Discover Borgholm: Holiday apartment between castle, coast and culture

Borgholm combines history with coastal paths, forest, alvar landscapes and culture. At the centre is Borgholm Castle: its history dates back 900 years. Today, the site is the ruin of a Baroque palace commissioned by Charles X Gustav in the mid-17th century. The oldest structure was begun as early as the 12th century, with a core or defensive tower surrounded by a ring wall.

Culture

The history of the castle can be read not only in its walls. Guided tours of Borgholm Castle are included in the admission price. For children, “Barnens slottsäventyr” offers ten different castle challenges; afterwards, the participants are knighted as protectors of Borgholm Castle. The adventure includes, among other things, a knight’s course, archery, board games with a knight, puzzles, pulling a sword from a magic stone and searching for the unicorn’s gold.

Solliden is also part of Borgholm’s historical side. The estate was built as a summer residence for the future Queen Victoria of Sweden and completed in 1906. Borgholm’s historic townscape also features a town plan dating from 1817, a central axis with squares and public buildings, as well as commercial courtyards in the so-called Borgholm style.

Borgholm Town Museum contains period interiors as well as collections of Öland art and handicrafts. There, you can learn more about Borgholm as a seaside resort and about Öland’s industrial, maritime and railway history. Borgholm Town Museum has been a protected historic building since 1985 and is protected under Sweden’s Cultural Environment Act. Borgholm Church was built from 1872 onwards, inaugurated in 1879 and designed in the Neo-Romanesque style.

Borgholm Bio is also part of the town’s cultural history. The cinema was inaugurated on 23 April 1920 and is the oldest cinema built in the countryside that was designed as a cinema building from the outset. Throughout the year, Borgholm Bio hosts film screenings and other events.

Nature and paths

In the Borga Hage nature reserve, also known as Slottsskogen, walks lead through lush deciduous woodland, past flowering meadows and along the sea. More than 100 rare species have been recorded there. The nature reserve borders Solliden and the castle ruins of Borgholm. The “Borge hage och slottsområde” walking trail is 4.2 kilometres long.

Solliden’s park also invites visitors to go for walks and explore along its winding paths. Along Strandvägen, you pass representative villas from Borgholm’s time as a seaside resort, while the view extends across the Kalmarsund. In Borgholm’s excursion area, coast, forest and alvar landscapes lie close together.

Another connection between the town, castle and countryside is provided by the guided hike “I Borgholms stad och slott”. It begins and ends in Borgholm, leading from the harbour through parks, past squares and historic sites to Borgholm Castle, and then back through Slottsskogen in the Borga Hage nature reserve.

Getting around

For journeys between different places, public transport operated by Kalmar länstrafik (KLT) is available. With KLT, you can travel within Borgholm Municipality, across the municipal boundary and over the Öland Bridge. Two paths, each approximately 1 kilometre long, lead through Slottsskogen to Borgholm Castle: one walking path starts in Borgholm, while another footpath leads from Viktoriagatan or Road 136 via Näktergalsstigen to the castle.

The historic seaside resort character also includes Borgholm Kallbadhus, which was first inaugurated in 1882. It is located on Badhusgatan in Borgholm. There, you can fika, that is, take a coffee break. Societetsparken also has a public bicycle pump.

Other places

Other places to explore: Borgholm, Djupvik, Källa, Köpingsvik, Löttorp, Rälla, Byxelkrok, Räpplinge.

To the overarching travel overview: Kalmar.