Öland, the second biggest island in Sweden, makes for the perfect weekend escape. From ancient fortresses and pristine beaches to cozy farm shops and hidden second hand shops, there is something for everyone! Located on the East Coast of Sweden, Öland covers a considerable area of 1,342 km2. Realistically this means it will be hard to be able to see the whole island in just one trip – it is better instead to focus your 3 days on exploring one part of the island and plan to come back and see the rest at another time!
This 3-day itinerary focuses on the southern part of Öland – beginning with a visit to Borgholm and the impressive castle ruins before heading down to Ismantorp and Gråborg ancient fortresses, stopping off along the way to try some local delicacies! If you only have the possibility to stay on Öland for 2 days, it is possible to condense this itinerary to fit your timeline. I would say maybe missing out on some of the second-hand shops an instead focusing on the ancient fortresses and Borgholms Castle. If you can stay for longer than 3 days, there are loads of other things to do all over the island!
We visit Öland after spending a week in the countryside just outside of Västervik. It is somewhere that has been on my bucket list for a long time but the opportunity had never really come up to visit before. I had quite high expectations of how it would be – imagining beautiful landscapes, lots of small farm shops, windmills, and beautiful beaches – and in this case it was exactly as I had imagined! After spending 3 days on Öland, I am already planning a trip back to see more (and wondering if we can get kroppkakor delivered to Gothenburg?).
Want to experience more of Öland? Don’t miss this guide with over 50 things to do on Öland.
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Where To Stay On Öland
For this itinerary, I would recommend choosing an accommodation in the middle of Öland, close to either Färjestaden or Möckelby.
Close to Möckelby, you have the beautiful Eksgården Krog & Rum (where we had an amazing dinner on the second night). While the building is from the 1700s, the rooms are modern and fresh while maintaining the old countryside feeling of Öland. The biggest plus of staying here though must be breakfast and dinner in the restaurant every day! You can find out more and book it here.
If you want to stay more centrally located, you have Hotel Skansen in Färjestaden. Here you have a charming hotel with lots of character, an outdoor pool, and a bar with the world’s biggest selection of whiskeys (1,179 bottles!!). Being in the centre of the town, you have good access to the restaurants and activities nearby and possibility to walk back afterwards! You can find out more and book it here!
Lastly, if you want something really, unique, you can stay in this converted windmill! With a lounge room on the ground floor and a double bed upstairs, with the possibility to use the sofa beds, this accommodation fits up to 6 people! Unfortunately, this was booked when I was planning our trip, otherwise I would have jumped at the chance to stay in such a cool place. You can find out more and book it here.
Find all your accomodation options in Öland here!
Öland 3 Day Itinerary
This itinerary includes everything we did on Öland; however, I would like to note that we didn’t eat breakfast, lunch and dinner out every day. We ate several meals out but chose to cook quite a bit at our accommodation. I don’t want to recommend anywhere we haven’t been which is why you might find a few stops missing on the list! If you want some suggestions, The White Guide is always my go to for recommendations! There are some amazing looking restaurants on Öland so we will definitely be trying more when we return.
Day 1
Prästviksbadet
Any trip you start with a morning trip must be great, right? Arriving to Öland mid-morning in the start of the summer, we started our 3 days here with a swim at Prästviksbadet (also known as Lökenäs badplats. This is just one of many amazing beaches on Öland, located on the West Coast just north of the bridge to Kalmar. Just driving out through the countryside out to Prästviksbadet is beautiful (map).
At the beach you will find a sandy beach, big grassy picnic area, and a dock to swim from. There are fire pits and toilets, and the water here is shallow so perfect for families!
Lunch at Kaffetorpet
The second stop of today is Kaffetorpet, the picturesque garden café located just next to Solliden palace – the Swedish royal family’s summer house. If you want a little walk before lunch, there are several different paths that run around the gardens here, or you can take a tour of the residence itself!
The restaurant is in a small outhouse with a beautiful outdoor dining area spread across the garden. They serve simple but delicious food for quite a good price. We ate warm smoked salmon with salad and potatoes, and mushroom tortellini. Both were delicious! You can find their opening hours and menu on this page.
While you are there, make sure to pop into the craft/ farm shop next door – Fredrikssons Smakglädje. Here you can find locally produced foods and hand-made crafts which make perfect gifts of souvenirs! They even have tastings in the summer with special talks. You can out more about the shop on this page.
Borgholms Slott
After lunch we head to the magnificent Borgholms Slott, sometimes referred to as “the most beautiful castle ruins in Scandinavia”. Built in the 13th century, the castle has gone through many different forms over the last 900 years, although it has been a ruin since 1806. Today, the ruins reflect the baroque palace built in the 17th century, with outer bastions built in a star form, and magnificent castle walls.
