Holiday apartment in Mörbylånga: alvar, nature and culture

In Mörbylånga, visitors can enter Eketorp fortress and look around. The fortress offers guided tours as well as activities such as archery, bread baking and traditional crafts. Archaeological excavations and the reconstruction provide an insight into life on Öland during the Iron Age and the Early Middle Ages.

Culture and history

Landscape and history also come together in other places. The Karlevi Runestone is a Viking Age runestone with one of the longest inscriptions in the Nordic region. Björnflisan is the only runestone on the alvar and served as a waymarker on the route between Torslunda and Sandby.

Resmo Church is one of Sweden’s oldest churches and was built around the year 1100. The chancel and apse contain early medieval lime paintings. Lime paintings from the late Middle Ages and the 17th century can also still be seen on the walls of the nave.

Capellagården can be explored independently at any time of year: visitors can walk around and look around in the garden and park. During the season, the site presents noteworthy exhibitions in the fields of art, applied art and crafts. Workshops for children and adults are also offered.

The site where Sandby borg is located can be visited. The surviving castle wall is visible; there are currently no traces of houses to be seen inside the castle. From the designated car park, Sandby borg can be reached via a 100-metre walk southwards along the shore.

Nature and wildlife

Ottenby is a well-known destination for birdwatchers. Thousands of birds are ringed each year at the bird station there. Ottenby Nature Reserve has four marked hiking trails as well as additional unmarked paths and service roads. Along the Kyrkhamnsleden are Kungsstenarna, the ruins of the Chapel of St John and the remains of the fishing settlement of Kyrkhamn.

Dröstorp Nature Reserve is a mosaic of dry meadows, gravel alvar, limestone pavement and wetlands with a species-rich flora and fauna. One of the karst formations is the Prästgropen sinkhole: it is 2 to 3 metres deep and has a diameter of 40 metres.

In Beijershamn Nature Reserve, visitors can observe birds from a birdwatching tower, an observation platform and along walking paths. In Beijershamn, 650 of approximately 1,000 Swedish species of macrolepidoptera have been recorded. The waters south of the pier at Beijershamn are suitable for windsurfing and kitesurfing. Beijershamn can be reached by car, bus and bicycle.

Trails and landscapes

Stora Alvaret shapes several trails and protected areas. Stora Alvarleden is a 13-kilometre hiking trail across the alvar that can be cycled from Karlevi to Möckelmossen. It crosses Stora Alvaret to Frösslunda alvar and is marked with stone cairns.

The protected alvar areas of Karlevi norra och södra alvar contain habitats typical of Stora Alvaret. These have been shaped by grazing over thousands of years and are home to many rare species.

Bergstigen is a six-kilometre cultural and historical nature trail through varied landscapes in Degerhamn, shaped by a 300-year-old stone industry. Eketorpsleden is a 1.6-kilometre circular hiking trail that begins at Eketorp fortress.

Mörbylångaleden also provides an over-80-kilometre hiking trail through natural and cultural landscapes. It runs between the Öland tourist information office at the bridgehead and Ottenby vandrarhem in Näsby. The trail is divided into five stages and marked with red wooden arrows. The section between Penåsa and Skärlöv is accessible by wheelchair. It runs along an old railway embankment with firm gravel and a strip of grass in the middle.

More local pages lead to Degerhamn, Färjestaden, Mörbylånga, Grönhögen, Stenåsa and Vanserum.

To the overarching travel overview: Kalmar.

More destinations

More places within the same destination:

Nybro, Vimmerby.