Kustvägen Byrum - Äleklinta, Öland's beautiful west coast

Kustvägen Byrum - Äleklinta runs along the beautiful west coast of Öland. We started in Byxelkrok in the morning and then drove slowly south, along cliffs, sandy beaches and rauks. A fantastically beautiful road!

Kustvägen Byrum - Äleklinta

Kustvägen Byrum - Äleklinta is an old-fashioned road that takes you past prehistoric memories, old harbours, remains of quarrying and Öland's only preserved wind-powered rogue mill, which is now a listed building.

The coastal road Byrum - Äleklinta starts in Byrum on north-western Öland and ends in Äleklinta, 4 kilometres to the south. The map below shows Byrum.

Starting in Byxelkrok

We started our day trip in Byxelkrok, which is about 12 kilometres north of Byrum. Here we found Tokenäs camping, which we fell in love with.

This is one of those simple and affordable campsites where you get nature, service and a good location. That's what we like! We paid (earlier in June) 200 SEK for an overnight stay, which is no more than you pay for a pitch. In addition, the service house was fresh and the owner was very nice!

Across the road from the campsite is the sea. We watched the little lighthouse while the sun was setting in the sea. Incredibly beautiful!

It also looked really nice when we looked towards the beach in Byxelkrok.

Towards the coastal road Byrum - Äleklinta

The next day it was time to roll south! We drove down to the coast already after Byxelkrok, which means that we came down on the coastal road a little before the stretch Byrum - Äleklinta. But even this stretch was fantastic, with low vegetation, colourful flowers, rocks and intense blue sea.

To continue south, you have to leave the sea for a little while, and for us it was green roads straight through the forest. Then we saw a sign about Skäftekärr archaeological open-air museum ...

Skäftekärr Archaeological Open Air Museum

The archaeological open-air museum in Skäftekärr was not open when we were here, but is open for a limited period in the summer. Sometimes Iron Age days are also organised when the farm is populated by "Iron Age people". We could at least look at the farm from the outside, and think about what life might have been like here once upon a time.

The beach in Byrum-Sandvik

When we drove down to the sea again, we quickly came to the beach Byrum-Sandvik. What a fantastic beach! The sand is fine-grained and the sea sparkles in green-blue. There weren't too many people here either, even though it was glorious summer weather.

The caterpillars in Byrum

There is another reason to visit Byrum and that is the rauks. This is Öland's most famous rauk area, with large stone stumps formed over millions of years. The area at Byrum is also rich in fossils, i.e. dead prehistoric animals. A fantastically beautiful and very special area!

Animals and nature along the coastal path Byrum - Äleklinta

Kustvägen Byrum - Äleklinta offers wonderful nature in the form of colourful flowers and beautiful rock formations. You will also encounter some animals, especially cows.

If I were a cow, I would probably wish to live on Öland. How nice they seem to have it here, among all the vegetation and with a view of the sea.

Quarries and earthworks

The stone industry on Öland has medieval origins, centred on Horn on the west coast of Öland. When travelling here you can see many traces of older and younger quarries.

At Jordhamn is the island's only remaining wind-powered scouring mill, and there is a scouring walk nearby. 'Scouring' was the grinding of limestone, which was a time-consuming process. The scouring walk was carried out by horses or oxen around a pole, and at best a week's work yielded 100 stones.

We also drove past large areas with small "stone towers". The whole coastline is very special here, and you realise that large areas were used in the stone industry.

Restaurant Sandvik's mill

After a long hot motorhome trip along undeveloped coastal roads, we were very hungry for an ice cream. When we saw the Sandvik Mill restaurant, we stopped immediately. We had an ice cream here and it was nice, but afterwards we saw that we could also have continued down to the harbour where there was both a fish smokehouse and Italian ice cream.

Apple tree and snakeweed camel vine

We ended the coastal road Byrum - Äleklinta at Ormöga camel ranch. We were here a little too early for it to be open, but during the summers various activities such as camel riding and mini zoo are organised. We thought it was a little bit exotic just to watch the camels from the motorway ...

Where can you stay with your campervan for the night?

When you have driven the entire coastal road Byrum - Äleklinta, you will soon arrive in Borgholm. We stayed one night at the car park at Solliden, where you can park your motorhome for free. Another night we stayed at Kapelluddens camping in Borgholm.

See more in the neighbourhood

On northern Öland you can discover the Långe Erik lighthouse, Trollskogen, Böda Sands camping and Mellböda Gård with its 2D café. In Borgholm you can experience both Solliden and the ruins of Borgholm Castle. If you go a little south, you can also check out Öland's museum Himmelsberga.

Have you travelled the Byrum - Äleklinta coastal road? How was your experience? Do you have more tips on nice places to visit in the neighbourhood?

Facts about the Byrum - Äleklinta coastal road

• Municipality: Borgholm municipality
• County: Kalmar County
• Landscape: Öland
• Stretching: From Byrum to Äleklinta on Öland's west coast
• Length: More than 30 kilometres
• Sights along the way: The beach in Byrum-Sandvik, the rauks in Byrum, the quarry, the Jordhamn shed, the Sandvik mill restaurant and the Ormöga camel ranch.
• Read more: You can find more information on Öland at Öland.se.