Tiveden
A Wild, Boulder Strewn Forest Of Rift Valleys And Small Lakes North Of Lake Vattern, A National Park Since 1983, With The Giant Trollkyrka Rock And Vitsand Beach · Laxa, Orebro County
Tiveden is a small national park in the dark forest belt north of Lake Vattern, on the border between Orebro and Vastra Gotaland counties, and a national park since 1983 by the usual account. It protects some of the wildest-feeling terrain in southern Sweden: rugged hills of granite and gneiss split by deep rift valleys, huge boulders left by the ice, tangled old pine and spruce forest, dead wood, moss and small clear lakes. For centuries Tiveden was feared as a lawless forest of trolls and robbers, and the rocky Trollkyrka, the troll church, keeps that folklore alive. People come to hike short but tough trails, scramble among boulder fields, swim at the pale sand of Vitsand and feel real wilderness a few hours from Stockholm and Gothenburg. The honest caveat: it is modest in scale, a day or two of walking rather than a great destination, with rough, slippery paths, almost no services and no public transport. For hikers it is a gem; for anyone else the forest may look much like any other.
Tiveden National Park, reached from road 49 between Karlsborg and Askersund; the main entrance is at Stenkalles grund, Laxa, Orebro County, Sweden
Tiveden is open land and can be visited at any time of day, all year, with no entrance fee. The main entrance at Stenkalles grund has a car park, information boards and toilets; the entrance area and any seasonal facilities such as a kiosk run mainly from about May to September, and in winter the roads may not be cleared to the car parks - check conditions. Getting there: the park lies off road 49 between Karlsborg and Askersund, and signs lead west on smaller roads, the last stretch on gravel. A car is almost essential; there is no regular public transport to the entrance, and the nearest train stations, such as Laxa or Hallsberg on SJ lines, are far away. Nothing needs booking for a day hike; book cabins, hostel beds and campsites nearby ahead in July.