Kivik: Art, History and Apple Culture

Kivik combines art, landscape, apple culture and an unusually rich history. If you are looking for a holiday apartment or holiday home for a varied stay, you will find inspiration here for cultural discoveries, nature experiences and excursions with different focuses.

Discover Art and Local History

Kivik Art Centre is a sculpture park and art gallery that combines three-dimensional art, architecture and landscape. In its art gallery, the centre presents contemporary art in an architecturally designed setting. Each exhibition engages in a dialogue with the space and the surrounding landscape. For your travel planning, this results in a cultural visit where the focus is not only on individual works, but also on their interaction with the surroundings.

The older parts of Kivik also invite you to explore at a leisurely pace: half-timbered houses line narrow, winding streets. Kiviks kapell was built as a church and community hall during the Second World War and inaugurated in June 1941. A gravel path lined with a birch avenue leads visitors to the chapel. Those interested in regional history and sacred architecture can easily include this stop as a separate item on their itinerary, without associating it with a specific opening time.

Archaeological Traces and Nature in the Surrounding Area

One of the notable archaeological sites is Kiviksgraven. The burial mound is around 3,000 years old, has a diameter of 75 metres and is considered Sweden’s largest circular burial mound. Bredarör is also located in Kivik. The Bronze Age engravings include, among other things, images that are unique in the Scandinavian rock art tradition; Bredarör is therefore considered one of Sweden’s most remarkable archaeological monuments.

For a day planned around nature, Stenshuvud National Park lies immediately south of Kivik. It can be reached by car as well as by public transport. A section of the Skåneleden long-distance trail runs through the national park. Kivik also offers good bus connections in both northern and southern directions. This information can help you weigh up whether to choose accommodation for a culturally focused stay or for excursions in the surrounding area.

Kivik itself also features a distinctive landscape: Marknadsfältet is designated as a Natura 2000 site because of the high ecological value of its sandy areas. Meanwhile, the town’s historical side is reflected in Kivik's Market, whose royal privileges were confirmed as early as 1623.

Apples, Museums and Local Drinks

Apple culture is firmly rooted in Kivik’s history. In 1888, Henric Åkesson planted the apple trees in Kivik that would form the basis of Sweden’s first professional orchard. This laid the foundation for Kiviks Musteri. Äpplets Hus was founded in 1996 as a centre of knowledge about the history, cultivation, harvesting, research and processing of apples. At Bistro Kärnhuset at Kiviks Musteri, visitors can sample most of the establishment’s drinks, including juice, cider with and without alcohol, as well as other beverages.

Kiviks Museum accepts bookings year-round and can open for individual visitors as well as groups. Nearly all of the museum’s guided tours can be booked throughout the year. There is also an open storage area where visitors can view the accessible collections. Guided tours can be booked for nature and cultural experiences in the area around Kivik. This allows a stay to be tailored to different interests without requiring you to limit yourself to just one type of excursion.

The Right Accommodation for Your Travel Plans

When choosing your holiday apartment in Kivik, it is worth first deciding on the rhythm you want: would you like to combine an art gallery, museum and historical sites, learn about apple culture or plan excursions to the national park? If you want to include several destinations in the surrounding area, you can also factor the bus connections in both directions and access to Stenshuvud by car and public transport into your planning. For another location, you can also look at Mellby.

Other places to research include Tommarp, Sankt Olof, Vik, Hammenhög, Rörum, Simrishamn and Skillinge.

Back to the main travel overview: Simrishamn.