Discover Tanumshede: Rock Carvings, Culture and Hiking Trails

Tanumshede combines impressive cultural history with paths through a distinctive landscape. The town is a natural starting point for visiting the rock carvings in the Tanum World Heritage Site, while also offering historic buildings, a cultural centre and several hiking trails. When planning your trip, you can therefore choose between intensive days of cultural discovery, walks to Bronze Age traces and a varied combination of activities.

Discover Rock Carvings and World Heritage

The Tanum World Heritage Site extends south and east of Tanumshede and includes at least 450 sites with rock carvings. The rock carvings in this area that have been prepared for visitors are accessible around the clock and all year round. At the nearby Vitlycke Museum in Tanumshede, there is an exhibition about Tanum in the Bronze Age and about rock carvings. The museum is located 2 kilometres south of Tanumshede on Road 914.

One of the notable sites is Vitlyckehällen, a rock surface more than 20 metres long with over 500 carved images. At Aspeberget, a path just under one kilometre long leads to seven rock carvings. Litsleby is also home to Spjutguden, a 230-centimetre-high figure described as the largest rock carving of a human in Scandinavia. In the Fossum visitor area, two large and two smaller rock carvings can be viewed. These different sites give your daily itinerary a clear focus without all the visits having the same character.

Historic Places and Culture in the Town Centre

Tanumshede itself also offers points of interest for travellers interested in culture. Tingshuset, with its stable, is a listed historic building in Tanumshede. Tanums Gestgiveri is also a listed historic building. Sockenmagasinet was built in 1869 after several years of crop failures.

Kulturhuset Futura is a meeting place for culture and learning in Tanumshede. The municipality's main library is located there. Futurateatern has 140 seats and is suitable for lectures, meetings, as well as theatre and music events. Anyone wishing to plan a cultural activity in the town between excursions will find another specific point of reference here.

Hiking Trails with Different Focal Points

Several described trails are available for active days. Tanumsleden is 5 kilometres long and passes Valbrets grav (Hällekistan), a connection to the trails in the surrounding area. Tassemarksstigen is a hiking trail near Tanumshede that passes several Bronze Age burial mounds. Vandring i Världsarv is 6 kilometres long and leads to three rock carvings.

Suitable starting points for hiking in Tanumshede are the car park at Stall Heane (Tanums Ridklubb) and Höjden (Campus Futura). Information boards about the various trails are available at both locations. This allows you to choose the routes according to your interests: burial mounds are the focus in one case, rock carvings in another and a connection to further trails in the third.

The Right Accommodation for Planning Your Trip

When looking for a holiday apartment or holiday home in Tanumshede, it is worth deciding on your preferred daily rhythm first. If you want to plan several hikes, you can include the starting points at Stall Heane and Höjden in your orientation. This means that your choice of accommodation is based on the experiences you would like to combine during your stay.

Further local pages for orientation: Sannäs, Lur, Havstenssund, Flötenmarksen, Tänum, Grebbestad, Rabbalshede and Resö.

To the higher-level travel overview: Tanum.