There is a museum at the castle, as well as guided/ self-guided tours, and an interactive medieval knight area for children. I recommend giving yourself at least 2 hours to explore the castle – more if you want to follow the audio guide.
The castle hosts events in their big outdoor courtyard – including big Swedish and International artists, fairs, and exhibitions – so it can be worth checking if anything is on when you are planning on visiting.
Eufemia Nött & Nytt
After lunch, on route to Southern Öland, we pass Eufemia Nött och Nytt, a second-hand/ antique shop filled with lots of weird and wonderful things! This is the place to come if you are looking for furniture, homewares, books, or a unique souvenir to remember your time in Öland. To get here, you will need to veer off the main road and follow the narrow roads through the farmland to get here. We ended up buying a few beautiful antique plates and a few books.
You can find their opening hours on this page.
Ismantorp Fortress
Ismantorp Fortress is the first ancient fortress we visited on Öland. Honestly, I don’t’ know why this place isn’t spoken about more – this, and the other two ancient fortresses we visit were probably the highlight of my trip! Built in the late iron age (around 200CE), Ismanstorp is the largest and thought to be the oldest of the ancient ruins on Öland, with 95 house foundations still visible. While the fortress is obviously a ruin today, it is amazing to just see the scale of the fortress and imagine how it would have been over 2000 years ago.
You can find out more about the fortress on this page – something I recommend if you plan on visiting as there is not much information on site.
Lerkaka Kvarnar
Heading over to the East side of Öland, we made a stop at Lerkaka Kvarnar, Ölands most well-preserved row of windmills. This traditional Stubbkvarnar style of windmill you will see all over Öland. Once a staple in the farmers production, at its peak there were 1713 windmills spread throughout Öland, although today only 351 remain. While you will pass them as you explore the island, it is worth a stop at Lerkaka Kvarnar as you can get up and close to the windmills here. It is also a popular spot for photographers – especially at sunset!
If you want, you can stop for an afternoon fika at Café Smedjan, located just next to Lerkaka Kvarnar. This is a very cosy little café serving coffee, cake and sandwiches.
Dinner from Eksgården Krog och Rum
On our first night on Öland we decided to eat dinner at Eksgården Krog och Rum, a very atmospheric restaurant inside an old, converted barn.
My favourite dish on the menu was probably the dessert – sour cream pannacotta. This is a flavour we have been seeing a lot of in restaurants lately that just takes desserts to the next level (the sour cream ice cream we had in Lund is still one of the best ice creams I have ever had).
If you want to eat here, I recommend booking in advance – we were very lucky with a last-minute reservation, but we visited slightly outside of peak season and ended up getting the last table!
Day 2
Breakfast from Grain Heaven
Breakfast today is bread from Grain Heaven, a very small-scale local sourdough bakery consisting of no more than a small shed in the front garden. However, the bread is world class. They work with organic and locally produced ingredients to make all sorts of baked goods – from bread rolls and pretzels to pastries.
It’s worth noting that they sell bread – not pre-made breakfast or sandwiches – so it’s best to buy it and take it back to your hotel or bring toppings with you and eat it as a picnic at one of the next stops!
Gråborg
Gråborg is the biggest of the ancient fortresses on Öland. Although perhaps not in the same condition as Ismanstorp Fortress, with the house foundations long gone, the sheer size of this fortress is impressive. With stone walls that reach between 4 and 7m in height and 10m thick, you can imagine how this structure functioned in the ancient times. Today, it is used as a field by the farmers and will likely be populated by sheep grazing when you visit. To find out more about the fortress I recommend reading this page!
As you walk to Gråborg from the carpark, you will pass St Knut’s Chapel, ruins from a chapel built in the 12th century.
Second Hand Shopping – Stenladan and Cliw Loppis
On the way to the West of the island we stopped at two second hand shops – Stenladan (map) and Cliw Loppis (map). Stenladan is a beautiful second hand inside an old barn where you will not only find lots of unique items, but also fresh vegetables for sale! Cliw Loppis, on the other hand, is more of a traditional second-hand store. A big warehouse filled with rows and rows of clothes, furniture, homewares, and paintings! This was probably the best second hand we visited on Öland – mostly due to the size and pure quantity of things they had there! The prices in both were a little higher than usual but not too bad.
Kroppkakor from Arontorps Kroppkakor & Mat AB
For lunch on our second day, we decided to try Öland’s most well-known local delicacy – Kroppkakor. This is basically a dense potato dumpling filled with pork and onion and eaten with lingonberry jam, butter and cream. Following the advice of a friend who grew up on Öland, we decided to visit Arontorps Kroppkakor for lunch. This is quite a big restaurant that lacks that cosy feeling, however, the food made up for it! You could tell that this was one of the best places to go by the pure number of people packed in at lunch time. Don’t let that put you off those – there was room for everyone!
