In a similar vein to Britain’s seaside resorts , generations of Swedes and their Nordic neighbours have been spending their summers in simple rural cottages as an escape from city life. There are as many as 600,000 sommarstuga in Sweden alone, with popular areas including the Stockholm archipelago, Skåne, Öland and Gotland island, the west coast and Småland. In Norway, summer houses are known as sommerhyttes while in Finland they are mummonmökki and in Denmark sommerhus .
The theme is universal: days are spent enjoying the outdoors – lake or sea swimming, hiking, cycling, foraging – and long evenings are gathered around the barbecue. While these cottages were traditionally very simple, they are becoming increasingly modern and luxurious. And although many are still owned by the families that built them, they are often available to rent as holiday lets.
As most schools across the Nordic region return in mid-August, the second half of the month and English/Welsh summer bank holiday represent the ideal time to embrace friluftsliv – essentially an appreciation of the outdoors and nature – like the locals. There is greater availability across the region’s favourite coastal and forest holiday locations, restaurants are quiet and the sea and lakes remain warm but the climate is unlikely to be as searingly hot as parts of the Mediterranean can be. Here are eight summer homes across the Nordics that are perfect for a late-August escape in forests, lakelands, and co.
