsjöstrand camping after they had closed the desk, but in the most Swedish manner, they had left envelopes with keys and fobs for possible late arrivals to some of the plots. I parked Birgit and went up to the lake for my last night in Sweden. The weather was quite mild so I was able to cook my own little dinner on the picnic table and watch the little duck family swim together before heading back to my bed and sleep in Birgit for one last night.

On my last day, I explored the other big city in the region, called Lund. I put my luggage into storage at the train station and went to various museums before enjoying some lunch and dinner and making my way back to Copenhagen airport on a direct fast train. This whole trip in Sweden, by myself, made me feel so relaxed and at one with myself. There's something so healing about the road, and being at home at all times. As someone that hates packing her suitcase each day and leaving again and again, I found that exploring a place from the comfort of a home was such a perfect combination and I can't thanks Visit Skåne enough for the opportunity.  

*I travelled around Skåne, Southern Sweden on a gifted press trip by  Visit Skane