We ordered one serving of regular kroppkakor and one serving of fried kroppkakor (stekt). The fried version was my favourite, but I recommend ordering both so you can try them as they do differ quite a bit in taste and consistency!
Färjestaden
After lunch, we head into Färjestaden for a little walk around the town. This is the biggest town on Öland but has a city centre that still manages to keep its small-town charm. Once the main port city of Öland, it’s is now more of a summer city as most today most traffic reaches the island over the Öland bridge. If you want to stop for a fika break mid-afternoon, don’t miss Fredrik’s Bread and Pastries. This bakery has been featured in The White Guide – my favourite place for finding eateries around Scandinavia – and is known as one of the best fika spots on Öland!
Day 3
Eketorps Borg
Starting off Day 3 we head south to Eketorps Borg, another ancient fortress, however this one with a twist in that it has been reconstructed. This means that the house foundations are now real cottages, with stone walls and thatched rooves. The fortress is alive with demonstrations such as how to make decorative ribbon, and how to make medieval bread based on the recipe of an archaeological find. There is a museum in one of the cottages and you are free to wander in and around the site.
While it almost gives the feeling it is made for children, we still had a great time here. Not only could you see how this ancient fortress once was, but it also gave more context to the others we had seen previously. You could imagine the 95 huts in Ismantorp, with narrow alleyways and filled storehouses.
Eketorps Borg is the only fortress that you need to pay entry for. When we visit it was 75kr for an adult and 50kr for children between 6 and 15 years old. The fortress is open from mid-spring to late autumn. It can be worth double checking opening times and any events that might be on before visiting. You can do that on this page.
Lunch from Capellagården
Lunch today from probably my favourite place on Öland – Capellagården. Accurately describing this spot is a challenge – it is a mix between a restaurant, garden, handcraft school, and specialist boutique, with a very friendly and inviting atmosphere that makes you feel as if you are eating lunch in your own back garden.
The restaurant itself is in the middle of the complex, surrounded by beautiful gardens that double as a workshop for students taking the cultural gardening course, and an exhibition of the plants sold in the shop. You can choose to sit in the greenhouse, or outside, surrounded by colourful, blooming flowers. The food here is colourful to match the garden, and just as delicious!
Other than the gardens, there are two shops – one selling plants and gardening supplies, and one selling handcrafted items, and crafty books. This shop was my dream come true – with everything from ceramic sculptures to knitted jumpers, felted blankets, and hand whittled kitchen utensils.
You can find all the information about courses, the restaurant, the shop, and events they are holding on this page!
Kvarnkungen/ Drottningen/ Kronprinsen
Rounding off our last day on Öland we are heading to the row of windmills Kvarnkungen (The Mill King), Drottningen (The Queen), and Kronprinsen (The Crown Prince). These windmills are iconic for Öland – Kvarnkungen built in 1749 in Kalmar and brought to Öland in the 1870s. Unlike the smaller Stubbkvarnar (post mill’s) on Öland that were for private use, Kvarnkungen was a “public” mill that was used to grind finer consistency wheat and rye. When I say public, it was more of a paid service whereby the farmers would pay a fee in the form of flour.
If you want to find out more about Kvarnkungen you can read all about it here. Unfortunately, the page is in Swedish but it can be translated quite nicely!
Drottningen, on the other hand, is a Dutch mill (holländarmodell), while Kronprinsen is a typical Stubbkvarn like those others you see on Öland. What is so great about these mills is that they are cared for by Torslunda Hembygdsföreningen, and you can go into each mill and walk around. It was really interesting to see the difference between the two models and how they worked!
Hantverksgalleriet
Last stop on this three-day Öland itinerary is Hantverksgalleriet (map), a nice little shop selling local artists arts and crafts. This is the perfect place to come if you want to take a little bit of Öland home with you – perhaps the metal black cat signs you see by the side of the road all over the island, or a colourful, handwoven rug!
Öland Itinerary: An Overview
Öland is a dream destination – perfect for everyone who is interested in history, culture, nature, food, and second-hand shopping! While a long weekend on Öland is not enough time to see everything, it is enough time to get a first glimpse at all this beautiful island has to offer. From idyllic beaches and world-class eateries to ancient ruins and impressive castles, if you’re anything like me you will be itching to go back as soon as possible.
If you want a simple way to log this itinerary, or want more tips for Öland (and Småland, Blekinge, and Skåne) make sure to get my South Sweden Map – the perfect sidekick for the trip! Get it here!
