All activities / Sea Kayaking / Canoeing / Bohuslan
Sea Kayaking / Canoeing in Bohuslan
The granite coast of West Sweden, running north from Gothenburg to the Norwegian border, a maze of thousands of smooth pink-grey islands, skerries and fishing villages. Bohuslan holds the Kosterhavet marine national park, Sweden's first, and is rated among the finest sea-kayaking archipelagos in the world.
Why here
Bohuslan is Sweden's sea-kayaking heartland and one of the great paddling coasts anywhere, a 150-kilometre chain of glacier-polished granite running from Gothenburg to the Norwegian border. The rock here is the draw: bare pink and grey islands worn smooth by ice, thousands of them, with sheltered sounds, narrow passages and open crossings that let you plan a route to any weather and skill level. At the northern end lies Kosterhavet, Sweden's first marine national park, a cold, clear sea holding some six thousand marine species, where paddlers thread between the Koster and Vaderoarna islands past seals, seabirds and Sweden's westernmost lighthouse. You camp freely on the skerries under the right of public access, land at old fishing villages like Grebbestad and Fjallbacka for fresh oysters and shrimp, and paddle the long light of a Nordic summer evening. The water is calm and tide-free but genuinely open to the sea, so a guide adds real safety on the exposed stretches. For clean granite, wild camping and world-class archipelago paddling, Bohuslan sets the standard.
Best months
The paddling season runs roughly May to September, with the warmest water and longest light in July and August, though spring and early autumn are quieter and just as fine in settled weather. The archipelago is tide-free, but it is open coast: wind and swell can build fast on the outer skerries and the crossings to Koster and the Vaderoarna, so trips are wind-dependent and outer routes suit stronger paddlers or guided groups. The sea stays cold even in summer, so a wetsuit or drysuit is often wise. Wild camping is allowed under public-access rights.
Getting there & around
Bohuslan is easy to reach: Gothenburg, with its airport and rail links, sits at the southern end, and trains and buses run up the coast to Uddevalla, Grebbestad and Stromstad. Kayak centres in Grebbestad and near Uddevalla provide guiding, courses, rental and multi-day camp logistics, with the Kosterhavet park reached from Stromstad by a short ferry. Day tours suit a base on the coast; three to nine-day camps push out into the outer islands. Bring layers for cold water and changeable weather, and book guided park tours ahead in summer.
Skill levels: beginner, intermediate, advanced
Schools & guides (2)
Skargardsidyllen Kayak & Outdoor
SchoolSkargardsidyllen Kayak & Outdoor is based at Grebbestad in northern Bohuslan, with a seasonal centre in the Kosterhavet marine national park, Sweden's first. It guides sea-kayak day trips, multi-day wild-camping tours and paddle courses year-round among the granite islands, and is an official Paddle Pass examination centre of the Swedish Canoe Federation and a member of Naturturismforetagen. Since 2014 its beach-clean programme has collected more than forty tonnes of marine debris.
Upplevelsebolaget
OutfitterUpplevelsebolaget is run by Joakim Hermanson from Gustafsberg outside Uddevalla, and has guided sea kayakers along the Bohuslan coast for more than twenty-five years. It leads day tours, three to nine-day kayak camps and courses through the polished granite skerries and fishing villages of the west coast, including the Koster and Vaderoarna archipelagos. The company is certified by Nature's Best Sweden, the national ecotourism label, and has won the Grand Travel Award ecotourism prize.